Vuletich v. Alivotvodic

392 N.E.2d 663, 73 Ill. App. 3d 927, 30 Ill. Dec. 8, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3010
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 2, 1979
Docket77-1282
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 392 N.E.2d 663 (Vuletich v. Alivotvodic) 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
Vuletich v. Alivotvodic, 392 N.E.2d 663, 73 Ill. App. 3d 927, 30 Ill. Dec. 8, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3010 (Ill. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE CAMPBELL

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from an order of the circuit court of Cook County denying plaintiff’s motion to vacate the summary judgment of October 18, 1976, in favor of defendant G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc. (hereinafter Heileman), and defendant Rose P. Alivotvodic individually and d/b/a Sully’s Jump Inn (hereinafter jointly considered as Alivotvodic). This action was instituted by the plaintiff, Debra Vuletich, for damages incurred when she was struck by a vehicle driven by co-defendant Stanley Kolibowski (hereinafter Kolibowski) on August 10, 1973, at approximately 2 a.m. as she was walking in the vicinity of South Torrence Avenue, Chicago. Plaintiff’s second amended complaint asserted various theories of recovery against three defendants: Kolibowski, Alivotvodic and Heileman. The entry of the summary judgment, however, was confined to the product liability allegations contained in counts VII, VIII, and IX of the second amended complaint. We affirm.

The record reveals that on the evening of August 10,1973, defendant Kolibowski attended the races at Maywood Park racetrack and then went to Sully’s Jump Inn, his neighborhood bar. While at the tavern, he consumed a shot of Calvert’s whiskey, four 8- or 10-ounce glasses of Old Style draft beer manufactured by defendant Heileman, a beef sandwich with a side dish of raw onion slices, pickles and mild banana peppers, two hard-boiled eggs and a package of peanuts. The record also reveals that earlier that day Kolibowski had eaten some homemade soup at home and a frozen custard and a bag of popcorn at the racetrack. Kolibowski was proceeding on Torrence Avenue on his way home after the tavern closed when he struck plaintiff.

Counts VII, VIII, and IX alleged liability against Alivotvodic and Heileman for preparing, manufacturing, and distributing food and beer in an unreasonably dangerous and unwholesome condition and that this condition proximately caused Kolibowski to become disoriented and dazed so that he lost control of his vehicle, striking and injuring plaintiff.

In an effort to discover the nature of the condition in the Old Style beer upon which plaintiff premised liability, defendant Alivotvodic filed a demand for bill of particulars requesting the plaintiff to state in what manner the draft beer was unwholesome, unreasonably dangerous, impure, harmful and unfit for human consumption. Plaintiff replied stating that she did not know what element in the beer caused it to be adulterated. Heileman sought a similar clarification from the plaintiff in a written interrogatory. In answering the interrogatory, the plaintiff stated that she had no knowledge as to the beer’s unwholesome nature but that an investigation continued in this regard.

Subsequently, defendants Alivotvodic and Heileman filed motions for summary judgment on the basis that no genuine issue of material fact existed and attached as support co-defendant Kolibowski’s deposition of March 17, 1976. In his deposition Kolibowski testified that he noticed nothing unusual about the food or beer that he consumed at Sully’s Jump Inn on the evening of August 9,1973, and in the early hours of August 10, that he did not feel ill after consuming these items, detected no foreign matter or objects in the beer, that the beer had looked normal, had a good head on it, and had been refreshing, that the food had no unusual taste to it but had been as good as ever, that he did not personally know nor had anyone told him that the food or beer was contaminated in any way and finally that neither the food nor beer had made him sick.

In opposition to the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, plaintiff filed the affidavit of Officer Barton Howes who conducted the on-scene investigation of the accident shortly after its occurrence. In this affidavit Officer Howes stated that Kolibowski appeared unstable and dazed after the accident, staggered, had slurred speech, complained that he did not feel well, and that Kolibowski concluded that his condition was caused by bad food or drink. Howes stated that it was his opinion that Kolibowski was either extremely ill or intoxicated on the morning of August 10, 1973. The plaintiff also filed with the court excerpts from Kolibowski’s depositions of November 13,1974, and March 17, 1976. On October 18, 1976, the trial court entered the order granting the summary judgment to Heileman and Alivotvodic. Thereafter, plaintiff filed a motion for rehearing seeking time to have a medical expert review the evidence to determine whether the food or beer was unwholesome or unreasonably dangerous. In conjunction with this effort plaintiff filed the affidavit and deposition of Dr. Frank Fiorese. Dr. Fiorese, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry specializing in toxicology, stated that in his educational and professional judgment it was possible that a person in Mr. Kolibowski’s condition suffered from intoxication or from the presence of bacterial toxins in either the food or drink he had consumed. On June 6, 1977, after extensive briefing the trial court affirmed its order of October 18, 1976, granting the summary judgments. It is from this order that the plaintiff appeals.

The plaintiff alleges that genuine issues of material fact existed in the affidavits and depositions on file in this case and that, therefore, the trial court erred in granting a summary judgment in favor of defendants Alivotvodic and Heileman. It is well established that a summary judgment will only be entered in favor of the moving party where the pleadings, depositions, admissions, and affidavits demonstrate that no genuine issue of fact exists which warrants trying the case. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 110, par. 57; In re Estate of Ariola (1979), 69 Ill. App. 3d 158, 386 N.E.2d 862; Hernandez v. Trimarc Corp. (1976), 38 Ill. App. 3d 1004, 350 N.E.2d 202.

A plaintiff in a strict liability action has the burden of proof to plead and prove every fact necessary to sustain his cause of action. (Hunt v. Blasius (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 203, 384 N.E.2d 368; Suvada v. White Motor Co. (1965), 32 Ill. 2d 612, 210 N.E.2d 182.) That burden requires that the plaintiff prove “that their injury or damage resulted from a condition of the product, that the condition was an unreasonably dangerous one and that the condition existed at the time it left the manufacturer’s control.” (32 Ill. 2d 612, 623.) While a plaintiff is not normally required to prove his case at this preliminary stage, he must present some facts which could be construed as supporting his allegations. Hunt v. Blasius; Gehrman v. Zajac (1975), 34 Ill. App. 3d 164, 340 N.E.2d 184; Weber v. Woods (1975), 31 Ill. App. 3d 122, 334 N.E.2d 857; Shramek v. General Motors Corp. (1966), 69 Ill. App. 2d 72, 216 N.E.2d 244.

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Bluebook (online)
392 N.E.2d 663, 73 Ill. App. 3d 927, 30 Ill. Dec. 8, 1979 Ill. App. LEXIS 3010, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vuletich-v-alivotvodic-illappct-1979.