Court Opinion

ID: 9710321
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:06:44.170994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:55.862204
License: Public Domain

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE GEORGE J. MORAN, dissenting: I do not agree that “[t]he law is well settled that a party cannot recover punitive damages in a wrongful death action in Illinois.” A careful reading of Mattyasovszky and National Bank of Bloomington v. Norfolk Western Ry., 73 Ill. 2d 160, 383 N.E.2d 919 (1978), and Churchill v. Norfolk 6- Western Ry. Co., 73 Ill. 2d 127, 383 N.E.2d 929 (1978), convinces me that this statement in the majority opinion is wrong. See also the excellent discussion of this problem in Tort Trends, volume 14, No. 2 (Dec. 1978), published by ISBA. Nor do I believe any reversible error was committed in the trial court. I would affirm the judgment in actual damages and remand this case for a jury to decide the issue of punitive damages.