Sakellariadis v. Campbell

909 N.E.2d 353, 391 Ill. App. 3d 795, 330 Ill. Dec. 640, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 362
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 29, 2009
Docket1-07-2845
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 909 N.E.2d 353 (Sakellariadis v. Campbell) 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
Sakellariadis v. Campbell, 909 N.E.2d 353, 391 Ill. App. 3d 795, 330 Ill. Dec. 640, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 362 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JUSTICE CAHILL

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff Gloria Sakellariadis appeals the amount of a money judgment awarded in her action against two defendants. Plaintiff’s complaint alleged she was injured in two separate car accidents that occurred three months apart. The jury found both defendants responsible for an amount totalling approximately $518,000 in damages. Before the jury returned the verdict, one of the defendants settled for $150,000. Later, the trial court entered a judgment of one half the total verdict against the remaining defendant.

Plaintiff argues on appeal that the trial court erred in awarding plaintiff only 50% of the $518,000 verdict from the nonsettling defendant. Rather, the nonsettling defendant — based on a theory of joint and several liability — should have been responsible for the entire verdict, less only the $150,000 received from the settling defendant. For the reasons that follow, based primarily on the reasoning in Burke v. 12 Rothschild’s Liquor Mart, Inc., 148 Ill. 2d 429, 593 N.E.2d 522 (1992), Yanan v. Ewing, 205 Ill. App. 3d 96, 562 N.E.2d 1243 (1990), and section 433A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (Restatement) (Restatement (Second) of Torts §433A (1965)), we reject plaintiffs theory of recovery and affirm the ruling of the trial court in all respects.

Plaintiff and defendant Steven W. Campbell had a car collision in July 2001. Plaintiff and defendant Bruce E. Walters had a car collision three months later in October 2001. Plaintiff and her husband Peter Sakellariadis filed a complaint against both defendants, alleging negligence in counts I and III and loss of consortium in counts II and IV Plaintiff’s husband later voluntarily dismissed the loss-of-consortium counts and is not a party to this appeal. Plaintiff alleged in the remaining counts I and III that each defendant’s negligence proximately caused her severe and permanent injuries. She alleged defendants were jointly and severally liable for the entire judgment. The trial court determined both defendants were negligent and held a jury trial solely on the question of damages.

The evidence at trial showed plaintiff was treated for injuries to her eyes, shoulder, spine and knee. Plaintiff testified the air bag in her car deployed in the first accident, causing burns to her eyes. She went to the hospital for her injuries, which included pain in her upper back. Plaintiff was treated and released. After the second accident, when her car’s air bag again deployed, plaintiff first went home but later went to the hospital after experiencing leg and back pain. She later had surgery on her shoulder, knee, lower back and eyes. She said, “with all sincerity, it was the second accident that really killed me.”

Plaintiffs treating ophthalmologist Dr. John Harry Fournier testified. After the first accident, plaintiff had significant trauma to both eyes, including alkali burns. Her injuries from the second accident were “superimposed” on the “delayed and defective” healing of injuries from the first accident. She had chronic iritis, infections and chemically induced dry eye. Minimal cataracts after the first accident progressed and required surgery after the second accident. Fournier said the accidents were “cumulative” and it would be “very difficult” to distinguish the role of each collision in plaintiffs injuries.

Dr. Spiros Stamelos, plaintiffs orthopedic surgeon, testified. He said he treated plaintiff for general muscle pain and pain in her neck, lower back, shoulder and knee. After the second accident he found evidence of earlier injuries that were “not very old.” Stamelos performed surgery on plaintiff’s knee, shoulder and lumbar spine. Plaintiffs knee injury could have been caused by a combination of major trauma and smaller injuries. Her shoulder injury was caused by trauma. Her spine injury could have been caused by trauma or by normal arthritic changes associated with aging. Her spinal exams before the accidents were normal. After the accidents she was “symptomatic” and “very disabled.” Stamelos said it was difficult to quantify plaintiffs injuries because “she had two recent accidents” and “everything is sort of blended together.”

Dr. Kevin F. Walsh, an orthopedic surgeon retained by Walters, testified through an evidence deposition read to the jury. Walsh said he reviewed plaintiffs medical records from before and after the accidents and found no evidence of permanent injuries from the accidents.

Dr. Dimitri Perros, an ophthalmologist who performed cataract surgery on plaintiffs eyes after the accidents, also testified through an evidence deposition read to the jury. He said the cataract surgery was unrelated to the accidents and he saw no evidence of trauma to her eyes.

In the jury instruction conference, Walters’ counsel argued defendants were consecutive and not concurrent tortfeasors. Counsel maintained there were two separate accidents and the court should tender to the jury a separate verdict form for each accident. Plaintiff s counsel argued plaintiffs injuries were “indivisible.” The trial court called the action a “novel” case, noting plaintiff had preexisting conditions before the first accident. The trial court observed that after the first accident, plaintiff still had the original preexisting conditions plus injuries from the first accident that had become preexisting conditions. The alleged injuries in the second accident were added to these preexisting conditions. The court found no court opinions or pattern jury instructions that pertained to this set of facts.

The trial court tendered to the jury the verdict form proposed by plaintiff. The form required jurors to assign monetary amounts and percentages of responsibility to each defendant in 14 categories of past or future injuries. For example, one category was “the reasonable expense of the medical care, treatment and services received for back surgery.” To the right of this category was a blank for the jury to fill in a dollar amount. To the right of this were two blanks for the jury to fill in percentages of responsibility for Campbell and Walters. Walters’ counsel objected to the verdict form, arguing it provided no option for finding Walters not guilty. The trial court tendered the form and instructed the jury: “If you find that both defendants proximately caused the damages in a particular category, you must place a percentage for each defendant, the sum of which must total 100 percent.”

While the jury deliberated but before it reached a verdict, plaintiff entered into a settlement agreement with Campbell for $150,000. On plaintiffs motion, the trial court found the settlement to be in good faith. The court noted that despite plaintiffs settlement with Campbell, plaintiffs claims against Walters remained pending.

The jury returned an itemized verdict of approximately $518,000, attributing 50% of the liability to each defendant. The jury award included $200,000 for past and future pain and suffering, $102,000 for the reasonable expense of future medical care and $100,000 for future disability. The jury awarded lesser amounts for past and future back surgery, future neck surgery and other past medical care.

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Bluebook (online)
909 N.E.2d 353, 391 Ill. App. 3d 795, 330 Ill. Dec. 640, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sakellariadis-v-campbell-illappct-2009.