Corinne Thompson, Appellee v. Christie Gordon, Appellants

Summary

The Illinois Supreme Court held that engineering firms hired to replace the Grand Avenue bridge deck over I-94 owed no duty to plaintiff Corinne Thompson to consider or design a Jersey barrier median, because the scope of their duty was defined entirely by their contract with the developer, which called for replacement—not improvement—of the existing bridge deck. The court rejected the appellate court's use of the contractual standard-of-care clause together with a Rule 213 expert affidavit to create a question of fact expanding the engineers' duty, reasoning that because the tort duty arose from the contract, Ferentchak controls over Advincula and expert testimony cannot enlarge duties beyond the contracted services. It further held the term 'replacement' was unambiguous and that a contract is not rendered ambiguous merely because the parties disagree on its meaning. The court reversed the appellate court, affirmed the circuit court's summary judgment for defendants, and remanded.