SIXTH DIVISION
March 28, 2008
No. 1-06-3309
DANIEL RYAN,
)
Appeal from the
)
Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellant,
)
Cook County, Illinois.
)
)
)
No. 01 L 004073
v.
)
)
COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY,
)
Honorable
)
Bill Taylor
Defendant-Appellee.
)
Judge Presiding.
)
JUSTICE JOSEPH GORDON delivered the opinion of the court:
Electrician Daniel Ryan was injured in an on-the-job circuit breaker explosion. He
brought suit against Commonwealth Edison Company (Com Ed), alleging that Com Ed was
responsible for the electrical current that flowed into the building and that the severity of the
accident was increased by Com Ed’s negligent failure to adequately perform its ongoing
maintenance duties. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Com Ed on grounds
that Ryan’s claim was time-barred by the construction statute of repose, since it occurred more
than ten years after the electrical system was first installed. For the reasons that follow, we
reverse and remand.
I. BACKGROUND
Viewing the evidence liberally in favor of the nonmoving party, as is appropriate under a
summary judgment motion (Purtill v. Hess, 111 Ill. 2d 229, 240, 489 N.E.2d 867, 871 (1986)),
No. 1-06-3309
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we are presented with the following description of events as alleged by Ryan:
Ryan was an electrician employed by the City of Chicago. On April 2, 2001, the day of
the accident, Ryan was working in the Heating and Refrigeration (H&R) building at O’Hare
International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, performing maintenance work on a circuit breaker. He
was working with Byron Glista, an employee of High Voltage Maintenance Corporation (High
Voltage). Com Ed installed and owned the transformer (known as transformer number 6) which
provided electricity to the circuit breaker.
The procedure for the maintenance operation was that Ryan would first remove the circuit
breaker from the cubicle in which it was housed; Glista would then perform the necessary repairs
on it, and Ryan would reinstall the circuit breaker in