Court Opinion

ID: 9727859
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:51:18.016525+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:43.619339
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING Mr. JUSTICE MEJDA delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiff has asked us to reconsider our decision, contending that there is no basis for a partial reversal and remand for a new trial on the issue of damages because defendants have not claimed that the damages awarded at trial were excessive. Plaintiff correctly points out that Illinois law has long held that errors which relate solely to the question of damages do not warrant a reversal absent a claim that they are excessive. (Walczak v. General Motors Corp. (1976), 34 Ill. App. 3d 773, 340 N.E.2d 684; Sheley v. Guy (1975), 29 Ill. App. 3d 361, 330 N.E.2d 567, aff’d (1976), 63 Ill. 2d 544, 348 N.E.2d 835.) However, a closer reading of the Walczak and Sheley cases, as well as the others cited by plaintiff, discloses that the principle applies in situations involving the dollar amount of the injury. As was noted by this court in Fugate v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (1973), 12 Ill. App. 3d 656, 669, 299 N.E.2d 108, 117-18: “Every tort action grounded in negligence requires the showing of (1) a duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, (2) a breach of that duty, i.e., a negligent act or omission, which (3) proximately causes a (4) resulting compensable injury. [Citations.]” While defendants have admitted liability, that admission goes only so far as to acknowledge that they owed a duty to plaintiff and that they breached that duty. It is the result of that breach which was not properly determined at trial and must therefore be considered at a new trial.  There are two aspects to the issue of damages. The first is the fact of the damage itself, which requires the showing of a causal connection between defendants’ actions and plaintiff’s injury. (See, e.g., De Koven Drug Co. v. First National Bank (1975), 27 Ill. App. 3d 798, 327 N.E.2d 378; Manion v. Brant Oil Co. (1967), 85 Ill. App. 2d 129, 229 N.E.2d 171.) The second is the determination of the extent of damages, which requires that a monetary value for the damages claimed be established. The rulings of the trial court in the instant case led to an improper assessment of damages in that the hypothetical question and resulting expert opinion were based on facts not in evidence, and defendants were not allowed to introduce evidence that may have negated the very existence of certain injuries claimed to have been caused by their acts. Unlike the cases cited by plaintiff, the case at bar involves an error that was properly brought before this court and which has not been rendered harmless by the absence of a challenge to the amount of damages assessed. We therefore adhere to our original disposition of this case, remanding it for a new trial solely on the issue of damages, which, as we have stated, includes both the fact and the extent of those damages. The petition for rehearing is denied. SULLIVAN, P. J., and LORENZ, J., concur.