Opinion ID: 2057254
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rulings on Motions in Limine

Text: In the present appeal North Western also contests a number of rulings made by the trial judge on motions in limine filed by the parties in this case.
North Western argues that the trial judge erred in excluding certain photographs of the accident scene that it offered into evidence. Unlike the photographs offered and introduced into evidence by the plaintiff and by Schwinn, which generally depicted the railroad tracks in a north-south direction, North Western's photographs showed the crossing from an east-west perspective, perpendicular to the tracks. North Western maintains that the other parties' photographs improperly accentuated the appearance of the flangeways, or the gaps running between the rails and surrounding timbers, and that its own photographs more accurately depicted the condition of the crossing. The decision whether to admit or exclude photographic evidence or exhibits is reserved to the discretion of the trial judge. ( Lindsay v. Appleby (1980), 91 Ill. App.3d 705, 710-11; Kyowski v. Burns (1979), 70 Ill. App.3d 1009, 1016-17; see People v. Evans (1988), 125 Ill.2d 50, 96-97 (photographs of fetus of pregnant murder victim); People v. Fierer (1988), 124 Ill.2d 176, 193 (pre-autopsy photographs of murder victim showing wounds).) We cannot say that the trial judge abused his discretion in excluding North Western's photographs. Central Avenue, where it crosses the North Western tracks, was a one-way street, and at the time of the accident Daniel and his friends were riding in the wrong direction. Before trial, the court granted the plaintiff's motion in limine to preclude evidence and argument that Daniel was riding his bicycle in the wrong direction on a one-way street. The photographs submitted by North Western showed a number of street signs that clearly indicated the proper flow of traffic in the area of the crossing, and the trial judge was correct in excluding the photographs on that ground. We note, too, that plaintiff's counsel suggested that the photographs be cropped to obviate their potential prejudice, but North Western did not choose to do so in the suggested manner.
North Western next argues that the circuit judge erred in granting the plaintiff's motions in limine to exclude certain evidence and argument on the possibility that someone might have tampered with the quick-release mechanism on Daniel's bicycle before the accident occurred. The evidence in question consisted of several statements made by Coxon and Fiocchi in their depositions regarding the possibility that someone might have tampered with the quick-release mechanism on Daniel's bicycle. The plaintiff also moved to preclude the defendants from eliciting such evidence from the expert witnesses in the case. The trial judge granted the motions. North Western now contends that the rulings were erroneous and denied the railroad the opportunity to challenge the plaintiff's theory of causation. Contrary to North Western's view, there was no competent evidence of tampering in this case. ( Cf. Tomasovic v. American Honda Motor Co. (1988), 171 Ill. App.3d 979, 989-90 (trial court properly admitted expert witness's testimony that latch hook on motorcycle gas cap had been fractured by tampering before accident occurred).) What the plaintiff sought to exclude was merely speculation that the mechanism might have been tampered with. We would observe, too, that despite the trial court's rulings on the motions in limine, much of the same information was in fact presented to the jury. Nor do we agree with North Western that the record contained circumstantial evidence of tampering and that the trial judge therefore erred in precluding argument on the issue. In support of this argument, North Western points to the evidence that Daniel and his friends had traversed the same crossing a great number of times without incident, that the boys' bicycles were left unattended at the movie theatre before the accident for a period of nearly two hours, at night, that Coxon and Fiocchi said that the release was open after the accident, and that expert witnesses Hazard and DeLong said that the lever might have been open. North Western also contends that Daniel's trial testimony that he checked the condition of the front wheel and hub before he left the theatre may be doubted, in light of the evidence suggesting that he lacks a reliable memory of the accident. North Western contends that the trial testimony was sufficient to have raised a jury question whether the quick-release mechanism was tampered with before Daniel's accident. Even if the trial judge's original ruling barring the introduction of evidence of tampering was erroneous, we cannot say that the court's order prohibiting argument on that issue was prejudicial to North Western. In light of the parties' agreement that the plaintiff would prevail against at least one of the two defendants, such evidence and argument became irrelevant. In this case, evidence that the quick-release mechanism on Daniel's bicycle might have been tampered with before the accident could have been relevant in two distinct respects: to show that the loosening of the lever by a third party was the proximate cause of the accident, or to show that the design of the quick-release mechanism made it susceptible to tampering. Neither question was at issue here, however. The possibility that a third party caused the accident was removed from the case by the parties' stipulation regarding the verdict forms in the case. Nor would that evidence have been relevant in the plaintiff's action against Schwinn, for there was no allegation by the plaintiff that the design of the mechanism made it susceptible to tampering.
