{ "id": 5595929, "name": "GWENDOLYN A. SIMS-HEARN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER, The County of Cook et al., Defendants-Appellees", "name_abbreviation": "Sims-Hearn v. Office of the Medical Examiner", "decision_date": "2005-08-15", "docket_number": "No. 1\u201404\u20141927", "first_page": "439", "last_page": "447", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "359 Ill. App. 3d 439" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "355 Ill. App. 645", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "year": 2005, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "650", "parenthetical": "Statutes, of course, must be construed to avoid absurd results" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "166 Ill. 2d 72", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 198910 ], "year": 1995, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "86" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/166/0072-01" ] }, { "cite": "161 Ill. 2d 374", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 783173 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1994, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "385-86" }, { "page": "386" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/161/0374-01" ] }, { "cite": "160 Ill. App. 3d 999", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 3649304 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1987, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "1003" }, { "page": "1003" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/160/0999-01" ] }, { "cite": "801 F.2d 883", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "F.2d", "case_ids": [ 10549672 ], "year": 1986, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "884" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/f2d/801/0883-01" ] }, { "cite": "95 N.Y.2d 95", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.Y.2d", "case_ids": [ 1189205 ], "weight": 12, "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "97-98" }, { "page": "186" }, { "page": "114" }, { "page": "99-102" }, { "page": "186-89" }, { "page": "114-17" }, { "page": "102" }, { "page": "189" }, { "page": "117" }, { "page": "102" }, { "page": "189" }, { "page": "117" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ny-2d/95/0095-01" ] }, { "cite": "614 N.W.2d 177", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.W.2d", "weight": 4, "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "179" }, { "page": "178" }, { "page": "180-82" }, { "page": "180" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "241 Mich. App. 143", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Mich. App.", "case_ids": [ 254962 ], "weight": 4, "year": 2000, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "145" }, { "page": "145" }, { "page": "148-53" }, { "page": "148-49" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/mich-app/241/0143-01" ] }, { "cite": "278 Ill. App. 3d 628", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 1156905 ], "year": 1996, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "634" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/278/0628-01" ] }, { "cite": "183 Ill. 2d 30", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 209987 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1998, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "32" }, { "page": "44" }, { "page": "33" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/183/0030-01" ] }, { "cite": "169 Ill. 2d 110", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 909171 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1995, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "116" }, { "page": "116" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/169/0110-01" ] }, { "cite": "159 Ill. 2d 469", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 781334 ], "year": 1994, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "488" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/159/0469-01" ] }, { "cite": "294 Ill. App. 3d 1", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 35349 ], "year": 1997, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "18" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/294/0001-01" ] }, { "cite": "145 Ill. 2d 404", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5595999 ], "year": 1991, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "412" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/145/0404-01" ] }, { "cite": "198 Ill. 2d 475", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 29959 ], "weight": 2, "year": 2002, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "479-80", "parenthetical": "\"the Act does not create duties, but merely articulates which of the delineated immunities apply to certain common law duties\"" }, { "page": "480" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/198/0475-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 950, "char_count": 20813, "ocr_confidence": 0.788, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.0479795207415267e-07, "percentile": 0.5527364722808163 }, "sha256": "f726d07f2cce3ca8fd12abc8e49eb38741ffbe5ef042645c9978ad953bcb2140", "simhash": "1:9bb7b67438cf020e", "word_count": 3350 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T16:05:25.227457+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "GWENDOLYN A. SIMS-HEARN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER, The County of Cook et al., Defendants-Appellees." