Thompson v. County of Cook

In Thompson v. County of Cook (1993), 154 Ill. 2d 374, 609 N.E.2d 290, 181 Ill. Dec. 922, a seminal case on proximate cause and intoxicated drivers, the family of a passenger who was killed when the car driven by an intoxicated driver went off the highway sought to recover from Cook County. The decedent's family alleged that the county was negligent because the highway lacked proper warning signs. (Thompson, 609 N.E.2d at 292.) The Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Court's vacation of a jury verdict for the plaintiff and the granting of judgment as a matter of law for the defendant. (Id.) The Supreme Court observed that the driver of the car had admitted that he was driving under the influence of alcohol and drove at an excessive rate of speed. (Id. at 293-294.) The Thompson Court held that the allegedly defective road may have provided a condition for the accident, but it was not the cause of the accident. (Id.) The Court concluded that the driver's actions in driving drunk, speeding, eluding the police and disregarding the traffic signs were the sole proximate cause of this accident and the road provided nothing more than a location where the driver's negligence came to fruition. Id. at 294.