Court Opinion

ID: 9540305
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:14:27.256505+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:50.133019
License: Public Domain

STOUDER, J., dissenting. Dissenting Opinion I do not agree with the opinion of the majority. The record before us clearly shows that Plaintiff waived any individual interest in the verdict. The verdict, then being within the range of the evidence and the law, any possible dilemma facing the trial court was thereby solved. As was succinctly stated in Hall v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co., 349 Ill App 175, 110 NE2d 654 “We are not unmindful of the rule and cases which hold that the trial judge is allowed broad discretion in granting motions for a new trial, and that his actions will not be reversed on appeal except in cases of clear abuse of such discretion; but this rule, like all others, has its limitations. A judge is not empowered to set aside a verdict in any case simply because he does not agree with it. The case at bar presents the question whether the trial court was correct in a ruling of law on which its order granting a new trial is based; defendant has here presented questions which fairly challenge the propriety of the order, and we would not be warranted in disregarding them by simply reiterating the principle that a reviewing court should not interfere with the discretion of the trial judge.” In the instant case the trial court’s granting of a new trial was based upon a finding that the forms of verdict submitted to the jury were improper. It therefore should be our duty to examine the propriety of this finding in order to determine the limits which were self-imposed upon the discretion of the trial court. Upon thorough examination of the record before us I am unable to find that Defendant made any objection to the forms of verdict at the conference on instructions or at any time prior to his post-trial motion. It is well settled law that a party cannot complain of errors which he has committed, invited or induced the court to make or to which he has consented. Meyer v. Polivat, 13 Ill App2d 491, 142 NE2d 747; Waukegan v. Stanczak, 6 Ill2d 594, 129 NE2d 751; Johnson v. Luhman, 333 Ill App 418, 78 NE2d 107. If a party wishes to object to the forms of verdict, he should do so at the conference to settle jury instructions and point out to the trial court where the forms of verdict are defective and prejudicial to his rights. McCormick v. Hahn, 30 Ill App2d 311, 174 NE2d 206; Pruitt v. Motor Cargo Inc., 30 Ill App2d 222, 173 NE2d 851. Defendant’s failure to object to the forms at the proper time as well as his later failure to show that he was in fact prejudiced compels me in the instant case to find that the trial court’s finding was erroneous and Defendant’s motion for a new trial should have been denied. The question of the effect of the verdict form is the only question considered by the majority opinion. Since, in my opinion, the trial court was in error in its ruling on this point, it should next be the duty of this court to examine the record for other evidence of prejudicial error committed in the trial court, including the matters assigned as error by way of cross appeal, to determine whether the ruling of the trial court can be supported on grounds other than those stated.