North Western also contends that the trial judge erred in allowing codefendant Schwinn to offer evidence and argument concerning the railroad's failure to call two previously identified witnesses to testify at trial in this case. In its answers to interrogatories propounded by the plaintiff, North Western had identified John McClellan as a person having knowledge of the condition of the crossing after the plaintiff's accident, and John Forester as an expert witness on the subjects of bicycle construction and maintenance, and accident reconstruction. North Western did not call either man to testify in this case. The trial judge denied Schwinn's motion to present as evidence certain portions of Forester's deposition. But the court did permit Schwinn, over North Western's objection to read to the jurors the railroad's interrogatory answers identifying the two men, and, in argument, counsel commented adversely on the witnesses' absence. Schwinn did not, however, tender an instruction on the inference that may drawn from a party's failure to produce a witness within its control (see Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil, No. 5.01 (2d ed. 1971) (IPI Civil 2d)), and no instruction on that subject was given. North Western contends here that the trial judge erred in permitting Schwinn to identify the two witnesses to the jurors and to comment on their absence. As a general matter, the adverse inference is available when the missing witness was under the control of the party to be charged and could have been produced by reasonable diligence, the witness was not equally available to the party requesting that the inference be made, a reasonably prudent person would have produced the witness if the party believed that the testimony would be favorable, and no reasonable excuse for the failure to produce the witness is shown. ( Hollembaek v. Dominick's Finer Foods, Inc. (1985), 137 Ill. App.3d 773, 776; IPI Civil 2d, No. 5.01; see Wetherell v. Matson (1977), 52 Ill. App.3d 314, 318-19 (same criteria govern use of pattern instruction and allowance of adverse comment in argument).) The decision whether to use the instruction or permit the argument is reserved to the sound discretion of the court (see Tonarelli v. Gibbons (1984), 121 Ill. App.3d 1042, 1046-47 (instruction)), and we do not believe that the trial judge abused his discretion in permitting Schwinn's counsel to comment adversely on the two witnesses' absence. North Western retained Forester as one of its two expert witnesses in this case. In answer to the plaintiff's interrogatories, North Western explained that the witnesses would testify on different subjects; the railroad's answer stated, Defendant intends to call Rex Nickelson [ sic ] as a crossing expert and Mr. John Forester as its expert on bicycle construction and maintenance as well as on the subject of accident reconstruction. Forester had been hired by North Western, and, because he lived in another State, he could not be subpoenaed to testify by the other parties. It was proper for the court to conclude that Forester was under North Western's control and was not available to the opposing parties. (See Ciborowski v. Philip Dressler & Associates (1983), 110 Ill. App.3d 981, 985-86.) In light of North Western's identification of Forester as an authority on subjects not within the expertise of its other expert witness, it was also reasonable for the court to conclude that Forester would have been called to testify in this case if North Western had believed that he would offer favorable testimony. Nor do we believe that the railroad offered a reasonable excuse for its failure to call the witness. Contrary to North Western's claim, we do not consider that his testimony would have been merely cumulative. Under the circumstances present in this case, it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to permit Schwinn to read North Western's answer to interrogatories, which identified Forester as one of its anticipated witnesses ( cf. Cicale v. Aronson (1969), 113 Ill. App.2d 324, 333 (interrogatory answer improperly read because witness not under party's control)), and to comment on the witness' absence. Nor did the trial judge abuse his discretion in allowing Schwinn to comment adversely on North Western's failure to call its employee, McClellan, as a witness. North Western sent McClellan to inspect the crossing scene shortly after the plaintiff's accident; McClellan was accompanied by a photographer, who took North Western's accident-scene photographs. We consider that McClellan, as North Western's employee, was within the railroad's control. (See Donnelly v. Washington National Insurance Co. (1985), 136 Ill. App.3d 78, 88; Kerns v. Lenox Machine Co. (1979), 74 Ill. App.3d 194, 198-99.) Moreover, it may be assumed that North Western would have presented the witness if it had believed that his testimony would be favorable. North Western contends, however, that it offered a reasonable excuse for not introducing the witness' testimony. During trial, after North Western's photographs of the crossing were barred from evidence because they depicted Central Avenue as a one-way street, the trial judge said that he would permit Schwinn's counsel, in cross-examining McClellan, to refer to the taking of the excluded photographs. North Western argues that its reason for not presenting the witness was a reasonable one, in light of the trial judge's indication that he would permit the proposed cross-examination. We do not believe that North Western can now claim prejudice in this regard. North Western's predicament was largely of its own making, for the railroad had declined opposing counsel's suggestion that the photographs could be cropped in a simple manner, which would have permitted their admission. Under the circumstances here, it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to allow comment to be made on North Western's failure to call the investigator as a witness.
North Western next contends that the trial judge improperly limited the scope of closing argument by granting the plaintiff's motion in limine to prevent the railroad's counsel from arguing that any sum of damages awarded to the plaintiff could be invested to produce a stream of income. It is clear that such argument would have been error and that the trial judge was correct in prohibiting the argument. Under Illinois law, future damages for medical expenses and lost earnings are to be discounted to present cash value, but damages for pain and suffering, disability, and disfigurement are not to be discounted to present cash value. (See IPI Civil 2d, No. 34.02, Comment, at 192 (citing Allendorf v. Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Ry. Co. (1956), 8 Ill.2d 164; Avance v. Thompson (1944), 387 Ill. 77; Howard v. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio R.R. Co. (1957), 13 Ill. App.2d 482).) The jury instructions that were used in this case reflected that rule. (See IPI Civil 2d Nos. 30.01, 30.04, 30.05, 30.06, 30.07, 34.04.) Under the instructions, a sum of future damages is reduced to present cash value by taking into account the investment income that may be generated on a present award of compensation. Here, the plaintiff sought to preclude any argument that would have suggested to the jury that they should consider, in determining damages, any income that could be obtained by investment of the sums of future damages computed by the plaintiff's expert, Professor Linke. In this case, North Western's argument would only have had the effect of inviting the jury to make either an additional reduction in sums already reduced to present cash value by Professor Linke, or an improper reduction in sums that should not be reduced to present cash value, such as damages for pain and suffering. North Western contends, however, that the record in this case contained evidence supporting the suggested argument. North Western relies on certain statements by the plaintiff's economist, Professor Linke, regarding the amount of money that could be earned at then-current interest rates on the sums he had calculated for future lost earnings and future medical expenses. In citing that testimony, however, North Western ignores the witness' explanation that he had already reduced the sums to present cash value and that further consideration of the income that could be earned on investment of those amounts would be unwarranted, representing an additional reduction to present cash value.