Ortiz v. Jesus People

CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 12, 2010
Docket1-09-3255 Rel
StatusPublished

This text of Ortiz v. Jesus People (Ortiz v. Jesus People) 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
Ortiz v. Jesus People, (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

FOURTH DIVISION November 12, 2010

No. 1-09-3255

MARIA ORTIZ, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County ) v. ) ) JESUS PEOPLE, U.S.A., a Not-For-Profit Corporation, ) Honorable d/b/a The Friendly Towers, ) Thomas Chiola, ) Judge Presiding. Defendant-Appellant ) ) (The City Of Chicago, a Municipal Corporation, ) ) Defendant-Appellee). )

JUSTICE O’MARA FROSSARD delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Jesus People, U.S.A., a not-for-profit corporation, d/b/a The Friendly Towers

(Jesus People), in this personal injury action appeals from a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff Maria

Ortiz. On appeal, defendant contends the circuit court improperly denied its motions for

judgment n.o.v., a new trial, and reconsideration of an earlier grant of summary judgment in favor

of defendant City of Chicago, a municipal corporation (the City), in defendant’s claim for

contribution. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

In the instant case, plaintiff was hit and injured by a falling tree limb. The tree was located

on defendant’s property and the limb, which extended over the public sidewalk, measured more 1-09-3255

than 19 feet and was estimated to be up to 14 inches in diameter.

Defendant had owned the property at 920 West Wilson Avenue in Chicago, which is a

large lot with a 10-story building used for low income senior housing and other ministries, for

almost 20 years. At the time of the incident, there were four trees in the garden, which was

separated from the sidewalk by a 6½-foot-tall brick wall. The tree at issue, a Siberian elm, was

adjacent to the wall on the inside and it had a large limb that extended out over the wall above the

public sidewalk. The tree was there when defendant bought the property, and it, like the rest of

the garden, was maintained by Jesus People member Ted Jindrich, who occasionally trimmed low-

hanging branches.

On May 11, 2003, plaintiff, her husband Flavio Cali, Sr., and two of their children were

riding their bicycles on Wilson Avenue. Plaintiff and her daughter Ruby Cali rode ahead of her

husband and son Flavio Cali, Jr., and stopped briefly on the sidewalk at 920 West Wilson to wait

for them. It was a very windy day. While plaintiff and Ruby stood on the sidewalk, a large limb

fell from the Siberian elm, knocking the two of them to the ground. Ruby did not see the tree

strike plaintiff and plaintiff herself remembered seeing something shadow-like coming toward her,

then she lost consciousness. Ruby was only slightly injured and she told Flavio, Jr., that their

mother was hurt. Plaintiff’s husband arrived on the scene and went to the hospital with plaintiff,

who had regained consciousness.

A member of the Jesus People, Tom Cameron, saw the tree limb fall after an

extraordinarily strong gust of wind. One of the responding police officers, Chicago police

sergeant Thomas Banich, said that when he arrived at the scene, it was windy to the point of being

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“violent,” and all the trees were blowing. The limb of the Siberian elm tree had fallen on an

overhead wire and caused the light pole to snap and fall also. Photographic evidence shows that

the fallen limb blocked the entire pedestrian section of the sidewalk and extended into the street;

the record reflects that the limb measured more than 19 feet and was estimated to be up to 14

inches in diameter.

Plaintiff’s injuries required several surgeries; after a second surgery, her mouth was wired

shut for six weeks. Almost a year later, plaintiff required two more corrective surgeries, one of

which involved taking pieces of her rib to reconstruct her nose.

In April 2005, plaintiff and the two children filed a complaint against defendant and the

City for premises liability and negligence. The children claimed emotional distress. Defendant

subsequently filed a counterclaim against the City, which later moved for summary judgment.

In January 2006, the court granted the City’s motion, holding that the City had no duty as

to a tree located on defendant’s property.

The matter proceeded to a jury trial that was held over the course of several days in

September 2009. At trial, plaintiff, her husband, her son Flavio, Jr., and her daughter Ruby

testified about the incident. In addition to several other individuals who testified, including

Jindrich, and witnesses to the fallen tree limb, three experts testified about the characteristics of

the tree at issue: Charles Schiek for plaintiff, Harold Hoover for defendant, and John Lough, an

employee of the City who was not hired by either party.

The evidence established that the tree was a Siberian elm, a species considered undesirable

in urban environments because it was brittle and posed a hazard of falling branches. This

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particular tree had “codominant stems,” meaning that it had two main trunks that split at a narrow

angle, rather than a single main trunk. The narrow angle at which the trunks met created a

structural weakness in the tree; one aspect of this was the “included bark” that developed, making

the joint between the trunks too weak to support their weight. Defendant did not hire

professionals to inspect or maintain the tree, although it did its own maintenance by trimming

low-hanging branches over the public sidewalk.

Before closing argument, the court granted defendant’s motion for directed verdict on the

children’s claims. On September 25, 2009, after the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff,

the court entered judgment and awarded plaintiff $686,831.17.

Defendant filed a posttrial motion seeking judgment n.o.v. or a new trial, and also

reconsideration of the summary judgment granted in favor of the City. On November 10, 2009,

the court entered an order denying defendant’s motion.

Defendant timely filed its appeal from the November 10, 2009, postjudgment order; the

September 25, 2009, judgment order (referred to in defendant’s notice of appeal as the “judgment

order entered on September 21, 2009”); the September 25, 2009, jury verdict (also referred to in

the notice of appeal as dated from September 21, 2009); the January 23, 2006, order granting

summary judgment for the City, and from all prior and collateral rulings, findings, and orders in

this matter.

ANALYSIS

Defendant contends the court improperly denied its posttrial motion for both judgment

n.o.v. and for a new trial.

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Initially, we note that the standards that are used to determine whether a judgment n.o.v.

should be granted differ from those used in determining whether to grant a new trial. McClure v.

Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp., 188 Ill. 2d 102, 131-32 (1999); Maple v. Gustafson, 151 Ill. 2d

445, 453 (1992). The standard for a judgment n.o.v. is the higher of the two (Gaffney v. City of

Chicago, 302 Ill. App. 3d 41, 59-60 (1998)): a motion for a judgment n.o.v., as compared to a

motion for a new trial, requires that a “more nearly conclusive evidentiary situation” be presented

before a judgment n.o.v. can be entered than is required to justify a new trial (Pedrick v. Peoria &

Eastern R.R. Co.. 37 Ill. 2d 494, 509-10 (1967); see also Maple, 151 Ill. 2d at 453-54).

A judgment n.o.v. is proper only where “ ‘all of the evidence, when viewed in its aspect

most favorable to the opponent, so overwhelmingly favors the movant that no contrary verdict

based on that evidence could ever stand.’ ” Maple, 151 Ill.

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