Sanchez v. Perez

2020 IL App (1st) 181313-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 5, 2020
Docket1-18-1313
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2020 IL App (1st) 181313-U (Sanchez v. Perez) 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
Sanchez v. Perez, 2020 IL App (1st) 181313-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

2020 IL App (1st) 181313-U No. 1-18-1313 Order filed June 5, 2020 Fifth Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). __________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT __________________________________________________________________________ DANIEL SANCHEZ, ) ) Appeal from the Plaintiff, ) Circuit Court of ) Cook County. v. ) ) No. 15 L 9339 JUAN PEREZ and CITY OF CHICAGO, a municipal ) corporation, ) Honorable ) Janet A. Brosnahan, Defendants. ) Judge, Presiding. ____________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE HALL delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Rochford and Delort concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: We affirm the circuit court’s order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The circuit court did not err when it instructed the jury pursuant to section 11-1205 (625 ILCS 5/11-1205 (West 2018)) of the Illinois Vehicle Code.

¶2 Plaintiff, Daniel Sanchez, appeals from an order of the circuit court which denied his

motion for a new trial or a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (judgment n.o.v.) in favor of

defendants Juan Perez (Perez) and the City of Chicago (City) (collectively, defendants). Plaintiff

filed a complaint against defendants following an automobile accident in which Perez’s garbage

truck and plaintiff’s SUV collided while Perez was reversing out of a parking lane outside of a No. 1-18-1313

strip mall along Narragansett Avenue and plaintiff was exiting the strip mall driveway to make a

right turn onto Narragansett. On appeal, plaintiff contends that the circuit court erred when it:

failed to rule on a question of law, namely, whether section 11-1205 of the Vehicle Code gives a

driver operating in reverse the right-of way; denied his motion for a new trial because the jury’s

verdict in favor of the defendants was against the manifest weight of the evidence; and denied his

motion for a judgment n.o.v. For the following reasons, we affirm.

¶3 BACKGROUND

¶4 Perez and plaintiff testified at trial and offered different accounts of how the accident

occurred.

¶5 On November 21, 2011, at approximately noon, Perez stopped for lunch and parked his

garbage truck in the parking lane outside a strip mall on Narragansett Avenue, near its intersection

with Diversey Avenue. Perez testified that he parked just north of the exit from the strip mall

parking lot behind another vehicle, with the rear of his truck towards the driveway. He testified

that he chose that parking space because there was plenty of room for his garbage truck, which

was 25 feet in length, eight feet wide, and weighed eight tons. After he parked, he left the truck

running, pulled on the emergency brake, turned on his flashers, exited the truck and looked behind

it to make sure he had enough room to reverse. He then went into the Little Caesar’s restaurant in

the strip mall.

¶6 After purchasing his lunch, Perez returned to the truck and ate. The truck was still running

with the emergency brakes and flashers on. Perez testified that he could not pull forward out of the

space because he was close to the vehicle in front of him.

-2- No. 1-18-1313

¶7 Perez testified that when he finished eating his lunch, he placed his hands on the steering

wheel, put his foot on the brake, pushed a yellow button, which released the brakes, and pushed

the reverse button on, which activated a beeping alarm which signaled that he was going to reverse.

He then looked at his right-side rear-view mirror. He could see the driveway, the sidewalk and the

end of his truck, and there was no one behind him. He then looked at his left-side rear-view mirror

and did not see anything except for traffic moving northbound on Narragansett. After looking both

right and left, he took his foot off the brake and the truck began to automatically reverse very

slowly. He did not place his foot on the gas. The truck continued to beep as it reversed, and both

the red flashing lights and reverse white lights remained on.

¶8 As the truck reversed, Perez looked to the right again and that is when he saw plaintiff’s

SUV for the first time, exiting the strip mall. Perez testified that the back right-end of his truck,

the flipper, struck the passenger door of plaintiff’s SUV. Perez did not know when he hit plaintiff’s

SUV and he did not feel the impact. When he realized he hit plaintiff’s vehicle, Perez stopped the

truck immediately and pulled on his emergency brakes. Plaintiff came over to his truck and started

telling Perez that he hit his car. Perez called the police and his supervisor and stayed in his vehicle

until the police arrived.

¶9 When his supervisor arrived, Perez exited his vehicle, went behind the truck and noticed

that the flipper from the truck made a hole in plaintiff’s vehicle and had broken the passenger side

window of the SUV. Perez left after the police arrived and plaintiff drove away in his SUV.

¶ 10 Plaintiff testified that he drove his Ford Explorer to the strip mall parking lot located at

Narragansett and Diversey Avenue at approximately noon on November 21, 2011, to go to the

currency exchange. As he was leaving the strip mall, he stopped his vehicle at the sidewalk to look

-3- No. 1-18-1313

for pedestrians. He intended to make a right turn but stopped due to oncoming traffic from his left

going northbound on Narragansett. He also noticed a City garbage truck parked to his right with

its flashing lights on and observed through the truck’s right side-view mirror that the driver was

talking on his cell phone.

¶ 11 Plaintiff testified that the truck had not reversed yet, so he moved forward halfway into the

parking lane. He testified that while he was at a complete stop, suddenly, he heard a beep and saw

the garbage truck reversing towards his car. He looked behind him and noticed that there was a

vehicle immediately behind him so he could not back up. He also could not turn right due to

oncoming traffic. He began blowing his horn at the truck, but the truck did not stop. Plaintiff

testified that the rear of the truck hit the front passenger door of plaintiff’s SUV, the window

exploded, he hit his head on the driver’s side window, and the truck kept reversing and shook his

entire body. He testified that the incident lasted approximately four to five seconds, that he was

pushed a couple of feet, and that the truck was coming fast.

¶ 12 During the jury instructions conference, plaintiff presented jury instruction number 22,

which quoted section 11-1402(a) (625 ILCS 5/11-1402(a) (West 2018)) of the Illinois Vehicle

Code (Vehicle Code) and incorporated Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil, No. 60.01 (2011)

(hereinafter IPI Civil 60.01), entitled Violation of Statute, Ordinance, or Administrative

Regulation, and read:

“The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with safety and without interfering with other traffic.

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