{
  "id": 2698869,
  "name": "Orest F. Belvedere, Jr., Claimant, v. The State of Illinois, Respondent",
  "name_abbreviation": "Belvedere v. State",
  "decision_date": "1983-09-01",
  "docket_number": "No. 83-CC-0584",
  "first_page": "290",
  "last_page": "292",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "36 Ill. Ct. Cl. 290"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. Ct. Cl.",
    "id": 8793,
    "name": "Illinois Court of Claims"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "32 Ill. Ct. Cl. 756",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill. Ct. Cl.",
      "case_ids": [
        5324656
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ill-ct-cl/32/0756-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:14:57.173915+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Orest F. Belvedere, Jr., Claimant, v. The State of Illinois, Respondent."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Holderman, J.\nClaimant in this cause was a resident of Stateville Correctional Center. He has filed suit for loss of personal property that occurred on May 21, 1981, when he was a resident of Pontiac Correctional Center. Claimant was taken from his cell to a hospital in Pontiac, Illinois, for medical attention, at approximately 6 o\u2019clock in the morning. His cell mate was a barber in the institution barber shop and he left the cell about 6:30 a.m. for breakfast and to report to work. The cell was vacant thereafter.\nAt approximately 11:45 a.m., a fire was discovered in the cell. The State fire marshal, after investigation, concluded that the fire was caused by a cigarette smoldering on a mattress in the cell. Claimant\u2019s property was totally destroyed in the fire.\nOn May 20, 1981, the day before the fire, Claimant learned he would be going to the hospital the next day and he expressly asked a cell house sergeant and a lieutenant to store his property in a store room. Contrary to departmental regulations, they refused to do so even though his property at that time was stored largely in boxes as a result of having just moved from one cell house to another. Both the sergeant and the lieutenant refused to remove his property, as requested by Claimant, with the result that the property was destroyed in the fire.\nClaimant testified at some length as to the loss he had incurred and his claim was further substantiated by resident personal property permits and various other documents that were introduced at the time of the trial.\nClaimant\u2019s original claim was for $5,369.00. It appears to the Court that the value of the property lost was at least $3,500.00.\nThis Court has held that the State has a duty to exercise reasonable care to safeguard and return an inmate\u2019s property when it takes actual and physical possession of such property. See Scott v. State (1978), 32 Ill. Ct. Cl. 756.\nIn the present case, the State did not take actual possession of the property in question, although it is the Court\u2019s opinion that the request made by Claimant that they do so, which request was made the day before the loss incurred and was denied, places the Respondent in the position of having failed to abide by its own rules. It is interesting to note that the Respondent did not introduce any evidence as to the reason for the refusal of the sergeant and lieutenant to take possession as requested by Claimant.\nIt is also interesting to note that the Claimant\u2019s cell was vacant for several hours before the fire actually occurred which is strong evidence of the fact that someone else was in the cell and left the cigarette which caused the fire.\nIt is the Court\u2019s opinion that the failure of the sergeant and lieutenant to take possession of the Claimant\u2019s personal property as he requested was the proximate cause of the loss that occurred. Claimant is therefore awarded the sum of three thousand five hundred ($3,500.00) dollars, in full, final and complete settlement of all his claims.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Holderman, J."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Orest F. Belvedere, Jr., pro se, for Claimant.",
      "Neil F. Hartigan, Attorney General (Glen P. Larner, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for Respondent."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "(No. 83-CC-0584\nOrest F. Belvedere, Jr., Claimant, v. The State of Illinois, Respondent.\nOpinion filed September 1, 1983.\nOrest F. Belvedere, Jr., pro se, for Claimant.\nNeil F. Hartigan, Attorney General (Glen P. Larner, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for Respondent."
  },
  "file_name": "0290-01",
  "first_page_order": 378,
  "last_page_order": 380
}