Illinois Official Reports
Appellate Court
Vaughn v. City of Carbondale, 2015 IL App (5th) 140122
Appellate Court JEFFREY W. VAUGHN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE CITY OF
Caption CARBONDALE, Defendant-Appellee.
District & No. Fifth District
Docket No. 5-14-0122
Filed March 25, 2015
Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Jackson County, No. 12-MR-172;
Review the Hon. Kimberly L. Dahlen, Judge, presiding.
Judgment Reversed and remanded.
Counsel on Patrick T. Sharpe, of Maurizio & Sharpe, of Marion, for appellant.
Appeal
P. Michael Kimmel, City Attorney, of Carbondale, for appellee.
Panel JUSTICE WELCH delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Presiding Justice Cates and Justice Goldenhersh concurred in the
judgment and opinion.
OPINION
¶1 The plaintiff, Jeffrey Vaughn, sought a permanent injunction to prevent the defendant, the
City of Carbondale, from terminating his employer-provided health insurance coverage in
accordance with section 10 of the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (the Act) (820 ILCS
320/10 (West 2012)). The circuit court of Jackson County entered an order denying the
complaint. For the reasons which follow, we reverse the decision of the circuit court and
remand for further proceedings.
¶2 On June 28, 2005, the plaintiff, who was a police officer for the City of Carbondale (the
City), was on duty when he was stopped by a motorist asking for directions. While he was
outside his squad car talking with the motorist, he received a request from a police dispatcher
for him to respond over the radio. He returned to his vehicle and reached headfirst through his
driver’s side door, which he had left open, in an attempt to retrieve his radio from inside the
car. As he was reaching inside the vehicle, he struck the top of his head on the door frame,
causing him to “see stars” and experience an immediate sharp pain in his arm. After his shift,
he sought medical attention from his personal physician, who took him off duty as a result of
his injury.
¶3 Thereafter, in April 2007, the plaintiff applied for a line-of-duty disability pension
pursuant to section 3-114.1 of the Illinois Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/3-114.1 (West 2006)).
Following a hearing on his application, the Carbondale Police Pension Board (the Board) made
a finding that the plaintiff was not injured as a result of his employment with the police
department. The plaintiff appealed the decision of the Board, and the circuit court of Jackson
County reversed the Board’s decision, concluding that the evidence supported the finding that
the plaintiff was injured during the course of his employment and was therefore eligible for a
line-of-duty pension. This court affirmed the circuit court’s decision on May 25, 2011. Vaughn
v. Carbondale Police Pension Board, No. 5-10-0293 (2011) (unpublished order under
Supreme Court Rule 23).
¶4 As a result of the plaintiff’s duty-related disability, the plaintiff, in a letter dated January
26, 2012, requested that the City provide him health insurance coverage in accordance with
section 10 of the Act (820 ILCS 320/10 (West 2012)), which provides health insurance
coverage for injured law enforcement officers and their families under certain circumstances.
Shortly thereafter, the City provided the plaintiff and his wife with health insurance coverage
without any objection. In 2012, the Board directed the plaintiff to submit to a physical
examination as required by the Illinois Pension Code. The plaintiff complied. After receiving
the medical report rendered as a result of the medical examination, the Board met to determine
whether the plaintiff’s line-of-duty pension benefits should be continued or terminated. The
Board thereafter filed a decision, which terminated the plaintiff’s pension payments effective
July 26, 2012, in light of the medical examiner’s finding that the plaintiff was able to return to
work as a police officer. In July 2012, the Board sent the plaintiff a letter advising him of its
decision.
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¶5 In August 2012, the plaintiff filed a complaint for administrative review in the circuit court
of Jackson County, cause No. 12-MR-156. The circuit court affirmed the Board’s decision to
terminate the plaintiff’s disability pension benefits. The plaintiff then appealed to this court,
which, on June 30, 2014, reversed the circuit court’s decision on the basis that the plaintiff was
denied procedural due process where he was not given notice and an opportunity to be heard
before the Board terminated his pension benefits. Vaughn v. Carbondale Police Pension
Board, 2014 IL App (5th) 130457-U. This court did not address the issue of whether the
Board’s determination that the plaintiff was no longer disabled was against the manifest weight
of the evidence.
