Harvel v. City of Johnston City

The majority concludes that the Structural Work Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 48, pars. 60 through 69) authorizes the recovery of damages for loss of consortium by the spouse of a nonfatally injured worker. The court offers a series of reasons in support of this determination but the principal grounds are two: that recognition of the cause of action is consistent with the Structural Work Act’s broad deterrent and remedial purposes, and that recognition of the action finds support in the Act’s legislative history. In so holding, however, the majority rewrites the language of the statute and…