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "JUSTICE O\u2019MALLEY\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nPlaintiff, Gwendolyn Sims-Hearn, filed a claim in the Court of Claims, seeking compensation pursuant to the Crime Victims Compensation Act (740 ILCS 45/1 et seq. (West 2000)), for the death of her son. She claimed her son was murdered because he had witnessed a murder. After the Court of Claims denied her claim, plaintiff filed a pro se negligence action against defendant Office of the Medical Examiner of Cook County, alleging that defendant\u2019s negligent autopsy resulted in the Court of Claims denying her claim. Defendant then filed a motion to dismiss this complaint on the basis that the complaint was factually insufficient, barred by the applicable statute of limitations, and that defendant owed no legal duty of care to plaintiff pursuant to the public duty rule. The trial court granted defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss with prejudice.\nOn appeal, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred by failing to provide her with an opportunity to amend her complaint prior to granting defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss. In particular, she argues that had the trial court allowed her to amend her complaint, she could have successfully pled that defendant breached a \u201cspecial duty\u201d owed to her. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.\nBACKGROUND\nThe relevant facts of this case are as follows. On September 11, 1999, plaintiffs son, Willie Sims III, was found dead in a Chicago Housing Authority building. Prior to defendant issuing its report of postmortem examination (report), plaintiff contacted Dr. Filkins at the medical examiner\u2019s office to express her belief that her son was murdered because he had witnessed a murder. Plaintiff also informed Dr. Filkins that she planned on suing the Chicago Housing Authority. After examining the body, defendant ascertained that plaintiffs son died from cocaine and opiate intoxication, and therefore issued a report on November 10, 1999, which characterized the death as \u201caccidental.\u201d While reading this report, plaintiff found what she characterized as various errors. In particular, plaintiff alleged that defendant erroneously recorded her son\u2019s weight, height, age, name, and home address. She also asserted that defendant failed to notice and record various needle marks located on her son\u2019s body.\nThereafter, plaintiff filed a claim in the Court of Claims seeking compensation pursuant to the Illinois Crime Victims Compensation Act. The court denied plaintiffs claim on June 13, 2000, on the basis that her son\u2019s death was not the result of a violent crime but, rather, a drug overdose. The court cited defendant\u2019s report as one basis for this conclusion.\nPursuant to plaintiffs request, the Court of Claims conducted a hearing for her claim on April 29, 2002. At this hearing, plaintiff introduced into evidence defendant\u2019s report, which demonstrated that cocaine, morphine, and benzoylecgonine were all present in her son\u2019s system. After emphasizing that there was no mention in the report of any puncture marks on her son\u2019s left inner arm, plaintiff introduced postmortem photographs into evidence which depicted 10 puncture wounds on her son\u2019s left inner arm. Plaintiff then testified that on the day of her son\u2019s death she observed no needle marks on her son and that she believed he would not have worn a short-sleeved shirt on that day if he had needle marks on his arm. Accordingly, plaintiff believed that her son had been forcibly injected with drugs against his will. Plaintiff\u2019s daughter testified that although her brother \u201csmoked crack,\u201d he hated needles and would never have injected himself with a needle. The daughter further stated that her brother was afraid because he had witnessed a murder. Plaintiff also alleged that there were various errors in the \u201cpolice reports\u201d regarding her son\u2019s death. The court concluded that based on the above evidence, the plaintiff had failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that her son died as the result of a violent crime. The court therefore affirmed the order entered on June 13, 2000, denying plaintiff\u2019s application for benefits under the Crime Victims Compensation Act.\nThereafter, plaintiff contacted a police officer at Area 4 who told plaintiff that she needed to challenge defendant\u2019s report before the police could \u201cdo anything for her.\u201d Plaintiff then contacted defendant and inquired how to challenge the report. Plaintiff claimed that Dr. Edmund Donoghue, an employee at the medical examiner\u2019s office, repeatedly told her that she could not challenge the report. After expressing her concerns to the County Board, however, Donoghue advised plaintiff to write him a letter explaining why the report should be modified. Plaintiff then submitted two letters which contained funeral home photographs which depicted her son\u2019s body. In these letters, plaintiff noted the absence of any notations in the defendant\u2019s report concerning the fresh needle marks on her son\u2019s arms or the fingernail mark on her son\u2019s face, which were evident in the photographs taken of her son at the funeral home. She further noted that the report incorrectly listed or depicted her son\u2019s weight, age, name, and hair length. She also requested that the report be altered to reflect that her son\u2019s death was a homicide.