Court Opinion

ID: 9526121
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:12:42.830735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:18:30.222118
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE JIGANTI, dissenting: Victor Boasiako was the driver of a taxicab proceeding eastbound on Wacker Drive when it attempted to make a left turn at a traffic-controlled intersection on State Street. As he did so, his taxi was struck on the right side by a taxi driven by Terry Bryant and owned by Checker Taxi Company. Boasiako brought this action for personal injuries he alleged that he received in that occurrence. Checker Taxi counterclaimed for damage to its automobile. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Boasiako. The verdict form found total damages to be in the amount of $9,000. It further found that “the percentage of neg-that was a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury and damages attributable solely to the plaintiff is 40%.” On Checker Taxi’s property damage claim against Boasiako the jury found for Boasiako and against Checker. Checker contends that these verdicts are inconsistent. The trial court and the majority of this court found that they were not. I respectfully disagree. The burden-of-proof instruction informed the jury that the verdict should be for Checker Taxi if Checker Taxi proved that Boasiako was negligent and that Checker Taxi was damaged as the proximate cause of Boasiako’s negligence. There was never any question in the trial court concerning damages and proximate cause. As a matter of fact, for tactical reasons it was to the advantage of Boasiako to show that the damage to Checker Taxi was more extensive than Checker Taxi’s repair bill would indicate. Therefore, Checker Taxi only had to prove that Boasiako was negligent. The jury verdict on Boasiako’s claim found that Boasiako was 40% negligent in causing his own injuries. In this intersection accident, if it was Boasiako’s negligence that caused his injury, then, it must have been the same negligence that caused the damage to Checker Taxi’s vehicle. It requires more of an imagination than I have to determine how, while Boasiako was driving a taxi that made a left turn in front of the Checker Taxi and was not using ordinary care, he was not negligent as charged by Checker Taxi in its complaint. Neither Boasiako’s brief nor the majority explain otherwise. Checker Taxi proved negligence, damages and proximate cause. They were entitled to a favorable verdict, but did not receive one. The two verdicts rendered by the jury are inconsistent. For these reasons, I believe that the matter should be remanded for a new trial. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Eltrevoog (1982), 92 Ill. 2d 66, 440 N.E.2d 840.