Ellis v. Board of Governors

The plaintiff, Ruth Ellis, filed suit against the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities of Illinois (the Board) in the circuit court of Sangamon County. In her complaint, plaintiff alleged that she had been constructively discharged without good cause from her position as a tenured professor at Northeastern Illinois University in violation of section 8(3) of An Act to provide for the management, operation, control and maintenance of the State Colleges and Universities System (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 144, par. 1008(3)). In her complaint, plaintiff sought an award of damages and appropriate injunctive relief for breach of [her] employment rights. Upon the Board's motion, the circuit court dismissed the plaintiff's complaint with prejudice, holding that the Court of Claims had exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit. The appellate court, in a Rule 23 order, affirmed the circuit court holding that any remedy available to the plaintiff must be sought in the Court of Claims. (115 Ill. App.3d 1158.) The plaintiff filed a petition for leave to appeal with this court pursuant to our Rule 315(a) (87 Ill.2d R. 315(a)), and we granted plaintiff's petition. We now affirm the judgment of the appellate court. The plaintiff raises two issues on appeal before this court. First, whether the Board is the State of Illinois within the meaning of the Court of Claims Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 37, par. 439.1 et seq.) and therefore must be sued in the Court of Claims and, second, whether her suit is outside the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Claims because it is based upon a violation of her statutory rights.