Sangamon County Court Grants Summary Judgment for Residential School

Mike Sanders and Tom Underwood won summary judgment in favor of a residential school for disabled children a month before what was expected to be a one-month trial in downstate Sangamon County, Illinois, in a suit brought on behalf of a former student. After a weekend in which the student intermittently showed signs of illness, the school took him to the hospital. Six days later, the hospital performed an appendectomy, and eight days after surgery, the student experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest. The plaintiff alleged that the school had been either negligent or willful and wanton in failing to identify and treat his symptoms or take him to the hospital sooner. The court found that the Illinois School Code provided the school and its employees with immunity against allegations of negligence, and that the record contained no evidence that the conduct of the school or its staff rose to the level of “willful and wanton.” The court therefore granted summary judgment to the school and proceeded with trial of the claims against the medical defendants, entering a judgment of more than $3 million against one of the doctors.