\nOn August 12, 2003, the medical examiner\u2019s office mailed a letter to plaintiff. This letter stated that the report would be modified to change her son\u2019s address and name. Specifically, defendant changed the name on the report from \u201cWillie Simms Jr.\u201d to \u201cWillie Simms III.\u201d Defendant also indicated that there was indeed an abrasion located on the son\u2019s face, but that the report accurately recorded his height, weight, and age. Defendant refused to modify the report to record the needle marks evident in plaintiff\u2019s pictures because the marks were not present in the photographs taken at the time of the autopsy. Defendant concluded its letter by stating: \u201cHaving examined copies of your photographs and the autopsy photographs there is no new evidence that supports changing the manner of death from accident to homicide.\u201d Defendant then issued a revised report containing these corrections.\nOn April 12, 2004, plaintiff filed a pro se complaint in the circuit court of Cook County alleging that the \u201cCoroner\u2019s negligent action caused [her] to lose [her] claim in court.\u201d\nOn May 13, 2004, defendant filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to sections 2 \u2014 615(a), 2 \u2014 619(a)(5), and 2 \u2014 619.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 \u2014 615(a), 2 \u2014 619(a)(5), 2 \u2014 619.1 (West 2002)), arguing, inter alia, that: (1) plaintiffs complaint failed to allege any facts which would support a legally cognizable cause of action; (2)the statute of limitations barred plaintiffs complaint; and (3) defendant owed no duty of care to plaintiff pursuant to the public duty rule. The circuit court granted defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss with prejudice but did not provide grounds for its dismissal. This appeal followed.\nANALYSIS\nPlaintiff first contends that the trial court erred by failing to provide her with an opportunity to amend her complaint prior to granting defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss. She maintains that she could have successfully pled that defendant breached a \u201cspecial duty\u201d owed to her.\nDefendant responds that it owes no duty of care to plaintiff pursuant to the public duty rule and that plaintiff failed to comply with the statute of limitations period provided for under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act or the Act) (745 ILCS 10/8 \u2014 101 (West 2000)). Therefore, defendant argues that plaintiff could not have cured her initial complaint by amendment. We agree.\nWhether a local governmental entity owes a duty of care and whether that entity enjoys immunity pursuant to the Act are separate inquiries. Arteman v. Clinton Community Unit School District No. 15, 198 Ill. 2d 475, 479-80 (2002) (\u201cthe Act does not create duties, but merely articulates which of the delineated immunities apply to certain common law duties\u201d), citing Vesey v. Chicago Housing Authority, 145 Ill. 2d 404, 412 (1991). Therefore, the threshold issue to address before we consider the applicability of the Act\u2019s protections is whether defendant owed any duty of care to the plaintiff under the circumstances. Arteman, 198 Ill. 2d at 480.\nA trial court may dismiss a complaint for failure to state a cause of action with no opportunity to replead if it is clearly apparent that no set of facts can be proven which will entitle plaintiff to recovery. Jackson v. Michael Reese Hospital & Medical Center, 294 Ill. App. 3d 1, 18 (1997), citing Illinois Graphics Co. v. Nickum, 159 Ill. 2d 469, 488 (1994).\nAfter reviewing the record, we conclude that plaintiff could not have cured her complaint by an amendment because defendant owed no duty of care to plaintiff pursuant to the public duty rule. Our supreme court has established that to properly state a cause of action for negligence a plaintiff must plead that a defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, that the defendant breached that duty, and that the breach was the proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries. Mt. Zion State Bank & Trust v. Consolidated Communications, Inc., 169 Ill. 2d 110, 116 (1995). If there is no duty owed to the plaintiff by the defendant, it is axiomatic that the plaintiff cannot recover from the defendant. Mt. Zion, 169 Ill. 2d at 116.\nPursuant to the common law public duty rule, governmental entities generally owe no duty to provide an individual citizen with municipal services, such as police and fire protection. Zimmerman v. Village of Skokie, 183 Ill. 2d 30, 32 (1998). This rule shields municipalities and their employees from liability when conducting customary duties toward the public at large. Lawson v. City of Chicago, 278 Ill. App. 3d 628, 634 (1996). Although our court has not previously examined whether a medical examiner owes a duty of care to individual citizens to perform customary duties such as autopsies, our review of persuasive authority from sister states, a decision of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the ordinance delineating the responsibilities of the Cook County medical examiner, convinces us that no such duty exists.