¶6 While the appeal on the termination of the plaintiff’s disability pension benefits in cause
No. 12-MR-156 was pending, the plaintiff filed the complaint at issue in this appeal, which
sought a permanent injunction preventing the City from terminating his employer-provided
health insurance coverage. After considering the briefs submitted by the parties and the circuit
court’s decision in cause No. 12-MR-156, the circuit court declined to enter a permanent
injunction. The court found that the plaintiff had not suffered a catastrophic injury, which was
required under section 10 of the Act (820 ILCS 320/10 (West 2012)), in order to receive
employer-provided health insurance coverage, because the medical examination had indicated
that the plaintiff was able to return to work as a police officer and had recovered from his
disability. The order denying the permanent injunction was entered before this court reversed
the Board’s decision to terminate the plaintiff’s pension disability benefits. The plaintiff
appeals the denial of the permanent injunction.
¶7 On appeal, the plaintiff argues that the circuit court erred in denying his request that the
City be required to permanently provide health insurance to him and his wife pursuant to the
Act and that there was no statutory basis to terminate the provided insurance coverage once
awarded. In response, the City argues that the plaintiff was not entitled to lifetime health
insurance coverage under the Act because his work-related injury was not incurred as the result
of his response to fresh pursuit or his response to what he reasonably believed to be an
emergency, an unlawful act perpetrated by another, or during the investigation of a criminal
act. Furthermore, the City argues that awarded lifetime health insurance coverage can be
terminated under the Act.
¶8 A party seeking a permanent injunction must show (1) a clear and ascertainable right in
need of protection, (2) irreparable harm if injunctive relief is not granted, and (3) no adequate
remedy at law. Sparks v. Gray, 334 Ill. App. 3d 390, 395 (2002). Section 10 of the Act
provides, in relevant part, that injured full-time law enforcement officers and their families are
eligible to receive health insurance benefits if two conditions are satisfied. 820 ILCS 320/10
(West 2012); Village of Vernon Hills v. Heelan, 2014 IL App (2d) 130823, ¶ 18. First, the
officer must have suffered a catastrophic injury in the line of duty. 820 ILCS 320/10(a) (West
2012). Second, the injury must have occurred as the result of the officer’s response to fresh
pursuit or the officer’s response to what is reasonably believed to be an emergency, an
unlawful act perpetrated by another, or during the investigation of a criminal act. 820 ILCS
320/10(b) (West 2012). The officer must satisfy both of these requirements to be entitled to
benefits. Gaffney v. Board of Trustees of the Orland Fire Protection District, 2012 IL 110012,
¶¶ 53-57.
¶9 The Act does not define the term “catastrophic injury.” However, our supreme court has
concluded that the phrase “catastrophic injury” as used in the Act is synonymous with an injury
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resulting in the awarding of a line-of-duty disability pension under section 4-110 of the Illinois
Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/4-110 (West 2012)). Krohe v. City of Bloomington, 204 Ill. 2d 392,
400 (2003); see also Nowak v. City of Country Club Hills, 2011 IL 111838, ¶ 12.
¶ 10 In the present case, the circuit court determined that the plaintiff had not suffered a
catastrophic injury because the Board had terminated the plaintiff’s line-of-duty pension
benefits. However, subsequent to the circuit court’s decision, this court reinstated the
plaintiff’s pension benefits on the basis that the plaintiff was denied procedural due process
where he was not given notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Board terminated
those benefits. Therefore, the circuit court’s reasoning for denying health insurance benefits
under the Act to the plaintiff is no longer applicable. The Board acknowledges in its brief that
the plaintiff’s injury is “arguably ‘catastrophic’ ” because the plaintiff’s pension benefits were
reinstated. Although we recognize that the plaintiff’s line-of-duty pension disability benefits
could again be terminated by the Board, which could affect his eligibility for health insurance
coverage under section 10 of the Act, we conclude, consistent with Krohe and Nowak, that the
plaintiff has suffered a “catastrophic injury” within the meaning of section 10(a) of the Act
because he is currently receiving a disability pension for his work-related injury.
