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Redmond v. Socha10/6/2005
ieve [counter] plaintiff of proving by a preponderance of the evidence the essential elements of an action in negligence," the appellate court determined that the jury could have decided that the defendants failed to prove one or more elements of their counterclaim, even though it had already decided that the plaintiff's damages should be reduced by his comparative negligence. Boasiako, 140 Ill. App. 3d at 213.
We agree and, therefore, conclude that because the law demands that a plaintiff meet the burden of proving every necessary element of his claim by a preponderance of the evidence, a jury may find against both the plaintiff and the counterplaintiff in a negligence action, even when the evidence suggests that the sole cause of the accident was the negligence of either or both parties.
The appellate court in the present case both overlooked its own previous decision in Boasiako and declined to follow the reasoning of the Barrick court. 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1055. In Barrick, a collision between a car and a truck resulted in a claim by the driver of the car for personal injury and property damage and a counterclaim by the driver of the truck for property damage. Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 307. After hearing conflicting testimony regarding which driver violated a red light, the jury entered verdicts for the defendant and the counterdefendant. Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 309. The trial court denied Barrick's motion for a new trial based on inconsistent verdicts and the appellate court affirmed. The verdicts were not inconsistent, according to the appellate court, because the jury could have determined that neither party proved its case. In addition, the jury might "well have felt that the evidence of which vehicle had the green light was so conflicting, inconclusive, and unsatisfactory that it simply could not determine from the evidence presented which party was negligent." Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 310. In the present case, the appellate court, without attempting to distinguish the two cases, described the Barrick verdicts as "irreconcilably inconsistent," and stated that a new trial should have been ordered. 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1055.
At oral argument, Redmond attempted to distinguish Barrick from the present case on the basis that neither party in Barrick raised the defense of comparative negligence. Both claims were "all or nothing" and, as a result, the jury was asked to impose complete liability for the accident on one party or the other. In the present case, he argues that because the jury was offered the option of apportioning liability between the two parties, Barrick is not applicable.
We are not persuaded that this difference is significant. The appellate court in Barrick based its conclusion on how the jury might reasonably have viewed the evidence. The same rationale applies in the present case. Even though it is clear in the present case that 100% of the responsibility for the accident must rest, in some unknown proportion, upon either or both of the parties, it is still possible that the jury found the evidence "so conflicting, inconclusive, and unsatisfactory that it simply could not determine from the evidence presented" (Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 310), whether Redmond was negligent and, if so, to what degree, and whether Socha was negligent and, if so, to what degree.
We conclude that Barrick and Boasiako are consistent with each other and with this court's decision in Wottowa, and that these cases offer support for Socha's position that the verdicts in this case are not legally inconsistent.
At oral argument, Redmond offered the additional authority of Millette v. Radosta, 84 Ill. App. 3d 5 (1980), in support of his
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