Hoggatt v. Melin

172 N.E.2d 389, 29 Ill. App. 2d 23, 1961 Ill. App. LEXIS 343
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 21, 1961
DocketGen. 10,311
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 172 N.E.2d 389 (Hoggatt v. Melin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoggatt v. Melin, 172 N.E.2d 389, 29 Ill. App. 2d 23, 1961 Ill. App. LEXIS 343 (Ill. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

REYNOLDS, J.

This cause grows out of a collision at a street intersection in the City of Champaign, Illinois, between an automobile driven by Warren Tullock and an automobile driven by the plaintiff. The plaintiff had stopped his car at the intersection and was not moving when the automobile driven by Tullock crashed into the rear of his car and drove it into the rear of a truck. The plaintiff was injured and his car badly damaged. Warren Tullock was found slumped over on his side in the front seat of his automobile, bleeding about the head, and apparently unconscious. An ambulance took Tullock to the hospital but he was dead on arrival. There is no evidence to show that Tullock at any time sounded any alarm or applied his brakes before the collision and apparently his car traveled in a straight line to the point of collision.

Plaintiff brought suit against May Melin and Don Melin, Administrators of the Estate of Warren Tullock and Alfred W. Osterhoff, the employer of Warren Tullock, for personal injuries and damages to his car. The complaint was in four counts, two against the administrators and two against the employer, Counts I and III for personal injuries, and Counts II and IV for damages to plaintiff’s automobile.

The case was tried before a jury and the jury returned verdicts finding for the defendants on each count, and judgment was entered upon the verdicts. The plaintiff appeals to this court.

The defendants denied generally the allegations in the complaint and as a special defense to each count, pleaded that the deceased Warren Tullock, prior to the collision, suffered a heart attack causing Mm to lose the ability to control the car he was driving and that the collision and the plaintiff’s damages were caused by an Act of God.

For grounds for his appeal the plaintiff contends that the Act of God defense of the defendants was an affirmative defense and that the defendants failed to prove such defense by a preponderance or greater weight of the evidence. The plaintiff further complains of the giving of defendants’ instructions No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

The place of the collision was a busy intersection in the City of Champaign, Prospect Avenue and Springfield Avenue. Plaintiff was headed south on Prospect Avenue and had stopped at the stop sign at Springfield Avenue. The day was clear and the pavement was dry. The facts concerning the collision are not in dispute. While the speed of the car driven by Tullock is not definitely established, it was such as to drive the car of the plaintiff into the rear of a truck in front of him, and seriously damage plaintiff’s ear. The only question of fact presented is whether Tullock suffered a heart attack, lost control of his car, and the collision and the resulting injuries and damages were the result of an Act of God. At the request of the County Coroner, an autopsy was performed on Tulloek by Dr. Max Appel, a pathologist. Dr. Appel testified that he had performed some five or six thousand autopsies. He found that Mr. Tulloek had evidence of a long standing heart disease. He found marked thickening of the coronary arteries and in addition the left coronary artery was completely blocked by a blood clot, which Dr. Appel said was a relatively fresh occurrence. This blood clot Dr. Appel called a coronary thrombosis or coronary occlusion. Dr. Appel’s autopsy disclosed evidence of a previous heart attack evidenced by an extensive area of scar tissue in the left ventricle of the heart. Dr. Appel said he found acute edema of the lungs, that is, a pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs. He also found a fracture of the 7th right rib and the jagged edge of this fracture had caused a large laceration of the liver, severed some blood vessels and there was about 1000 cc’s of blood in the abdominal cavity. Dr. Appel’s diagnosis was that death was due to the acute pulmonary edema resulting from the acute coronary occlusion. He testified that the effects of this occlusion are sudden and immediate, and when the heart could not get sufficient blood for oxygen for as long as 30 to 45 seconds, the heart muscles can stop beating and death could be instantaneous, or there may be sudden collapse and loss of consciousness. Dr. Appel found no evidence that any direct injury, such as the laceration of the liver, to indicate that the injury caused the coronary occlusion.

Dr. Jack D. Hull, a heart specialist, testified for the plaintiff. Dr. Hull stated he had treated or diagnosed in cases involving the heart and cardio-vascular system and that such treatment or diagnosis would run into several thousand during his practice. He did not examine Mr. Tulloek at any time, and his testimony was in response to hypothetical questions. He did not disagree with Dr. Appel that a coronary occlusion resulting in pulmonary edema, caused the death, hut his opinion differed in that he stated that the occlusion could have been caused by the laceration of the liver and the head injury. Dr. Hull also testified that in his opinion the occlusion could have been triggered by sudden fright, anxiety, or emotional disturbance, and assuming the injury to the liver and the head injury, that the occlusion occurred after the collision.

The testimony of these two specialists raises a question of fact, namely, when did the occlusion with the resulting pulmonary edema take place? Dr. Appel’s testimony, with the positive statement that the injury to the liver and the consequent loss of blood did not cause the coronary occlusion would sustain the defendants’ defense that the collision was due to the Act of God. Dr. Hull’s testimony refutes this position and has the driver Tullock sustaining the occlusion after the collision, which would thus have Tullock in full command of his faculties and capable of controlling his vehicle prior to and at the time of the collision.

Our courts have repeatedly held that on a question of fact, the trial court or the reviewing court may not substitute its judgment for that of a jury upon controverted questions of fact; Geraghty v. Burr Oak Lanes, Inc., 5 Ill.2d 153, 125 N.E.2d 47; Ney v. Yellow Cab Co., 2 Ill.2d 74, 117 N.E.2d 74; Manion v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry. Co., 12 Ill. App.2d 1, 138 N.E.2d 98; Koch v. Lemmerman, 12 Ill. App.2d 237, 139 N.E.2d 806; Hanck v. Ruan Transport Corp., 3 Ill. App.2d 372, 122 N.E.2d 445. Only in cases where the verdict of the jury is clearly and palpably against the manifest weight of the evidence is the reviewing court justified in reversing the decision of the jury on a question of fact. In this case, the testimony of Dr. Appel that the injury to the liver of the driver Tullock did not cause the coronary occlusion resulting in the pulmonary edema causing death within a few seconds, presents the question of fact, namely, was the collision due to the sudden heart attack which caused Tullock to lose control of his vehicle and drive into the vehicle of the plaintiff. Dr. Hull’s testimony, which was to the effect that the heart attack could have occurred after the collision, pin-points the question of fact.

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Bluebook (online)
172 N.E.2d 389, 29 Ill. App. 2d 23, 1961 Ill. App. LEXIS 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoggatt-v-melin-illappct-1961.