Papadakis v. Fitness 19 IL 116, LLC ( 2020 )

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Appellate Court Date: 2020.06.28
19:12:19 -05'00'
Papadakis v. Fitness 19 IL 116, LLC, 2018 IL App (1st) 170388Appellate Court MARIA PAPADAKIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FITNESS 19 IL 116,
Caption LLC, d/b/a Fitness 19; F-19 HOLDINGS, LLC, d/b/a Fitness 19; and
CHAD DRAKE, Defendants-Appellees.
District & No. First District, Fourth Division
Docket No. 1-17-0388
Filed June 28, 2018
Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 14-L-05483; the
Review Hon. Larry G. Axelrood, Judge, presiding.
Judgment Reversed and remanded.
Counsel on Glenn J. Dunn Jr. and Angel P. Bakov, of Glen J. Dunn & Associates,
Appeal Ltd., of Chicago, for appellant.
Hugh C. Griffin and Mary N. Nielsen, of Hall Prangle & Schoonveld,
LLC, of Chicago, for appellees.
Panel JUSTICE ELLIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Presiding Justice Burke and Justice McBride concurred in the
judgment and opinion.
OPINION
¶1 While exercising at a health club called Fitness 19 under the supervision of one of the
club’s personal trainers, plaintiff, Maria Papadakis, slipped and fell off an unsecured piece of
equipment known as a plyometric step. She sued the health club, its corporate affiliate
(collectively, the Fitness 19 Defendants), and the personal trainer, Chad Drake, for negligence
and willful and wanton conduct. She also sued the Fitness 19 Defendants under a theory of
respondeat superior for the conduct of their employee, Drake.
¶2 The trial court dismissed the direct claims of willful and wanton conduct against the Fitness
19 Defendants but left intact the willful-and-wanton allegations against the personal trainer,
Drake. That ruling is not challenged on appeal.
¶3 The trial court later entered summary judgment on all negligence claims, based on a
waiver-of-liability clause in a contract plaintiff signed with the health club. To the trial court’s
thinking, that left standing only a single count: the direct claim of willful and wanton conduct
against the personal trainer, Drake, with no viable claims against the Fitness 19 Defendants.
¶4 Plaintiff does not challenge the trial court’s ruling that the waiver-of-liability clause barred
all negligence claims. Plaintiff challenges only a sliver of the summary judgment ruling. She
says that the respondeat superior counts against the Fitness 19 Defendants (counts II and VI)
alleged not only the employee’s negligence but also his willful and wanton conduct. Thus,
while she does not challenge the grant of summary judgment on counts II and VI insofar as
they concerned Drake’s negligence, she claims that those counts should stand to the extent they
allege his willful and wanton acts.
¶5 After the grant of summary judgment below, plaintiff filed a motion to reconsider to make
this very point—that counts II and VI should be read as including willful-and-wanton
allegations and thus, to that extent, should have survived the summary judgment ruling. The
trial court did not read the complaint the same way, writing that its summary judgment ruling
“did not address counts of willful and wanton conduct against [the Fitness 19 Defendants]
because such counts were not pled in the second amended complaint.” (Emphasis added.)
¶6 Plaintiff also sought leave to file a third amended complaint to more explicitly add
allegations of willful and wanton conduct by Drake in the respondeat superior counts II and
VI. The trial court denied that motion, too.
¶7 On appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her leave to
amend the complaint and likewise erred in denying the motion to reconsider its entry of
summary judgment as to counts II and VI. The rulings came in different orders on different
dates.
¶8 As a preliminary matter, the Fitness 19 Defendants challenge our jurisdiction to hear the
appeal from the order denying plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint. We agree that
we lack jurisdiction over that order.
¶9 At the time the appeal was taken, the matter was pending (and remains pending) in the trial
court, as count IV, directed against defendant Chad Drake, survived all the dispositive motions.
Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (eff. Mar. 8, 2016), “an appeal may be taken from
a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the parties or claims only if the trial
court has made an express written finding that there is no just reason for delaying either
enforcement or appeal or both.” (Emphasis added.)
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¶ 10 Ordinarily, an order denying leave to amend a complaint is not considered a “final
judgment.” Ely v. Pivar, 2018 IL App (1st) 170626, ¶ 39; Paul H. Schwendener, Inc. v. Jupiter
Electric Co., 358 Ill. App. 3d 65, 82 (2005); Gray v. Starkey, 41 Ill. App. 3d 555, 558 (1976).
