The Illinois Supreme Court recently issued a decision in favor of school districts in Haase v. Kankakee School District 111, 2025 IL 131420. The decision arose from a lawsuit filed by a junior high student injured during a soccer game in gym class. Plaintiff alleged he was injured due to willful and wanton negligence by the gym teacher supervising the class. According to the Plaintiff, another student referred to as “Student A” was running in and out of the soccer game, pushing other players aggressively and being unnecessarily rough. Witnesses reported that Student A, who had a history of violent behavior outside of gym class, pushed the student plaintiff into a wall, causing permanent injuries. Witnesses also observed the gym teacher sitting in the corner of the gym, focused on his laptop at the time of the accident.

Plaintiff argued that if the gym teacher had properly supervised the students, he would have seen Student A acting aggressively and removed him from the soccer game, which would have prevented the injury. The gym teacher reported that he was watching the students and that he did not observe any dangerous conduct, nor did he have any knowledge of Student A’s alleged violent propensities. The School District asserted supervision immunity from liability under Section 3-108 of the Tort Immunity Act.

The Supreme Court held that Section 3-108 of the Act immunized the School District from liability under the facts of this case. The Court found no evidence in the record that playing indoor soccer is an inherently dangerous activity. It also found no evidence that the gym teacher’s failure to supervise students playing soccer posed a specific threat to the Plaintiff. While the Court noted that these facts support a claim of negligent supervision, for which Section 3-108 provides immunity, but they did not rise to the level of willful and wanton conduct as required under the Tort Immunity Act.

Importantly, the Court held that the Illinois Legislature “unambiguously intended to immunize Illinois school districts from liability for the type of negligent conduct alleged in this case,” finding that the evidence fell short of establishing either “intentional conduct” or an “utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others”.  Based on the evidence presented, the Court found that Section 3-108 immunity shielded the School District from liability.

This case decision is significant for Illinois schools and has implications beyond gym class. Since supervision immunity applies to a wide range of activities, the decision offers school districts and their employees broad protection from tort liability for student accidents that occur during supervised school activities in the absence of willful and wanton conduct.

For more information about this article, contact Tressler attorney Darcy L. Proctor at dproctor@tresslerllp.com.

Darcy L. Proctor is a partner in Tressler’s Local Government Practice Group. Darcy concentrates her practice in the defense of local governments in all aspects of tort, civil rights liability, and employment litigation. She also defends private sector employers across a variety of employment law issues. Click here to read Darcy’s full attorney bio.