Reichert v. The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the City of Collinsville, Illinois

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 03/12/09. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-07-0570
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
________________________________________________________________________
MICHAEL REICHERT, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Madison County.
)
v. ) No. 06-MR-260
)
THE BOARD OF FIRE AND POLICE COMMISSIONERS )
OF THE CITY OF COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS; )
HARRY LANG, BOB CUIFERI, and PETE PALUMBO, )
Commissioners; SCOTT WILLIAMS, Chief of Police; and )
THE CITY OF COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS, ) Honorable
) Richard L. Tognarelli,
Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding.
________________________________________________________________________
PRESIDING JUSTICE WEXSTTEN delivered the opinion of the court:
In April 2006, the plaintiff, Michael Reichert, was discharged from the Collinsville
police department by the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the City of Collinsville
(the Board). Thereafter, he sought judicial review of the Board's decision in the circuit court
of Madison County, and in response, the defendants–the Board, the City of Collinsville, and
Chief of Police Scott Williams–moved for a summary judgment. Following a hearing, the
circuit court entered an order affirming the Board's decision and granting a summary
judgment in favor of the defendants. The plaintiff now appeals the circuit court's order,
which we reverse for the following reasons.
BACKGROUND
In August 2005, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
(the district court), the plaintiff pled guilty to a charge of "Selling of Goods in Commerce at
Unreasonably Low Prices Eliminating Competition," a federal misdemeanor punishable by