Court Opinion

ID: 9525774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:07:38.91037+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:17:00.334166
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE STEIGMANN, dissenting: I respectfully dissent from the portion of the majority opinion which holds that no Rule 220 violation occurred in this case. In my judgment, plaintiff’s conduct clearly violated that rule, and reversal is required. Schachtsiek’s discovery deposition disclosed his opinions on the standard of security provided at Stage 2. Then later, in his evidence deposition, plaintiff’s counsel asked for his opinion on causation. A distinct, obvious, and appreciable difference exists between breaching standards and whether that breach caused the plaintiff’s injuries. (See W. Keeton, Prosser & Keeton on Torts §42, at 275 (5th ed. 1984) (confusing standards of conduct with causation “obscure the real issue, *** suggest artificial distinctions of causation which have no sound basis, and can only arise to plague [the confused party] in the future”); see also Hansel & Gretel Day Care Center v. Industrial Comm’n (1991), 215 Ill. App. 3d 284, 294, 574 N.E.2d 1244, 1251 (denying workers’ compensation recovery where plaintiff failed to prove causation connected with employment).) Despite the close relation between the issues of breach of standards and causation, they remain separate and distinct. Given the burden imposed by Rule 220, and that rule’s obvious intention of reducing the gamesmanship of pretrial preparation and subsequent surprise at trial, such as occurred in this case, attorneys should always err on the side of disclosing too much of the specific subject matter about which they expect their expert to testify or risk the consequence that some or all of the expert’s testimony will be barred by the trial court or will provide the basis for reversal by a court of review. The majority opinion seems to assume that causation must necessarily follow from Schachtsiek’s statement that security at Stage 2 was deficient. That position is not correct, either logically or legally. Indeed, if the majority opinion were correct on this point, then the black-letter law’s notion of what constitutes a tort — (1) the existence of a duty, (2) its breach (namely, the performance of some negligent act, such as having deficient security), and (3) proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury due to that breach — would be stood on its head. The majority opinion’s assumption that causation must follow from a finding of negligence effectively eliminates the third element-causation. I readily concede that in many cases, no question will arise that plaintiff’s injuries were proximately caused by defendant’s negligent conduct. However, that fact gives no solace to the majority’s position here. Rule 220(d) was designed to cut out the game-playing, the uncertainties, and the just plain sleazy tactics too often used by litigants to hide the testimony of their experts from the other side and to surprise them with that testimony at trial, just like what happened in the present case. By promulgating Rule 220(d), the supreme court intended to put a stop to it; by affirming the trial judge’s finding of no error in this case, we fail in our duty to follow the supreme court’s mandate. I also strongly disagree with the majority opinion’s assessment that there was anything the matter with the general type of catchall question asked by defendant. Surely, given the ever-increasing costs of litigation and discovery, counsel representing the party opposing the expert witness ought not bear the burden to ask every conceivable question about any specific possible opinion pertaining to that case that the expert might hold. If we are to hold that opposing counsel’s failure to do so results in the loss of any protections provided under Rule 220(d), then truly we have reached the point of “practicing of law by word processors and copy machines,” a complaint I already hear with increasing frequency from practitioners. Rule 220 places an ongoing burden on an attorney who intends to offer the testimony of an expert witness; the offeror bears the burden to disclose at any time before trial a new or different opinion of that expert. In the present case, defense counsel asked Schachtsiek at his discovery deposition whether he had any other opinions relevant to the case, to which he answered “no.” Although the opposing counsel never bears the burden of asking this question, and although my conclusion that there was a violation of Rule 220 would be the same even if defense counsel here had not asked this question, that defense counsel in fact asked that particular question and received a negative response makes the trial court’s (and the majority opinion’s) tolerance of plaintiff’s clear violation of both the spirit and letter of Rule 220(d) particularly egregious. The gamesmanship plaintiff’s counsel engaged in regarding Schachtsiek is apparent on this record. At Schachtsiek’s evidence deposition, plaintiff’s counsel specifically asked for and received Schachtsiek’s opinions regarding whether Stage 2’s failure to follow security standards caused or contributed to plaintiff’s injury. I do not believe that this was the first occasion on which plaintiff’s counsel had asked that question of Schachtsiek; yet, this setting — which was the equivalent of Schachtsiek’s testifying at trial — was certainly the first occasion that defendant’s counsel ever heard such an opinion expressed. This court should not condone or tolerate such tactics. We ought to hold that as soon as plaintiff’s counsel had first asked for and learned of Schachtsiek’s opinions regarding causation, Rule 220(d) required him to reveal that information to opposing counsel. Further, we should hold that the failure of plaintiff’s counsel to do so results in the suppression of all of Schachtsiek’s causation testimony. Having so held, we should then reverse and remand for a new trial.