\nIn the matter of Otero v. Warnick, 241 Mich. App. 143, 145, 614 N.W.2d 177, 179 (2000), plaintiff attempted to impose liability on a forensic odontologist working for the county medical examiner because the findings from his investigation and his testimony at a preliminary examination led to the plaintiffs prosecution for murder. The odontologist testified at this hearing that plaintiff was the only person in the world who could have inflicted the bite marks on the victim\u2019s body. Later, a different forensic odontologist solicited by the plaintiff concluded that the bite marks found on the victim\u2019s body were too indistinct to include or exclude any suspect. As a result of this second opinion, the charges against the plaintiff were dismissed, and plaintiff sued the first odontologist for gross negligence. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the forensic odontologist, concluding that the public duty rule dictated that he owed no duty of care to the plaintiff. Otero, 241 Mich. App. at 145, 614 N.W.2d at 178. The appellate court affirmed the trial court, concluding that although the forensic odontologist may have prepared his report in an \u201cincompetent\u201d and \u201creprehensible\u201d manner, the medical examiner\u2019s only duty was to the state and the county medical examiner. Otero, 241 Mich. App. at 148-53, 614 N.W.2d at 180-82. In so concluding, the appellate court reasoned that: \u201cNothing in the statutory scheme has created duties to a criminal defendant; instead, the duty is owed to the state.\u201d Otero, 241 Mich. App. at 148-49, 614 N.W.2d at 180.\nSimilarly, in Lauer v. New York, 95 N.Y.2d 95, 97-98, 733 N.E.2d 184, 186, 711 N.Y.S.2d 112, 114 (2000), a negligent autopsy by a municipal medical examiner resulted in the police investigation of plaintiff for the death of her son. Despite a subsequent autopsy performed by this same medical examiner and a neuropathologist which indicated that the plaintiff\u2019s son had died from a brain aneurysm, the medical examiner failed to modify its original report or notify law enforcement authorities until a newspaper article revealed the findings of the subsequent report. The plaintiff then sued the City of New York for, inter alia, the negligent infliction of emotional distress. On appeal, the court addressed whether a medical examiner owed a duty of care to the plaintiff under the circumstances. Although acknowledging that \u201c[n]o one disputed the Medical Examiner\u2019s misconduct,\u201d the court noted that the statute delineating the responsibilities of the medical examiner indicated that the medical examiner\u2019s duties were performed for the public\u2019s benefit. Lauer, 95 N.Y.2d at 99-102, 733 N.E.2d at 186-89, 711 N.Y.S.2d at 114-17. Thus, according to the court, the statute was not intended to protect members of the general public or individuals like the plaintiff who may become criminal suspects. Lauer, 95 N.Y.2d at 102, 733 N.E.2d at 189, 711 N.Y.S.2d at 117. Moreover, the court concluded that \u201c[pjermitting recovery *** would *** radically enlarg[e] both the responsibility of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the potential liability of the City.\u201d Lauer, 95 N.Y.2d at 102, 733 N.E.2d at 189, 711 N.Y.S.2d at 117.\nThe reasoning in the above cases persuades us that medical examiners owe no duty of care to members of the public while performing their customary duties, such as autopsies. Similar to the ordinances and statutes in Lauer and Otero, the Cook County ordinances that outline the responsibilities of the office of the medical examiner support the inference that the office works on the behalf of the public at large, not individuals. Specifically, the ordinance requires that the medical examiner investigate any deaths that fall within certain enumerated categories, which, in part, include: criminal violence, suicide, accident, and suspicious and unusual circumstances. Ordinances and Resolutions of the County of Cook Medical Examiner \u00a7 5\u2014 128 \u2014 9. Where a death can be characterized under one of these enumerated categories, the ordinance instructs the medical examiner to conduct an autopsy to sufficiently establish the cause of death, to recover and retain evidence used for the investigation, and to inform the office of the State\u2019s Attorney if the medical examiner determines that the cause of death may be caused by criminal conduct. Ordinances and Resolutions of the County of Cook Medical Examiner \u00a7\u00a7 5 \u2014 128\u2014 10, 5 \u2014 131\u201412. Nothing within these provisions supports the conclusion that the medical examiner owes a duty of care to individuals in plaintiffs position. Moreover, we agree with the analogy expressed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Kompare v. Stein, 801 F.2d 883, 884 (7th Cir. 1986), that a medical examiner\u2019s function in performing an autopsy is analogous to that of a police officer investigating a suspected homicide. They both investigate deaths, in part, to protect the public from future crime. Accordingly, the rationale underlying the public duty rule seems equally applicable to both professions, namely, that a municipality\u2019s duty is to preserve the \u201c \u2018well-being of the community\u2019 \u201d and that this duty is \u201c \u2018owed to the public at large rather than to specific members of the community.\u2019 \u201d Zimmerman, 183 Ill. 2d at 44, quoting Schaffrath v. Village of Buffalo Grove, 160 Ill. App. 3d 999, 1003 (1987). Thus, we see no reason not to extend to medical examiners the same protection afforded to police officers pursuant to the public duty rule and, as a consequence, we conclude that defendant owed no duty of care to plaintiff.