 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Redmond v. Socha10/6/2005
or omission." Because there was no evidence presented of any intervening cause, the "only two possible causes of this accident" were the acts or omissions of Redmond and Socha. Because " omebody has to be at fault," the court was "unable to see how a rational trier of fact could come up with nobody's entitled to anything." The court explained further that "in this closed universe of facts . . . there has to be a logical result," and "the jury has to make a choice." In the end, the trial court granted the motion for a new trial, stating that " omebody has to be at fault. Somebody is entitled to damages in some amount."
On appeal, Socha argued that the two verdicts were neither against the manifest weight of the evidence nor inconsistent. Her position was that the jury could have found that each party failed to meet its burden of proof. 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1053. The appellate court concluded, however, that "in the context of the facts of this case such a hypothesis is unreasonable," because, " n the absence of any evidence of an intervening cause of the collision, one or both of the parties must necessarily have been negligent." 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1054.
In reaching this result, the appellate court rejected the reasoning employed in Barrick, a case in which the parties were the drivers of a car and a truck that collided in an intersection. The evidence was conflicting as to which driver violated a red light. Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 307. The jury reached verdicts against both claimants and the trial court denied a posttrial motion based on inconsistent verdicts. Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 309. The appellate court found that the verdicts were not legally inconsistent because the jury could have found that neither party met its burden of proof on the issues of negligence or proximate cause. Barrick, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 310. In addition, the Barrick court noted that the jury "may 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 declined to follow this reasoning and found the two verdicts "irreconcilably inconsistent." 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1055. The court stated that if "the jury was unable to determine which of the parties was negligent, a mistrial should have been declared and a new trial ordered." 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1055. The appellate court further observed that because the total fault of the parties in this case must equal 100%, and it would have been impossible for both parties to have been more than 50% negligent, it was against the manifest weight of the evidence for both claims to fail. In sum, the appellate court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it ordered a new trial based on its determination that the jury's verdicts were against the manifest weight of the evidence. 352 Ill. App. 3d at 1055.
THE RECORD ON APPEAL
According to Redmond's answer to Socha's petition for leave to appeal, when the jury originally returned with verdicts finding both parties not negligent, the trial court sent the jurors back to deliberate further, saying that the verdicts were inconsistent. Nevertheless, the jury again returned verdicts finding neither party negligent. This continued adherence to the two verdicts might be viewed as support for Socha's contention that the jury was not confused or lazy, but rather reached these verdicts based on a careful consideration of the evidence and a conclusion that neither party had met its burden.
Similarly, according to a footnote in Socha's petition f
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|