Court Opinion

ID: 9726191
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:36:40.09676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:23.999022
License: Public Domain

Special Concurring Opinion STOUDER, P. J. I concur with the result reached in the majority opinion, namely that Plaintiff’s Instruction No. 16 is prejudicial and erroneous. However I do not agree with the reasoning employed by the majority opinion to reach this result. No argument is made that the statute involved is one which the legislature was without power to enact. We are therefore, assuming the propriety of the statute, compelled to question under what circumstances the statute may be given the effect intended by the legislature. It is obvious that the legislature intended some consequence to flow from the fact of a collision at an intersection or the fact of interference with the movement of other vehicles after driving past a yield right-of-way sign. This consequence, the legislature states, shall be to establish prima facie evidence of a violation of the statute. What effect should be given this declaration of the legislature ? To suggest, as does the majority opinion, that where the evidence is in conflict, the statute should not be given effect whereas if the evidence is not in conflict the statute should be given effect merely begs the question. If the relationship between two facts is such that the existence of fact one leads to a conclusion of the existence of fact two, this relationship does not change merely because there may be a dispute as to the existence of fact one. Civil liability for negligence may not be predicated solely on the violation of a statute since this would, as stated in the majority opinion, ignore the element of proximate cause. If an instruction in the language of the statute leads to this implication that instruction must be prejudicial and erroneous. However criminal responsibility may be predicated upon a statutory violation. Indeed in a criminal procedure this is the sole issue. If the statute is violated, criminal responsibility follows as an inevitable consequence. Chapter 95%, 111 Rev Stats 1965, commonly known as the Motor Vehicle Code, is primarily concerned with the establishment of rules and conduct in the operation of motor vehicles and their enforcement by criminal procedures. Therefore, it appears to me that prior court decisions, the comments of the drafters of the Illinois Pattern Instructions and the legislative intent may all be given effect if the instruction complained of be limited to cases in which the violation of the statute is the single issue to be resolved.