Kus v. Sherman Hospital

561 N.E.2d 381, 204 Ill. App. 3d 66, 149 Ill. Dec. 103, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1508
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 28, 1990
DocketNo. 2—89—1309
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 561 N.E.2d 381 (Kus v. Sherman Hospital) 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
Kus v. Sherman Hospital, 561 N.E.2d 381, 204 Ill. App. 3d 66, 149 Ill. Dec. 103, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1508 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

JUSTICE GEIGER

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Richard Kus, appeals from the trial court’s order granting the defendant’s, Sherman Hospital’s, motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s negligence complaint. The defendant brought its motion to dismiss under sections 2 — 622 and 2 — 619(a)(5) of the Code of Civil Procedure (the Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, pars. 2 — 622, 2— 619(a)(5)). The trial court granted the motion, finding that the plaintiff’s complaint lacked the necessary affidavit attesting to the soundness of the complaint pursuant to section 2 — 622.

The plaintiff raises three issues in his appeal which can be summarized as follows: (1) whether the plaintiff’s complaint sounds in “healing art malpractice” which would require a section 2 — 622 affidavit; (2) if the plaintiff’s complaint sounds in healing art malpractice, then whether section 2 — 622 is unconstitutional; and (3) whether the trial court abused its discretion in not allowing the plaintiff an opportunity to amend his complaint to include a section 2 — 622 affidavit. We reverse and remand.

On July 14, 1989, the plaintiff filed a one-count complaint against the defendant alleging the following. On July 15, 1985, the defendant, a certified institution entitled to conduct clinical investigations of intraocular lenses, admitted the plaintiff into its facilities to have Dr. Gordon Q. Vancil implant a Style 100 Americal intraocular lens into the plaintiff’s left eye. Prior to the plaintiff’s implant, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) issued a July 3, 1985, order withdrawing approval of the Style 100 Americal intraocular lens. After the FDA order, but before the plaintiff’s implant, Americal International Corporation (Americal), the intraocular lens manufacturer, notified the defendant of the FDA’s withdrawal order.

The plaintiff alleged that the defendant was negligent in permitting Dr. Vancil to implant a Style 100 Americal intraocular lens into the plaintiff’s left eye after the defendant knew of the FDA’s order withdrawing approval of the lens. The plaintiff further alleged that until June 23, 1989, when the plaintiff’s attorneys reviewed Americal’s records pursuant to a production request from a prior pending suit against Americal, he did not know and had no reason to know that Americal had notified the defendant that the FDA had withdrawn its approval. As a result of the defendant’s alleged negligence, the plaintiff lost the vision in his left eye and incurred damages.

In lieu of an answer, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to sections 2 — 619 and 2 — 622 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, pars. 2 — 619, 2 — 622), contending that the plaintiff’s complaint lacked the proper section 2 — 622 affidavit (see HI. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 2 — 622(a)), and that the plaintiff’s complaint was barred by the two-year statute of limitations (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 13 — 212). Attached to the defendant’s motion was the plaintiff’s complaint and his first amended complaint in the related case No. 88 — L—0033 against Dr. Vancil and others; the complaint in case No. 88 — L—0033 sounded in negligence and included a section 2 — 622 affidavit.

The plaintiff responded to the defendant’s motion, arguing that section 2 — 622 was unconstitutional or, in the alternative, that section 2 — 622 was inapplicable to this case. As a second alternative, the plaintiff argued that, if section 2 — 622 were applicable, the dismissal should be without prejudice and leave to amend the complaint should be granted. The plaintiff further responded that his complaint should not be barred by the statute of limitations since he alleged that he “discovered” the alleged negligence only months before he filed this complaint, well before the applicable statute of limitations had run.

On November 21, 1989, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion, holding that section 2 — 622 was constitutional and finding that section 2 — 622 was applicable to the facts of this case. During the hearing on the defendant’s motion, the trial court allowed the defendant to amend its motion to reflect that the motion was brought pursuant to Code sections 2 — 619(a)(9), which bars a complaint, through “other affirmative matter” which defeats the claim, and 2 — 622, not under section 2 — 619(a)(5), which bars a complaint not filed within the statute of limitations (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, pars. 2 — 619(a)(5), (a)(9), 2 — 622, respectively). The defendant’s motion had previously relied upon section 2 — 619(a)(5) of the Code. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s action. This timely appeal followed.

Before reaching the primary issues raised on this appeal, we address two motions raised during its pendency. The plaintiff moves to amend his complaint instanter, and the defendant objects to the motion. The defendant, moves to strike the plaintiff’s reply brief, and the plaintiff responds objecting to the motion. We have taken both motions and their attendant objections with the case.

The plaintiff’s motion to amend consists of his conclusory assertions that the amendment is necessary to clarify his allegations (1) that the defendant owed him a recognized duty of care; (2) that the defendant would not be prejudiced by the amendments; and (3) that the amendment is consistent with the facts pleaded in the complaint. The plaintiff attaches as “Exhibit A” to the motion a copy of his proposed first amended complaint which attaches three exhibits to the original complaint.

We find that, since the plaintiff has failed to follow the proper procedure for requesting relief of this kind, we cannot allow the plaintiff’s amendment. Supreme Court Rule 362 provides, among other things, that .motions to amend pleadings in the appellate court should be supported by affidavit and that they “must show the amendment to be necessary, [and] that no prejudice will result to the adverse party if the amendment sought is permitted.” (Emphasis added.) See 107 Ill. 2d R. 362(b).

The plaintiff here merely concludes, without an affidavit, that the amendment is necessary and that the defendant would not be prejudiced by the amendment. Such conclusions do not comply with Supreme Court Rule 362. (See Doherty v. Kill (1986), 140 Ill. App. 3d 158, 165-66.) We therefore deny the plaintiff’s motion.

We next address the defendant’s motion that we strike portions of the plaintiff’s reply brief. The defendant objects to the reply brief’s mention of the plaintiff’s proposed amended complaint and also contends that the brief adds an argument not raised in his appellant’s brief.

Supreme Court .Rule 341(g) provides that the “reply brief, if any, shall be confined strictly to replying to arguments presented in the brief of the appellee and need contain only Argument.” (113 Ill. 2d R. 341(g).) We find that the plaintiff’s reply brief reference to his proposed amended complaint clarified and reiterated his opening brief’s argument that section 2 — 622 did not apply to his complaint.

Regarding the defendant’s argument that the plaintiff raised a new argument in his reply brief, we observe the following. In its brief, the defendant argued that even if the plaintiff would prevail in his argument that section 2 — 622 did not apply to this case, this court should affirm the trial court’s decision since the plaintiff’s complaint was barred under the applicable statute of limitations.

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Kus v. Sherman Hosp.
561 N.E.2d 381 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
561 N.E.2d 381, 204 Ill. App. 3d 66, 149 Ill. Dec. 103, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kus-v-sherman-hospital-illappct-1990.