\nWe also deem plaintiffs reliance on the special duty doctrine misplaced. In Illinois, a party may invoke the special duty doctrine to defeat a claim by a municipality that it is protected by the public duty doctrine. Doe v. Calumet City, 161 Ill. 2d 374, 385-86 (1994). The special duty doctrine operates in limited circumstances where a governmental entity has assumed a special relationship to an individual \u201c \u2018so as to elevate that person\u2019s status to something more than just being a member of the public.\u2019 \u201d Zimmerman, 183 Ill. 2d at 33, quoting Schaffrath, 160 Ill. App. 3d at 1003. Relying on this doctrine, plaintiff contends that the contacts she initiated with defendant created a \u201cspecial duty\u201d owed to her by defendant. We are not persuaded by her argument. Our supreme court has created a four-part test to apply when analyzing whether a plaintiff may utilize the special duty rule:\n\u201c(1) The municipality must be uniquely aware of the particular danger or risk to which plaintiff is exposed; (2) there must be specific acts or omissions on the part of the municipality; (3) the specific acts must be affirmative or willful in nature; and (4) the injury must occur while the plaintiff is under the direct and immediate control of municipal employees or agents.\u201d Doe, 161 Ill. 2d at 386.\nAssuming, arguendo, that plaintiff can plead and prove that defendant committed specific acts which were affirmative or willful in nature, plaintiff has not met the remaining requirements, i.e., there is no indication here that plaintiff was exposed to any danger from the defendant\u2019s autopsy report or that plaintiff was under defendant\u2019s exclusive control when her \u201cinjury\u201d occurred. Plaintiff alleges in her complaint that defendant\u2019s autopsy report precluded her from recovering compensation pursuant to the Illinois Crime Victims Compensation Act. We are aware of no precedent, and plaintiff cites to none, where \u201cdanger\u201d is defined within the context of special duty analysis in terms of financial loss. Furthermore, plaintiff neither claims that she was under the exclusive control of defendant when her \u201cinjury\u201d occurred nor cites to any evidence or authority that would support such a conclusion. Plaintiff\u2019s use of the special duty doctrine is therefore unavailing.\nThus, we find that defendant owed no duty of care to plaintiff and, as a consequence, plaintiff could not have cured her defective pleading. Accordingly, the trial court did not err by not affording plaintiff an opportunity to amend her complaint.\nThe dismissal of plaintiffs action was proper on a separate basis. The Act provides that a plaintiff may not file suit against a local entity for an injury more than one year from the date that the plaintiff received her injury. 745 ILCS 10/8 \u2014 101 (West 2000). Our supreme court has previously determined that a statute of limitations period commences when a party knows or reasonably should know that an injury was caused and that it was wrongfully caused. Hermitage Corp. v. Contractors Adjustment Co., 166 Ill. 2d 72, 86 (1995). On June 18, 2000, in its order denying plaintiffs application for compensation, the court cites defendant\u2019s report as one basis for its denial. Specifically, the court noted: \u201cThe Medical Examiner\u2019s Death Certificate show[s] that the cause of injury was a drug overdose.\u201d We see no reason why such a pronouncement was not sufficient to notify plaintiff as to a cause for the denial of her claim. As this date preceded plaintiff\u2019s complaint in the trial court by nearly four years, plaintiff exceeded the statute of limitations period set forth in the Act by almost three years. Plaintiffs complaint was therefore appropriately dismissed on that basis.\nWe reject, as untenable, plaintiffs argument that defendant\u2019s letter refusing to modify its conclusion in its initial report constituted the relevant date for calculating the statute of limitations period. Based on this logic, plaintiff could have tolled indefinitely the statute of limitations period by merely resubmitting requests to defendant to modify its conclusion. We believe that such an interpretation of the Tort Immunity Act is unreasonable and therefore refuse to adopt it. See, e.g., Estate of Heanue v. Edgcomb, 355 Ill. App. 645, 650 (2005) (Statutes, of course, must be construed to avoid absurd results).\nCONCLUSION\nFor the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.\nAffirmed.\nCAHILL, EJ., and McBRIDE, J., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "JUSTICE O\u2019MALLEY" } ], "attorneys": [ "William J. Borah and Linda Oschsenfeld, both of William J. Borah & Associates, of Homewood, for appellant.", "Richard A. Devine, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Patrick T. Driscoll, Jr., John A. Ouska, and Ronald Weidhuner, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for appellee." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "GWENDOLYN A. SIMS-HEARN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER, The County of Cook et al., Defendants-Appellees.\nFirst District (1st Division)\nNo. 1\u201404\u20141927\nOpinion filed August 15, 2005.\nWilliam J. Borah and Linda Oschsenfeld, both of William J. Borah & Associates, of Homewood, for appellant.\nRichard A. Devine, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Patrick T. Driscoll, Jr., John A. Ouska, and Ronald Weidhuner, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for appellee." }, "file_name": "0439-01", "first_page_order": 457, "last_page_order": 465 }