But we may review the denial of leave to amend when the plaintiff sought to amend counts
that the trial court dismissed with prejudice. Ely, 2018 IL App (1st) 170626, ¶ 39; Jupiter, 358
Ill. App. 3d at 82. That principle has been extended as well to denials of leave to amend certain
counts on which (as here) summary judgment was granted. See Enblom v. Milwaukee Golf
Development, 227 Ill. App. 3d 623, 628 (1992) (“As a result of our determination that we have
jurisdiction over the appeal of the denial of the motion to vacate the summary judgment, we
have permitted ourselves to comment substantively on the issue of leave to amend due to the
effect of the summary judgment on the motion for leave to amend.”).
¶ 11 But we need not decide if plaintiff could bootstrap that denial-of-leave order onto the
summary judgment order here because, even if she could, we would lack jurisdiction over the
order denying leave to amend for a different reason: it lacked the requisite finding under Rule
304(a) that there was no just reason to delay enforcement from or appeal of that order. Ill. S.
Ct. R. 304(a) (eff. Mar. 8, 2016). “In the absence of such a finding, any judgment that
adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liability of fewer than all the parties is
not enforceable or appealable.” Id. Even if the order denying leave was final, it was not
appealable. We thus lack jurisdiction to review it. Ely, 2018 IL App (1st) 170626, ¶ 36 (“[T]he
absence of a Rule 304 finding in a judgment—for whatever reason—leaves the judgment final
but unenforceable and unappealable.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)); In re Estate of Lee,
2017 IL App (3d) 150651, ¶ 21.
¶ 12 We do, however, have jurisdiction to review the order denying plaintiff’s motion to
reconsider summary judgment, as it was unquestionably a final order, and it contained the
requisite Rule 304(a) language. See Enblom, 227 Ill. App. 3d at 628. We turn to that question.
¶ 13 A motion to reconsider brings to the court’s attention changes in the law, new evidence, or
errors in the court’s application of existing law. Broadnax v. Morrow, 326 Ill. App. 3d 1074,
1082 (2002). We usually review this ruling for an abuse of discretion. Id. But when the motion
to reconsider argues that the trial court committed legal error in entering summary judgment,
our review is de novo, as we are really just reviewing the original grant of summary judgment.
O’Shield v. Lakeside Bank, 335 Ill. App. 3d 834, 837-38 (2002). And plaintiff’s argument is a
purely legal one—that the trial court improperly disposed of the respondeat superior counts in
their entirety in its summary judgment order, when it should have read them as including not
just claims of Drake’s negligence but also his willful and wanton conduct.
¶ 14 Summary judgment is proper only where “the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on
file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material
fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” 735 ILCS 5/2-
1005(c) (West 2014). We construe these materials strictly against the movant and liberally in
favor of the opponent. Mashal v. City of Chicago, 2012 IL 112341, ¶ 49. As summary judgment
is a drastic disposition, the moving party’s right must be “clear and free from doubt.” Id.¶ 15 Under the respondeat superior doctrine, an employer can be vicariously liable for the torts
of an employee acting within the scope of employment. Vancura v. Katris, 238 Ill. 2d 352, 375
(2010). The employee’s liability is imputed to the employer; the plaintiff generally need not
establish any malfeasance by the employer. Id. The employer’s liability extends to negligent,
willful, malicious, or even criminal acts of its employees within the scope of employment.
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Adames v. Sheahan, 233 Ill. 2d 276, 298 (2009); Mitchell v. Norman James Construction Co.,
291 Ill. App. 3d 927, 932 (1997).
¶ 16 Respondeat superior liability attaches for an employee’s conduct if (1) an
employer/employee relationship existed, (2) the principal controlled or had the right to control
the employee’s conduct, and (3) the employee’s conduct fell within the scope of the agency or
employment. Wilson v. Edward Hospital, 2012 IL 112898, ¶ 18. For purposes of this appeal,
there is no issue as to whether plaintiff has established these requirements. The Fitness 19
Defendants have conceded that Drake was their employee and have never claimed in any
dispositive motion (or on appeal) that Drake was not acting within the scope of his employment
when his client, plaintiff, was injured. For summary judgment purposes, construing the record
liberally in plaintiff’s favor, we thus presume that plaintiff has established the three
prerequisites.
¶ 17 Nor is there an issue as to the sufficiency of the willful and wanton claims directed against
the employee, Drake, in the count directed at him (count IV). The trial court ruled that a
question of fact existed as to whether Drake’s conduct was willful and wanton; indeed, count
IV was the only count headed to trial following the summary judgment ruling.
