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Hojek v. Harkness6/30/2000
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County
Honorable William Taylor, Judge Presiding.
During jury deliberations in this personal injury case, the jury sent a question to the trial court asking: "Were medical expenses covered by insurance?" Both counsel for plaintiff and defense returned to the courtroom within minutes of being notified about the jury's question. At that time, the trial judge was involved in another trial. The jury in this case continued to deliberate and reached a verdict before receiving any response to its question. On appeal, plaintiff argues that the court's failure to answer the jury's question, while allowing deliberation of the jury to continue, when a jury instruction specifically addressed the issue of insurance, prejudiced plaintiff and denied her a fair trial. We agree and reverse and remand for a new trial.
FACTS
On December 16, 1995, plaintiff was in a car accident with defendant. Plaintiff testified that, after the accident, she felt pain in her left neck and shoulder, and in her abdomen. Because plaintiff was seven months pregnant, she initially received treatment from her obstetrician. After the birth of her child, plaintiff continued to have pain in her neck and shoulder. She testified that the pain continued to worsen, that it radiated down her arm, and that it caused numbness. Plaintiff stated that she could no longer engage in the active life she enjoyed before the auto accident. She then sought treatment from a variety of physicians, including orthopedists, a neurosurgeon, a physicist, and rehabilitation therapists. Diagnostic tests revealed that plaintiff suffered from herniated disks, and her treating physician testified that the auto accident caused these herniated disks. The parties stipulated that her medical bills were $14,232.25. Plaintiff's treating physician also testified that her injuries were permanent and that she would need future care and treatment. As a result, plaintiff's counsel asked the jury to award her damages in an amount between $288,000 and $394,000.
At trial, defendant admitted her liability in the accident but challenged the nature and extent of plaintiff's injuries. Defendant contended that plaintiff merely sustained a "soft tissue" injury and called her own expert medical doctor in support of this theory. Defendant's expert witness testified that plaintiff suffered from progressive degenerative disease that pre-existed the auto accident. According to defendant's expert, the auto accident did not cause or aggravate plaintiff's pre-existing condition and did not cause her herniated disks. Based on this testimony, defense counsel requested that the jury award plaintiff an amount between $5,000 and $10,000.
According to the uncontested affidavit of plaintiff's counsel and the statements of the trial court on the record, the following series of events occurred during jury deliberations. At approximately 2:50 p.m., the jury began deliberations. Within the next hour, the jury sent the following question to the trial court, "Were medical expenses covered by insurance?" At 3:55 p.m., the judge's sheriff notified counsel for both parties by telephone that the jury submitted a question, and they agreed to return to court. Plaintiff's counsel arrived at the courtroom first about 4 p.m., and defense counsel arrived about 4:10 p.m. Although the trial judge was engaged in another trial, before defense counsel arrived, the judge briefly stopped the trial and told plaintiff's counsel that he would give him the jury's question and a proposed reply when defense counsel arrived. The court resumed the second trial. Defendant's counsel arrived about 10 minutes later, at about 4:10 p.m. The sh
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