In yet another blow to the families of those killed and injured in the 2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse in Chicago, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Wednesday that the City of Chicago cannot be held liable for negligence that the families say led to the tragedy.

Families of the 13 people killed and dozens of others injured had sued the city, among others, after records showed city officials inspected the porch at 713 W. Wrightwood but failed to cite property owners for obvious defects that experts said caused the collapse.

The Appellate Court said that, under state law, the city is immune from lawsuits unless there is proof the city showed “an utter indifference to, or conscious disregard for, the safety of others.”

Romanucci and Blandin is involved in a police chase with the City of Chicago, where we were able to proceed to trial after the trial court ruled that the police officers involved were both negligent and willful and wanton. A jury returned a verdict of $17.6 million. The City of Chicago appealed, and the matter is pending before the Appellate Court.

“While we certainly do not condone the city’s behavior,” the court reasoned, the city “did not owe [the victims] a duty to protect them against [the porch’s] collapse.” It added that the families “would have a difficult time demonstrating that the city acted willfully and wantonly” in ignoring the porch’s problems.

“These were some of the most willful acts of conduct in the world, yet this decision gives absolute immunity to the city and any other municipality to do absolutely zero about any problem," an attorney representing the families said. “Either the government is supposed to be there to protect people, or people are there to suffer because the government has to be protected.”

The Appellate Court concluded that the city can’t be expected to bear responsibility for “every porch within city limits.”