Rhonda Gilley broke her ankle when she slipped on unsecured carpeting in an apartment building. She sued the landlord for negligently maintaining the property. The landlord moved for summary judgment, and prevailed. Rhonda moved for reconsideration and to file an amended complaint. Her reconsideration motion was denied, but she was…
Plaintiff, a pedestrian, was injured in a car accident that happened when the police chased a stolen rental car. Plaintiff was hit by the rental car. She sued the rental car company and the security company that had been hired to secure the rental car company’s car lot. The rental…
A student suffered a spinal cord injury when he used a mini-trampoline during a school extracurricular tumbling program. The student sued the board of education, the youth center, and the center’s instructor. The trial court granted summary judgment to defendants. The appellate court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the…
An appellate opinion from the Illinois Fifth District raises two waiver questions that are notable for appellate practitioners. The case grows from Joyce Cretton’s treatment at Memorial Hospital of Belleville. She was admitted already with advanced stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She died about two weeks later. Her estate sued…
Contrast this case with Goldberg v. Rush University, directly below. In Fuller Family Holdings v. Northern Trust Co., 1-06-1533 (2/13/07), the same First District Court of Appeals (but a different panel) decided to overlook a party’s lack of citation to authority in its spoliation of evidence argument and rejected a…
In his dispute with Rush University Medical Center, Dr. Goldberg appealed from an order denying him leave to file an amended complaint. He stated his intention to appeal that order in his Notice of Appeal. But his brief did not contain argument or citation to relevant authorities. Citing Illinois Supreme…
The use of psychotropic drugs again was at issue. The patient was admitted to the Elgin Mental Health Center after she was found to be unfit to stand trial for unauthorized use of a credit card. The patient was treated by Dr. Rosanova, who diagnosed schizophrenia and recommended use of…
In a fight between insurers over how to pay an underlying personal injury claimant, Tokio Marine and Fire fought with U.S. Fire Insurance about exhaustion of primary and excess policies. The trial court ordered Tokio to reimburse U.S. Fire for its full $1 million policy limits. Tokio asserted that the…
A contractor obtained performance bonds for three construction projects. The surety company required the president and the owner to sign indemnity agreements to obtain the bonds. When the contractor defaulted on the construction contracts, the surety company became liable on the performance bonds. Using the indemnity agreements, the surety then…
Here are some fundamental lessons for practitioners from a recent First District Illinois retaliatory discharge case: (1) Make sure your post-trial motions are sufficiently detailed and specific enough to give the trial court a chance to correct its errors. (2) If you are challenging jury instructions, you’ll need the transcript…