¶ 18 In other words, there is no question that for our purposes, plaintiff has a cognizable claim
of willful and wanton conduct against Drake, nor is there a question that the Fitness 19
Defendants could be held liable, in theory, for Drake’s willful and wanton acts. The only issue
is whether plaintiff actually alleged that the Fitness 19 Defendants were liable for Drake’s
willful and wanton conduct, as opposed to merely his negligent conduct, in counts II and VI,
the respondeat superior counts. The trial court believed that counts II and VI did not allege
willful and wanton acts—only negligent acts.
¶ 19 The Fitness 19 Defendants agree. They raise the following points in support: (1) counts II
and VI were entitled “Negligence—Respondeat Superior”; (2) counts II and VI neither
mentioned the words “willful and wanton conduct” nor the phrases typically pleaded to allege
that conduct; and (3) willful and wanton conduct is materially different from negligent
conduct, and thus so are the pleading requirements, so a court should not infer the former from
the latter.
¶ 20 Deciding this question puts us in unusual terrain in reviewing a grant of summary
judgment: we must examine the sufficiency of the complaint. Usually, we probe the record for
the existence of a question of material fact, or we decide a substantive issue of law, in
determining whether the right to summary judgment was “clear and free from doubt.” Mashal,
2012 IL 112341, ¶ 49. But there is no question that the pleadings can play a role in this analysis.
After all, the governing statute itself directs us to consider “the pleadings” as well as the
affidavits, depositions, and admissions in the record. 735 ILCS 5/2-1005(c) (West 2014); see
Mashal, 2012 IL 112341, ¶ 49. So we begin with general pleading principles.
¶ 21 Pleadings serve to inform the court and the parties “of the legal theories relied upon and to
give notice of the factual issues which are to be tried.” People v. $1,124,905 U.S. Currency &
One 1988 Chevrolet Astro Van, 177 Ill. 2d 314, 335 (1997). As such, “[n]o pleading is bad in
substance which contains such information as reasonably informs the opposite party of the
nature of the claim or defense which he or she is called upon to meet.” 735 ILCS 5/2-612(b)
(West 2016). Pleadings are not intended to “create obstacles of a technical nature to prevent
reaching the merits of a case” but rather “to facilitate the resolution of real and substantial
controversies.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Norman A. Koglin Associates v. Valenz
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Oro, Inc., 176 Ill. 2d 385, 395 (1997) (quoting People ex rel. Scott v. College Hills Corp., 91
Ill. 2d 138, 145 (1982)). We liberally construe pleadings with a view to doing substantial justice
between the parties. 1,124,905 U.S. Currency, 177 Ill. 2d at 335; People ex rel. Fahner v.
Carriage Way West, Inc., 88 Ill. 2d 300, 308 (1981); 735 ILCS 5/2-603(c) (West 2014).
¶ 22 Before deciding whether the respondeat superior counts sufficiently pleaded willful and
wanton conduct in addition to negligence, we must discuss the differences and similarities
between the two. Negligence is a cause of action sounding in tort, but there is no separate,
independent tort of willful and wanton conduct. Jane Doe-3 v. McLean County Unit District
No. 5 Board of Directors, 2012 IL 112479, ¶ 19. Willful and wanton conduct is “an aggravated
form of negligence.” Id. Thus, to recover for willful and wanton conduct, a plaintiff must first
plead the elements of negligence (duty, breach of duty, injuries proximately caused by the
breach) and then also plead a heightened state of mind. Id.; see also Krywin v. Chicago Transit
Authority, 238 Ill. 2d 215, 235 (2010); Doe v. Chicago Board of Education, 213 Ill. 2d 19, 28
(2004).
¶ 23 How, precisely, to define that heightened state of mind has proven elusive. “Under the facts
of one case, willful and wanton misconduct may be only degrees more than ordinary
negligence, while under the facts of another case, willful and wanton acts may be only degrees
less than intentional wrongdoing.” Ziarko v. Soo Line R.R. Co., 161 Ill. 2d 267, 275-76 (1994).
That said, our supreme court has described it as “a deliberate intention to harm or a conscious
disregard for the plaintiff’s welfare” (Jane Doe-3, 2012 IL 112479, ¶ 19) and as “an utter
indifference to *** the welfare of the plaintiff” (Adkins v. Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center,
129 Ill. 2d 497, 518 (1989)). And the supreme court has long held that utter indifference or
conscious disregard can include “the failure to take reasonable precautions after ‘knowledge
of impending danger.’ ” Barr v. Cunningham, 2017 IL 120751, ¶ 20 (quoting Lynch v. Board
of Education of Collinsville Community Unit District No. 10, 82 Ill. 2d 415, 429 (1980)).
