Illinois State Toll Highway Authority v. West Suburban Bank

567 N.E.2d 730, 208 Ill. App. 3d 923, 153 Ill. Dec. 772, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 238
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 21, 1991
DocketNo. 2—90—0235
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 567 N.E.2d 730 (Illinois State Toll Highway Authority v. West Suburban Bank) 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
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority v. West Suburban Bank, 567 N.E.2d 730, 208 Ill. App. 3d 923, 153 Ill. Dec. 772, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 238 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE DUNN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Hlinois State Toll Highway Authority, appeals from a jury verdict awarding $81,850 to defendants, West Suburban Bank, as trustee (Bank), and Dan Gracious, in an eminent domain action. On appeal, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred by failing to bar or limit the testimony of defendants’ expert witness as a sanction for failure to comply with Supreme Court Rule 220 (134 Ill. 2d R. 220). Plaintiff further asserts that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury not to consider any evidence that Gracious illegally used adjoining State and county rights-of-way. We reverse and remand.

In February 1988, plaintiff filed its complaint for condemnation against defendants. Plaintiff sought fee simple title to a 500-square-foot portion of a 26,676-acre parcel located at the northwest comer of North Avenue and Swift Road in unincorporated Du Page County. Plaintiff also sought an easement on another portion of the parcel. The Bank held title to the parcel as land trustee, and Gracious held the beneficial interest in the land trust. Gracious operated a Firestone tire franchise on the parcel which serviced trucks, most of which were semitrailer trucks.

In July 1988, a quick-take hearing was held with regard to the subject property pursuant to section 7 — 103 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 7 — 103). Paul Davis, an appraiser who worked for William McCann and Associates, testified for defendants. Davis testified that, in his opinion, the damage to the remainder of the parcel resulting from the take was $57,000. After the hearing, the trial court entered an order vesting title to the portion of the parcel sought by plaintiff, granting the requested easement, and allowing $38,350 in preliminary just compensation.

Plaintiff served a set of interrogatories upon defendants on September 7, 1988. Plaintiff requested in the interrogatories that defendants identify each expert witness upon whose opinions they intended to rely at trial, state the expert’s opinion, and state the basis for each opinion. Trial was set for September 18, 1989. On September 15, 1989, plaintiff filed a motion to bar defendants from presenting any expert testimony at trial because defendants had not answered the September 1988 interrogatories and had not disclosed any expert witnesses to date. The trial court denied the motion. That same day, defendants filed answers to the interrogatories in which they identified Ken Polach, an appraiser with William McCann and Associates, as their expert witness. They subsequently informed plaintiff that Polach would testify that, in his opinion, the taking caused $137,000 in damage to the remainder.

On September 18, 1989, plaintiff presented a motion to bar Polach from testifying at trial because he was not timely disclosed as an expert witness pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 220(b) (134 Ill. 2d R. 220(b)). Plaintiff asserted during argument on the motion that it was prepared for the testimony of Davis rather than Polach. Defendants’ attorney stated that Davis was no longer working for McCann and Associates. The trial court granted the motion and continued the trial until September 20,1989, so defendants could attempt to find Davis.

On the day of trial, defendants disclosed that Davis would now testify that, in his opinion, the taking caused $137,000 in damage to the remainder. That same day before the trial began, plaintiff presented a motion to limit Davis to presenting valuation testimony consistent with his testimony at the quick-take hearing that the damage to the remainder totalled $57,000. The trial court denied the motion, and Davis opined at trial that the damage totalled $137,000. The jury awarded defendants $68,500 in damage to the remainder and a previously stipulated amount of $13,350 as the value of the property taken, for a total of $81,850. Plaintiff now appeals.

Plaintiff argues that Davis should not have been permitted to testify because he was not timely disclosed as an expert witness pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 220(b)(1) (134 Ill. 2d R. 220(b)(1)). The rule states in relevant part as follows:

“[T]he identity of an expert who is retained to render an opinion at trial on behalf of a party must be disclosed by that party either within 90 days after the substance of that expert’s opinion first becomes known to that party or his counsel or, if the substance of the expert’s opinion is then known, at the first pretrial conference in the case, whichever is later. *** Failure to make the disclosure required by this rule or to comply with the discovery contemplated herein will result in disqualification of the expert as a witness.” 134 Ill. 2d R. 220(b)(1).

Defendants contend that by employing Davis as a witness at the quick-take proceeding, they disclosed him as an expert witness retained for use at trial for Rule 220 purposes. We disagree. In Oldenburg v. Hagemann (1991), 207 Ill. App. 3d 315, defendant argued that an expert had been disclosed for Rule 220 purposes by revealing his name in a supplemental response to interrogatories filed by a third-party defendant who was subsequently dismissed out of the case. Rejecting defendant’s argument, this court stated that the supplemental response would have only served to notify Oldenburg of Hagemann’s intention to call the expert as a witness in the third-party action. (Oldenburg, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 327.) Since Hagemann’s desire to call the expert as a witness against Oldenburg remained a surprise to Oldenburg and his attorney until it was specifically revealed a few days before trial, the supplemental response to interrogatories was not adequate disclosure under Rule 220(b). Oldenburg, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 327.

It is apparent from Oldenburg that, in order to comply with Rule 220(b)(1), a party must not only reveal the identity of an expert but must also specifically reveal that the expert has been retained to render an opinion in the proceeding in question. (See Oldenburg, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 327.) The fact that Davis testified at the quick-take proceeding did not necessarily mean that he had been or would be retained to testify as an expert at the ultimate eminent domain trial. The facts of this case certainly make that clear since defendants lost track of Davis after the quick-take hearing and had no intention to use him as a trial witness until the eve of trial. We therefore determine that Davis was not actually disclosed for Rule 220(bXl) purposes until September 1989.

Under Rule 220(b)(1), defendants were required to disclose that they had retained Davis as an expert to render an opinion at trial either within 90 days of learning the substance of his opinion or by the first pretrial conference, whichever is later. At the very latest, defendants first knew of Davis’ opinion regarding damage to the remainder of the subject parcel when he testified at the quick-take hearing in July 1988. Defendants did not properly disclose Davis as an expert witness within 90 days of that time, nor was he properly disclosed prior to the first pretrial conference in December 1988. Consequently, defendants violated Rule 220(b)(1).

This court has determined that, if a party fails properly to disclose an expert witness under Rule 220(b)(1), the witness must be barred from testifying unless a manifest injustice would result. (Phelps v. O’Malley (1987), 159 Ill. App.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

PPP-SCH Inc v. SVAP Hoffman Plaza, L.P.
2023 IL App (1st) 220022-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
Enbridge Energy, LLC v. Kuerth
2016 IL App (4th) 150519 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2016)
Benford v. Everett Commons, LLC.
2014 IL App (1st) 130314 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2014)
Kniceley v. Migala
603 N.E.2d 843 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)
Totz v. Continental Du Page Acura
602 N.E.2d 1374 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
567 N.E.2d 730, 208 Ill. App. 3d 923, 153 Ill. Dec. 772, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-state-toll-highway-authority-v-west-suburban-bank-illappct-1991.