Supreme Court Case Involving Kaneland School Bus Crash 1958
1958 Kaneland School Bus Crash: The case that went to the Illinois Supreme Court Case and lead to the passing of the 1959 School Tort Liability Act.
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Source: Molitor v. KANELAND UNIT DIST. NO. 302
24 Ill. 2d 467 (1962)
Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed March 23, 1962.
On March 10, 1958, a school bus of the Kaneland School District struck a culvert, exploded and burned, causing injuries and burns to 14 of the children who were passengers in the bus.
Suits were filed against the school district on behalf of the injured children, including the four Molitor children and the other four children who are all plaintiffs herein.
Motions to dismiss the complaints which omitted the allegation of insurance were filed by the school district.
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The circuit court of Kane County dismissed the common-law negligence counts of plaintiffs' complaints against defendant Kaneland Community Unit District No. 302. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgments of dismissal on the ground that they were based on an accident occurring prior to December 16, 1959…
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[The case was then brought to the Supreme Court of Illinois who found the following:] Hence the counts omitting the allegation of insurance in plaintiffs' complaints should not have been dismissed, and the judgments are reversed and the causes remanded to the trial court, with directions to reinstate the counts.
Reversed and remanded, with directions.
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SOURCE: Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, Volume 2, Issue 1, Winter 1971, Article 6, Illinois School Tort Immunity, 1959—Present”
The court declared, "We conclude that the rule of school district immunity is unjust, unsupported by any valid reason, and has no rightful place in modem-day society."
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THE 1959 SCHOOL TORT LIABILITY ACT
In reaction to Molitor, the legislature enacted the 1959 School Tort Liability Act. It applied the proprietary--governmental distinction to schools and school districts, making them totally immune from tort liability for their governmental functions and limited their tort liability for proprietary functions to a maximum of $10,000.50.