¶ 11 The remaining issue, therefore, is whether the injury occurred as the result of one of the
circumstances set forth in section 10(b) of the Act. As previously explained, section 10(b) of
the Act requires that the catastrophic injury must have occurred as a result of the officer’s
response to fresh pursuit, the officer’s response to what is reasonably believed to be an
emergency, or an unlawful act perpetrated by another, or during the investigation of a criminal
act. 820 ILCS 320/10(b) (West 2012). The plaintiff argues that his injury falls under the
following two circumstances: the injury occurred as a result of the officer’s response to what is
reasonably believed to be an emergency and as the result of the officer’s response during the
investigation of a criminal act.
¶ 12 We find that the facts establish that the plaintiff’s work-related injury occurred as a result
of his response to what he reasonably believed was an emergency. A summation of the cases
further defining “emergency” as used in section 10(b) of the Act is necessary for our
disposition. In Gaffney, our supreme court defined the term “emergency” as it appears in
section 10(b) of the Act as “an unforeseen circumstance involving imminent danger to a person
or property requiring an urgent response.” 2012 IL 110012, ¶ 64. The supreme court
considered in Gaffney in two consolidated appeals whether two firefighters making claims
under section 10 of the Act were injured as a result of their response to what they reasonably
believed was an emergency. Id. ¶¶ 51, 71. The court concluded that, under the undisputed
facts, the “emergency” component of section 10 was met in Gaffney’s case, but not in the other
firefighter’s, Lemmenes’s, case. Id. ¶¶ 69, 79.
¶ 13 Gaffney was injured during a training exercise involving a fire on the third floor of a
building. He wore full fire gear for the exercise, and he was instructed to treat the exercise as an
actual emergency. The fire hose became stuck on a piece of furniture as the crew was moving it
between the second and third floors of the building. Gaffney followed the hose back down to
the second floor and found that it was hooked around a loveseat. Gaffney injured his shoulder
moving the loveseat. Id. ¶¶ 6-8. The supreme court concluded that the training exercise became
an emergency when the hose became stuck on the furniture, which was an unforeseen event.
The court concluded that this unforeseen event created an imminent danger and required an
urgent response as the rest of the crew was stranded on the stairwell with no visibility and
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without any water to extinguish the fire. Furthermore, the court held that when Gaffney
returned to the second floor to free the hose, he had put himself in danger of being lost and
disoriented in the smoke-filled building. Id. ¶¶ 66-67.
¶ 14 Lemmenes was also a firefighter who was injured during a training exercise. This training
exercise occurred in an abandoned building, and the firefighters were required to wear full fire
gear. There was no actual fire during the exercise, but the firefighters’ masks were blackened
to simulate live fire conditions, and they were instructed to act as if the training were an actual
emergency. The firefighters were told that a fellow firefighter was trapped inside the building,
was running out of air, and would die if not rescued. A fire department supervisor testified that
the individual acting as the trapped firefighter was never in any real danger during the exercise.
Lemmenes was injured when he attempted to free the trapped firefighter. Id. ¶¶ 21-24. The
supreme court held that Lemmenes could not have reasonably believed that he was responding
to an “emergency” under section 10(b) of the Act where the exercise was conducted under
controlled conditions, no one was in any imminent danger at any point during the exercise, and
no unexpected or unforeseen developments arose during the training. Id. ¶¶ 77-78.
