A Whiteside County judge has upheld a jury’s finding that the city of Rock Falls is financially liable for the death of Sterling Fire Lt. Garrett Ramos, who died in a basement while fighting a house fire in December 2021.

But when making that ruling Monday, Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman said he was reducing the initial $31.5 million award by $3 million, bringing the verdict to $28.5 million – pending the widow’s acceptance of the reduction.

The ruling rejects every legal argument the city and former Rock Falls Fire Chiefs Cris Bouwens and Ken Wolf offered to escape liability. Heuerman found that the defendants forfeited their strongest defenses by failing to present them to the jury during trial, and that the jury’s verdict was supported by the evidence.

Brittney Ramos, the firefighter’s widow, filed the lawsuit in December 2022. She has 30 days to decide whether to accept the $3 million reduction. If she rejects it, a new trial will be held – but only to determine damages. If she accepts, the current stay on the judgment will be lifted, and Rock Falls would be faced with paying $28.5 million.

A status hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 2 in Whiteside County Circuit Court.

What happened at the fire

Ramos, 38, was a lieutenant with Sterling Fire Department. On the night of Dec. 3, 2021, he arrived at a burning house on Ridge Road in Rock Falls as part of a mutual-aid crew assisting the Rock Falls Fire Department.

[ Rock Falls fire officials used ‘inappropriate’ strategy, took too many risks at fatal 2021 fire: investigator ]

Around midnight, while fighting the fire inside the home, Ramos fell through a hole in the floor into an undetected basement. He issued two mayday calls, but incident commander Bouwens and other command officers did not know who was calling, where he was, or what the problem was. They initially identified another firefighter as the missing person; when that firefighter was found safe, no one pursued the mayday calls further.

About 30 minutes later, firefighters realized Ramos had not been seen and began searching. They found him in the basement in a room adjacent to where he fell. Fire investigators concluded he survived roughly 17 minutes after the fall and died from asphyxia after running out of air. His body was recovered at 1:13 a.m. on Dec. 4.

The jury’s findings

At trial, the jury found that Bouwens and Wolf each bore 50% responsibility for Ramos’s death, considering allegations that:

* Bouwens failed to verify the presence of a basement before sending firefighters inside.

* Bouwens failed to appoint a safety officer and failed to withdraw interior firefighters in a timely manner.

* Both Bouwens and Wolf failed to respond promptly to the mayday call and failed to properly execute a personnel accountability report.

* Both failed to adequately train for mayday and accountability responses.

[ Sterling firefighter’s widow awarded $31.5M; jury says Rock Falls fire officials’ actions contributed to death ]

Within the $31.5 million award, the jury awarded $7 million for pain and suffering and $3 million for emotional distress to Brittney Ramos and the couple’s two daughters. Heuerman removed the emotional distress award, ruling that the original amount overlapped with the pain-and-suffering award.

The city’s failed defenses

The city and the two former chiefs offered several legal arguments to overturn the verdict. The judge rejected all of them. Among them:

The “loaned employee” argument: The defendants claimed that because Ramos was a Sterling firefighter temporarily assigned to assist Rock Falls, he was a “loaned employee” under workers’ compensation law, which would shield the city from liability. Heuerman ruled that the defendants forfeited this argument by failing to ask the jury to consider it during trial.

“Defendants now seek a judgment on a fact-intensive affirmative defense they elected not to put before the jury,” he wrote. “In their failure to do so, they abandoned the ‘loaned-employee’ theory as a basis for post-trial relief based on the evidence adduced at trial.”

Discretionary immunity: The defendants argued that they were not liable under the tort immunity act, saying that public officials should be protected from liability for good-faith mistakes made while exercising their judgment. Heuerman had already rejected this argument at the summary-judgment and motion-for-directed-verdict stages, finding that questions of fact existed about whether the defendants’ conduct was truly discretionary or reckless and that it was up to the jury, not the court, to decide. He said this issue was forfeited for the same reason as his loaned-employee ruling.

Willful and wanton argument: The defendants argued that the evidence did not show they acted willfully and wantonly, which is defined as a course of action that shows an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others.

“The properly instructed jury heard and considered the evidence, and found the standard to have been met. Evidence to the contrary is not so ‘overwhelming’ as to support a judgment n.o.v.,” Heuerman ruled.

Manifest weight of the evidence: The defendants claimed the jury’s verdict was so contrary to the evidence that it should be thrown out. Heuerman disagreed.

“Here, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could find willful and wanton conduct, and the verdict is not against the manifest weight of the evidence,” he wrote.

What happens next

Defense attorney Joseph Culig said that if Brittney Ramos accepts the $3 million reduction, the city will appeal to a higher court and seek a stay on the judgment.

Brittney Ramos has 30 days from Monday to decide, Heuerman said.

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