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Redmond v. Socha10/6/2005
ions submitted in this case, without evidence of any intervening cause, there is no other possible outcome" than a finding that either one or both of the parties were negligent. At oral argument, he stated that he submitted the most relevant pattern jury instruction available. Having submitted the proper instruction, he argued that he should not be penalized by application of the forfeiture doctrine when that instruction led to an unjust or illogical result.
We conclude that to the extent Redmond is now objecting to the instruction itself, he has forfeited this argument by failing to seek a modified jury instruction in the trial court. Because he did not ask for a modified jury instruction seeking to conform IPI Civil No. B21.04 to what the trial court later characterized as the "closed universe of facts" in this case, we cannot know whether Socha would have objected to a modified instruction or if the trial court would have allowed it. We, therefore, find that Redmond is barred by the doctrine of forfeiture from arguing to this court that the jury instruction itself was improper.
LEGALLY INCONSISTENT VERDICTS
Socha also argues that Redmond should not be heard to complain that the verdicts are legally inconsistent when it was his instruction that gave the jury the option of rendering such verdicts. She cites McGrath v. Chicago & North Western Transportation Co., 190 Ill. App. 3d 276, 279 (1989), for the proposition that it is "too late" to declare a mistrial "after the jury has already returned its verdicts." In McGrath, one plaintiff was a passenger in a car driven by her father, the other plaintiff, when she was injured. Defendant called the father as an adverse witness and questioned him about a settlement he reached with his daughter. The daughter objected to these questions and the trial court found that the questioning was improper. McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 278. Plaintiff's counsel moved for judgment against the defendant. The trial court stated that it would reserve judgment on the motion, which it characterized as a motion for mistrial, but counsel did not press the point or ask for an immediate ruling. McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 278. After the jury returned with a verdict for the defendant, plaintiffs renewed the earlier motion. McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 279.
The appellate court explained that a motion for mistrial is "a procedural tool designed to cut short a trial for legal reasons which preclude a verdict and judgment." McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 279. A motion for mistrial prevents parties from getting two chances at a verdict and, thus, can be made only before the jury returns its verdict. McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 279. If the motion is not made before the verdict, the party seeking a new trial has waived the mistrial issue. McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 279. The McGraths' conduct, first in failing to ask for a ruling when the judge first referred to the possibility of a mistrial and, second, in failing to renew the motion (if indeed there was a mistrial motion to renew) before the jury verdict, constituted "waiver of mistrial as a basis for a new trial." McGrath, 190 Ill. App. 3d at 280.
McGrath, therefore, does not stand for the proposition that a verdict can never be set aside and a new trial ordered once the jury in a civil case has reached a verdict. Rather, it stands for the proposition that an error at trial that would be a sufficient basis for declaring a mistrial must be asserted in a timely manner.
According to Black's Law Dictionary, a "mistrial" is either a trial "that the judge brings to an end, without a determination on the merits, because of a procedural error or serious misconduct occurring durin
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