¶ 15 The following appellate court cases have further interpreted the “emergency” requirement
under section 10(b) of the Act and the supreme court’s decision in Gaffney. First, in
Springborn v. Village of Sugar Grove, 2013 IL App (2d) 120861, ¶ 4, the appellate court
considered in consolidated appeals whether two police officers making claims under section
10 of the Act reasonably believed that they were responding to emergencies. Springborn had
observed asphalt debris on a highway, activated his emergency lights, parked behind the pieces
of asphalt, and injured his back while clearing the road. Id. ¶¶ 8-10. Cecala, the other police
officer, parked his police vehicle behind a fallen traffic signal pole in the west southbound lane
of a highway. He was injured while he and another officer were attempting to move the traffic
signal off the roadway. Id. ¶¶ 15-19. Relying on Gaffney, the court concluded that both officers
reasonably believed that they were responding to emergencies. The court held that the roadway
obstructions involved imminent danger to a person or property requiring an urgent response,
finding that the officers believed that they were facing emergencies and that the officers’
subjective beliefs about the presence of an emergency was reasonable. Id. ¶¶ 34, 36. The court
rejected the argument that a roadway obstruction was not an unforeseen circumstance given
the officers’ prior experience with roadway obstructions, noting that “an event is no less dire if
it falls within the kinds of events that police officers ought to anticipate encountering in their
daily duties.” Id. ¶ 36.
¶ 16 Another appellate court case interpreting Gaffney is Pedersen v. Village of Hoffman
Estates, 2014 IL App (1st) 123402. Pedersen involved a firefighter who had responded to a
call regarding a tanker truck fire on an Illinois toll road. After the fire was extinguished,
Pedersen was retrieving safety triangles from near the tanker truck and was within feet of the
fire engine when the siren was inadvertently and unexpectedly activated. Consequently,
Pedersen’s hearing was damaged and he was ultimately unable to continue working. Id. ¶¶ 4-9.
The court found that these circumstances fell within the scope of section 10(b) of the Act in
that the firefighter’s injury occurred as a result of a response to what he reasonably believed to
be an emergency situation. The court concluded that it was reasonable to believe that the
emergency was ongoing and the scene remained dangerous. Id. ¶ 60.
¶ 17 In the present case, the City argues that the facts did not establish that the plaintiff’s injury
was incurred as a result of his response to what he reasonably believed to be an emergency.
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Specifically, the City argues that there was no evidence that the reason for the call was an
emergency situation which involved imminent danger to a person or property that required an
urgent response. The City argues that the plaintiff’s interpretation of the term “emergency” as
used in section 10(b) of the Act “reads the ‘emergency’ requirement” out of the Act as any
officer injured while answering a dispatch call would be entitled to health insurance coverage
regardless of whether the call involved an unforeseen circumstance that involved imminent
danger to a person or property requiring an urgent response. The City explains that this
interpretation assumes that “receipt of any active duty call, even one to tell the officer that they
are authorized to take a break, would constitute an emergency.”
¶ 18 Applying Gaffney and its progeny to the undisputed facts of this case, we find that the
plaintiff is entitled to benefits under section 10 of the Act. The stipulated facts revealed that the
plaintiff was on duty as a patrolman when he was stopped by a motorist who asked for
directions. He exited his patrol car in order to assist the motorist. While outside his vehicle, he
received a call from dispatch over his police radio. His affidavit indicated that he was equipped
with a portable radio, but that the radio was not turned on. Because he was in close proximity to
his patrol car, he returned to the vehicle to answer the call and suffered his work-related injury.
¶ 19 The plaintiff’s affidavit indicated that a call from dispatch was one means in which the
officers are notified of an emergency. Although we recognize that there was no evidence
presented that this dispatch call resulted in an emergency situation, it is an officer’s duty to
respond to dispatch calls in a timely manner and be prepared for any eventuality. An officer
cannot know the nature of the call until he responds. Therefore, until the officer is able to
eliminate the possibility that the dispatch call is an emergency, the officer treats the call as if it
were such. Like Springborn, the circumstances surrounding the plaintiff’s injury are no less
dire because it fell within the kinds of events that police officers anticipate encountering in
their daily duties. The evidence established that the plaintiff was engaged in the act of
responding to what he believed was a potential emergency that could have, based on the fact
that a radio call from dispatch was a means of communication concerning an emergency
situation, involved imminent danger to a person or property and therefore required an urgent
response. Accordingly, we conclude that these facts establish that the plaintiff’s injury was
incurred as a result of his response to what he reasonably believed was an emergency.
¶ 20 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of the circuit court of Jackson County
and remand for further proceedings consistent with this decision.
¶ 21 Reversed and remanded.
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