¶ 24 In any event, at a minimum, negligence and willful and wanton conduct “shar[e] some
characteristics.” Burke v. 12 Rothschild’s Liquor Mart, Inc., 148 Ill. 2d 429, 451 (1992). In
fact, in the appropriate case, the same facts that are alleged to constitute negligent conduct
could be sufficient to allege willful and wanton conduct. O’Brien v. Township High School
District 214, 83 Ill. 2d 462, 465-66, 468 (1980); accord Block v. Lohan Associates, Inc., 269
Ill. App. 3d 745, 771 (1993) (“It is established law that the same actions may be done
negligently or with wilful and wanton disregard, and that allegations for wilful and wanton
conduct will not fail simply because they mirror allegations for negligence and merely change
the state of mind.”).
¶ 25 With that in mind, we examine counts II and VI of the second amended complaint, which
are substantively identical, the only difference being the name of the different corporate
defendants. Both counts adopt and incorporate by reference the general allegations raised in
the “Common Facts” that preceded the numbered counts. Those general allegations detail the
accident in which plaintiff fell off the unsecured plyometric step while under the supervision
of the club’s trainer, Drake.
¶ 26 The complaint alleges that during seven weeks of workouts before the date of the accident,
Drake had instructed plaintiff to use the plyometric step, but “only in the rubber floor area of
the fitness facility,” where “the plyometric step was secured against a solid surface, e.g., a wall,
as to prevent it from moving while being utilized.” But on the day of the accident—November
29, 2012—Drake placed the plyometric step “in the carpeted area” of the fitness facility, where
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it “was not secured against a solid surface,” nor did the step contain “anti-slip or anti-skid feet”
or “ridges on the bottom of it.” And due to its age, “the bottom of the plyometric step was worn
off and it had a smooth surface.”
¶ 27 The complaint alleges that Drake knew the step was unsecured and knew about all of these
aspects of the step that made it prone to slipping. It also alleges that, before starting the step
exercises, “[p]laintiff told Chad Drake that she did not feel safe performing the exercise and
utilizing the plyometric step” because it “was freestanding and not secured against a flat
surface” as it always had been in the past; she also told Drake that she did not feel safe using
the step “on the carpeted area” of the facility. The complaint alleges, however, that “Drake
insisted that Plaintiff utilize the plyometric step” and “assured Plaintiff that she would be safe
even though he knew the step was unstable.” After plaintiff performed one set of exercises,
she “again expressed her concern for her safety” to Drake, but Drake “insisted that what
Plaintiff was experiencing was just a mental block and instructed her to ‘get over it’ and
continue performing the exercise.”
¶ 28 Plaintiff alleged that during the third set of repetitions, the plyometric step “moved
backwards, causing [her] to fall and make contact with the fitness center floor with great force.”
She alleged that Drake had moved away from her at that moment—he was putting away
another piece of equipment—and thus failed to brace her or catch her.
¶ 29 As these allegations were incorporated into counts II and VI, they are obviously part of
those counts. See HPI Health Care Services, Inc. v. Mt. Vernon Hospital, Inc., 131 Ill. 2d 145,
160 (1989). They allege that Drake created an unsafe condition, an unbraced plyometric step,
made unsecured because he moved it from a rubber mat against a wall to a carpeted area out
in the open gym and because the step had no anti-skid features and was worn smooth on the
bottom due to age. Drake knew it was unsecured and unsafe. Plaintiff told him she did not feel
safe using it. Drake “insisted” that she use it anyway. When plaintiff stopped after the first
round of exercise, again expressing concern for her safety, he again “insisted” she continue
and told her to “get over” her concern. And then he walked away, so when she fell, he was not
there to stabilize her or catch her.
¶ 30 This was more than sufficient to plead “the failure to take reasonable precautions after
‘knowledge of impending danger.’ ” Barr, 2017 IL 120751, ¶ 20 (quoting Lynch, 82 Ill. 2d at
429). It also suffices to plead “a conscious disregard for the plaintiff’s welfare” (Jane Doe-3,
2012 IL 112479, ¶ 19) or an “utter indifference” to her safety (Adkins, 129 Ill. 2d at 518).
¶ 31 We would also note that the allegations of willful and wanton conduct directed against
Drake, in count IV, incorporated these same general allegations and only elaborated on them
slightly within the body of count IV—yet those allegations survived a motion to dismiss. If
they are good enough for a direct claim against Drake, they are good enough for a
respondeat superior claim against his employers for that very same conduct.
