Court Opinion

ID: 9530444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:59:52.957953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:07.031461
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE RYAN, also dissenting: I join in Mr. Justice Underwood’s dissent. However, having shared his frustrating experiences as a trial judge in pre-IPI days, I am compelled to separately voice my opposition to the majority’s rending of the very principle of pattern jury instructions. The pattern instructions given in this case informed the jury in very simple, straight-forward, nonargumentative language that the plaintiff was entitled to recover as an element of damages the “aggravation of any pre-existing ailment or condition.” If, as the majority holds, the plaintiff is entitled to add to the instruction given another instruction which expands on this element of damages by stating that recovery “is not barred or to be limited in any way by the fact *** that the plaintiff’s injury and disability resulted from an aggravation of a pre-existing condition” then arguably a plaintiff would likewise be entitled to similarly expand on and more precisely tailor to his benefit instructions as to every element of damages. If this is permissible for the plaintiff, then I assume the defendant would likewise be entitled to an instruction that recovery is barred or limited if the jury finds that the injury did not result from an aggravation of a preexisting condition and to other instructions as to other elements of damages which would be more restrictive than the IPI instruction and which would naturally be tailored to benefit the defendant. The majority opinion, I fear, is regressive and retreats toward pre-IPI days. The majority conjectures that the plaintiff had no opportunity to offer a modification of the defective instruction. There is no indication that the plaintiff requested a modfication of the tendered instruction. The burden of preparing and tendering jury instructions is primarily on the parties and not on the trial court. (People v. Grant (1978), 71 Ill. 2d 551, 557; 58 Ill. 2d R. 239; Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 110, par. 67.) With certain exceptions, the trial court is under no obligation to give jury instructions not requested by counsel. (People v. Damen (1963), 28 Ill. 2d 464, 469; People v. Springs (1972), 51 Ill. 2d 418, 425.) In Sweeney v. Max A. R. Matthews & Co. (1970), 46 Ill. 2d 64, 69, this court stated: “The defendant was certainly entitled to have the jury properly instructed on this issue [citation], but just as clearly the trial court’s refusal to give incorrect instructions was not error.” In Sweeney in the appellate court (94 Ill. App. 2d 6) the opinion noted that the plaintiff’s objection was not to the form of the instruction but to the giving of any instruction on the subject. The court stated that it was the defendant’s obligation to tender a proper instruction on the applicable law and since he did not he could not complain that his instruction was refused. (94 Ill. App. 2d 6, 30.) In Kinka v. Harley-Davids on Motor Co. (1976), 36 Ill. App. 3d 752, the court stated that if the plaintiff faüed to meet her obligation to tender a proper instruction on the applicable law she could not complain that her instruction was refused. To the same effect see Herbolsheimer v. Herbolsheimer (1977), 46 Ill. App. 3d 563. Even if the plaintiff were entitled to an instruction on aggravation of a preexisting condition, in addition to the IPI instruction given, the instruction tendered clearly could not be given in the form tendered. If it would have been given and a verdict would have been returned in favor of the plaintiff, the defective instruction would have constituted serious grounds for reversal and the granting of a new trial to the defendant. I therefore do not think that we should order a reversal in this case based upon the trial court’s refusal to give a clearly erroneous plaintiff’s instruction.