Van Milligan v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners

I must respectfully dissent.

The majority suggests that the Village of Glenview is guilty of laches in failing to bring discharge proceedings against the plaintiff within a reasonable time after the incident rather than wait for the decision in the Federal civil rights proceeding.

The majority cites, with some irony, Tally v. State of Illinois (1991), 143 Ill. 2d 425, 574 N.E.2d 659, for its definition of laches. The Tally case dealt with laches attributable to an individual rather than a unit of government. The doctrine of laches or estoppel1 must be applied with great caution to government…