Court Opinion

ID: 9533754
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:34:19.480665+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:09.868639
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. My difference with the majority focuses on point 1 concerning defendant’s expert, David Youngberg. Plaintiff’s argument to this court, sustained by the record, indicates that defendant’s expert Youngberg was making measurements and calculations based on an incorrect measurement of 10 feet of skid marks. His discovery pursuant to former Rule 220 indicated his conclusions and the basis of those conclusions. Plaintiff apparently relied upon this Rule 220 discovery to the extent that the opening statement in front of the jury indicated that this expert’s measurements were incorrect and that, based on his overall approach, if the correct skid-mark measurements had been used, defendant’s expert would have conclusions very similar to those of plaintiff’s expert. In the course of his testimony, however, Youngberg proffered a new theory not available for discovery that involved 18 feet and essentially a theory of overlapping. This testimony was objected to by plaintiff. It was this undiscovered new material from defendant’s expert that resulted in the trial court granting plaintiff’s motion to bar further testimony as a Rule 220 sanction. This sanction was unquestionably within the discretion of the trial court, for defendant had not disclosed the information. Sohaey v. Van Cura, 158 Ill. 2d 375, 634 N.E.2d 707 (1994). It is also within the discretion of the trial court to determine whether the cumulative result of plaintiff’s opening statement concerning the testimony of defendant’s expert, the abbreviated testimony of that expert on the stand, and the barring of that expert for a Rule 220 violation resulting in no opportunity for plaintiff to show, as suggested in his opening statement, that the figures of the two experts were actually similar cumulatively caused prejudicial error to the plaintiff, requiring a new trial. Defendant has not suggested in his brief or cited this court to any authority that the imposition of a Rule 220 sanction and the granting of a new trial are mutually exclusive actions by a trial court or that a trial court must choose between the two when faced with a situation similar to that in the instant case. The record clearly reflects that plaintiff in opening statement said that defendant’s expert Youngberg had relied upon inaccurate figures as far as skid marks of 10 feet rather than 18 feet and that if said expert had used the appropriate number, the calculations of the two experts would be similar. The suggestion to the jury by plaintiff was not rebutted or commented upon by defendant in opening statement. What triggered plaintiff’s counsel’s response and motion to bar under Rule 220 was the following testimony given by defendant’s expert: "In the course of—of analyzing braking behavior for vehicles, and based upon my reconstruction experience, I realized I had an 18-foot skid mark, but I also realized that that’s not indicative of stopping distance. And one of the reasons is because vehicles have what you call overlap when they stop. When both front wheels and back wheels are skidding, the back wheels are going to lay down marks just the same as the front wheels and you have overlap and that—and so if you have an 18-foot skid, that’s not indicative of an 18-foot stopping distance.” At this point plaintiff’s counsel objected. The subsequent colloquy between counsel and the court outside the presence of the jury indicated that the theory of overlap, and integrating 18-foot skid marks into this theory, had never been disclosed to plaintiff as part of the Rule 220 discovery. At this point plaintiff’s counsel was faced with a dilemma; should he attempt in cross-examination to overcome this new theory of overlap with this belatedly recognized figure of 18-foot skid marks and attempt to bring defendant’s expert in the vicinity of plaintiffs own expert’s conclusions, or should plaintiffs counsel conclude that with this newly disclosed theory of overlap now integrating 18-foot skid marks, defendant’s expert was predestined to come to conclusions different than plaintiffs expert and the best route for damage control would be to attempt to bar the expert entirely on the basis of the Rule 220 violation? It appears from the record that neither sharp horn of this dilemma was of plaintiffs own making. Defendant argues that it does not have to acquiesce in an ambush of its own expert witness, and I completely agree. If the means by which defendant intends to prevent ambush is the introduction of a new, previously undisclosed theory which explains or reconciles an apparent conflict in the facts, the appropriate way to proceed is to disclose this new material or theory as soon as practicable pursuant to the former Rule 220. Testimony on the witness stand before the jury is not as soon as practicable. The trial court was certainly in a better position than this court to determine whether plaintiff was unduly prejudiced by this course of events concerning defendant’s expert. A review of the record shows that the court’s conclusion that such prejudice occurred has support in the record, and accordingly, the trial court’s decision to grant a new trial was not an abuse of its discretion. I therefore respectfully dissent.