¶ 32 It is true that counts II and VI were titled “Negligence—Respondeat Superior.” That did
not help matters, but the title of a count has never controlled over the substance of the claim.
“[T]he character of [a] pleading should be determined from its content, not its label.” (Internal
quotation marks omitted.) In re Parentage of Scarlett Z.-D., 2015 IL 117904, ¶ 64 (quoting
In re Haley D., 2011 IL 110886, ¶ 67). “[C]ourts should look to what the pleading contains,
not what it is called.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.; see also Township of Jubilee v.
State, 2011 IL 111447, ¶ 34 (“Formality is important in some contexts, but pleadings are to be
liberally construed with a view toward doing substantial justice between the parties *** and
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Illinois courts have not hesitated to characterize pleadings by their content rather than by their
title.”).
¶ 33 The Fitness 19 Defendants are also correct that the words “willful and wanton” never
appear in counts II and VI, nor do any phrases such as “conscious disregard” for or “utter
indifference” to plaintiff’s safety, or any others typically associated with willful and wanton
acts. But the facts are there. Illinois is a fact-pleading state. $1,124,905 U.S. Currency, 177 Ill.
2d at 335; Fahner, 88 Ill. 2d at 308. We do not look for magical buzzwords; we ask whether
the complaint “allege[s] sufficient facts to bring plaintiff’s claim for a remedy within the scope
of a legally recognized cause of action.” Adkins, 129 Ill. 2d at 518. “It is fundamental that facts
and not conclusions are to be pleaded.” Id. at 519.
¶ 34 We do not see how defendants could possibly complain that they have not been given
“notice of the factual issues which are to be tried.” $1,124,905 U.S. Currency, 177 Ill. 2d at
335. Nor do we think that reading counts II and VI as including willful and wanton claims
would violate the notion of construing pleadings with an idea toward “substantial justice.” Id.;
Fahner, 88 Ill. 2d at 308; 735 ILCS 5/2-603(c) (West 2014). After all, the Fitness 19
Defendants obviously understood that plaintiff was seeking to hold them vicariously liable for
the acts of Drake. Other than having to prove the three elements for respondeat superior—
which were clearly pleaded in counts II and VI—the case rose or fell on Drake’s actions, which
the complaint clearly alleged to include willful and wanton acts.
¶ 35 The Fitness 19 Defendants cite Adkins, 129 Ill. 2d at 518, as an example of a court finding
an insufficient pleading of willful and wanton conduct for failure to plead “either a deliberate
intention to harm or an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the welfare of the
plaintiff.” But that decision illustrates our point; the plaintiff there did plead that the
defendants’ actions were “willful, wanton and intentional.” Id. at 519. What doomed that
complaint was its failure to allege “facts which, if proven, would show that the defendants
acted or failed to act with an utter indifference or conscious disregard for the plaintiff’s rights.”
(Emphasis added.) Id. Counts II and VI here do not suffer from that problem.
¶ 36 Adkins favorably cited the decision in Spencer v. Community Hospital of Evanston, 87 Ill.
App. 3d 214, 220 (1980), where this court likewise held that the complaint’s “pure conclusions
of law” that the defendants “ ‘falsely’ ” and “ ‘maliciously’ ” acted against the plaintiff
“add[ed] nothing to the complaint without some further allegations of specific facts.” See
Adkins, 129 Ill. 2d at 519 (discussing Spencer); see also Cipolla v. Bloom Township High
School District No. 206, 69 Ill. App. 3d 434, 437 (1979) (“Willful and wanton misconduct
must be manifested by the facts alleged in the complaint ***.”).
¶ 37 The facts are the key, and counts II and VI had them. Thus, however inartfully styled,
counts II and VI alleged respondeat superior liability for Drake’s willful and wanton conduct,
and to that extent they should have survived summary judgment.
¶ 38 In fairness to the trial court, plaintiff could have done a much better job of delineating her
claims in the second amended complaint. When the trial court entered summary judgment on
all counts pertaining to negligence, based on the liability-waiver clause in the health club
contract, the court was understandably not focused on the nuances of counts II and VI. But
when plaintiff filed her emergency motion to reconsider summary judgment as to counts II and
VI, calling this point to the trial court’s attention, the motion to reconsider should have been
granted.
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¶ 39 We reverse the trial court’s order insofar as it entered summary judgment as to the willful
and wanton claims in counts II and VI and remand this cause for further proceedings consistent
with this opinion.
¶ 40 Reversed and remanded.
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