Bernesak v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING

Mr. JUSTICE HARTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Certain misapprehensions as to the nature of our disposition and the proceedings in this cause upon remand were evinced in defendant’s petition for rehearing and require correction. We affirm the judgment on the issue of defendant’s liability and the original money judgment entered thereon in the amount of $200,000; we reverse denial of plaintiff’s motion for a partial new trial solely on the question of plaintiff’s lost income and present cash value of income certain to be lost in the future, if any. Should any such damages be determined by the jury, the same shall be added to the amount of damages already determined to be $200,000. The jury sitting in the partial new trial must be carefully instructed that this is the sole issue for its determination without reference to liability and the damages already awarded. Accordingly, we suggest that the trial court include the following modification of Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil, Nos. 30.01 and 30.07 (2d ed. 1971) with the other appropriate instructions tendered to the jury:

“It has already been determined that defendant is liable to plaintiff for plaintiff’s injuries and that the amount of plaintiff’s damages, other than those to be determined by you, is $200,000. You must fix the amount of money which will reasonably and fairly compensate her for any of the following elements of damage proved by the evidence to have resulted from the wrongful conduct of the defendant:

The value of earnings lost and the present cash value of earnings reasonably certain to be lost in the future.

Whether any of these elements of damages has been proved by the evidence is for you to determine. The amount thus determined by you, if any, shall be added to the amount already assessed as compensation for other elements of damages.”

See Thatch v. Missouri Pacific R.R. Co. (1977), 47 Ill. App. 3d 980, 986-87, 362 N.E.2d 1064, appeal denied (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 637, and authorities therein cited; Davis v. Yellow Cab Co. (1971), 133 Ill. App. 2d 190, 193, 273 N.E.2d 35 (“a partial new trial [shall] be conducted on the sole issue of wages and earnings lost by plaintiff and that judgment be entered for plaintiff in the amount of damages already assessed by the court ($6,509.10) plus such additional amount for lost earnings and wages as the court shall find proper”).

Accordingly, defendant’s petition for rehearing is hereby denied, and the cause remanded consistent with the views herein expressed.

PERLIN, P. J., and STAMOS, J., concur.