Court Opinion

ID: 9523845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:47:33.556756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:16.274818
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING JUSTICE MILLS delivered the supplemental opinion of the court: I Ballweg has filed a petition for rehearing, arguing for the first time on appeal that the trial court erred in denying his motion for summary judgment on the grounds that defendants were collaterally estopped from denying liability because of the judgment in Ogg.  We are fully aware that Ballweg raised in his appellee’s brief an estoppel argument relating to the trial court’s ruling on a jury instruction. But, at no time prior to the filing of the petition for rehearing has Ballweg argued that a trial on the issue of liability was precluded because of collateral estoppel. The argument, therefore, is abandoned. See First Granite City National Bank v. Champion (1970), 130 Ill. App. 2d 970, 268 N.E.2d 35. Moreover, we do not believe Ballweg is entitled to avail himself of collateral estoppel under the circumstances of the present case. Ballweg was not a party in Ogg and, therefore, collateral estoppel would not apply here under the traditional application of the doctrine. But see Illinois State Chamber of Commerce v. Pollution Control Board (1979), 78 Ill. 2d 1, 398 N.E.2d 9. Ballweg’s petition for rehearing is denied. II  We are disturbed by Henrici’s petition for rehearing. Our original opinion was based on factual representations made by Henrici in his appellee’s brief and undisputed by the parties. Henrici now claims that “[t]he able young lawyer who authored the brief of the Third Party Defendant Henrici was laboring under a misapprehension of the facts ***.” The author of Henrici’s petition for rehearing further claims that, although he reviewed the appellee’s brief, he “did not catch the significance of the language describing the covenant as an assignment nor the language which distorted the way settlement actually occurred.” Henrici now asserts that the settlement described in his appellee’s brief was never executed and that the actual covenant not to sue— between Ballweg, Henrici, and the city, dated June 27, 1983—con-tained no assignment of contribution rights from the city to Ballweg. Since the putative assignment had been the only basis for Henrici’s argument that Ballweg provided consideration for the settlement with Henrici, it is singularly curious that the author of the petition for rehearing did not “catch the significance of the language describing the covenant as an assignment.” Nevertheless, we have allowed Henrici to supplement the record on appeal with the covenant not to sue between Ballweg, Henrici, and the city. As noted in the petition for rehearing, this settlement contains no assignment of contribution rights from the city to Ballweg. The covenant states on its face that the sole consideration provided by Ballweg to Henrici was Ballweg’s promise to refrain from asserting any claim against Henrici under section 2 of the Wrongful Death Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 70, par. 2) arising out of the accidental death of Donna Ballweg on August 13, 1978. This covenant not to sue was entered into well after the statute of limitations had run on any wrongful death action which Ballweg had against Henrici. We continue to hold, therefore, that a settlement which is entered into after the limitations period has expired on the plaintiff’s claim against the settling defendant is not in good faith under section 2(c) of the Contribution Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 70, par. 302(c)). Henrici’s petition for rehearing is denied. GREEN, P. J., and WEBBER, J,, concur.