"Looking at How 'willful and wanton' Gets Defined," a free article from Clifford Law Offices: Chicago Personal Injury Law Firm.

Chicago personal injury law office, Clifford Law Offices, has posted a legal article on their website (http://www.cliffordlaw.com) in an effort to educate the public about legal matters such as those pertaining to 'willfun and wanton' conduct.

In cases involving governmental defendants, it is often times necessary for the plaintiff to prove that the defendant engaged in willful and wanton conduct. The common law definition of willful and wanton includes conduct that ranges from an "intentional act" to the "failure, after knowledge of impending danger, to exercise ordinary care to prevent it or a failure to discover the danger through recklessness or carelessness when it could have been discovered by the exercise of ordinary care." That common law definition was codified into the Tort Immunity Act in 1986. But, in 1998, the General Assembly added a new sentence to that statutory definition which stated that "[t]his definition shall apply in any case where a 'willful and wanton' exception is incorporated into any immunity under this Act." The question for courts and litigants alike was whether that amendment imposed a new, heightened definition of willful and wanton for cases that implicated the Tort Immunity Act.

Colin H. Dunn, an associate attorney at the nationally renowned Chicago-based personal injury law firm, Clifford Law Offices, P.C., wrote an article discussing that question for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin entitled "
“>Looking at How 'willful and wanton' Gets Defined." In this article, Dunn looks specifically at the case Tagliere v. Western Springs Park District, No. 1-09-2633, slip op. (1st Dist. Feb. 25, 2011), where the court attempted to address that issue. Dunn shares his opinions on the court's decision and expresses his belief that the 1998 amendment did not provide a heightened definition of willful and wanton conduct in cases involving governmental defendants.

About Clifford Law Offices

Clifford Law Offices is ranked one of the top Chicago law firms. Our personal injury law firm concentrates in complex personal injury litigation such as for wrongful death, medical malpractice, product liability, premises negligence and transportation liability, including car-truck collisions, train accidents and aviation litigation.