Legal Opinion
O'CONNELL BY NELSON v. City of Chicago
Appellate Court of Illinois
Decided November 27, 1996No. 1-94-0520PublishedCited by 24 opinions
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Wolfson
The law of this state establishes the special interrogatory as guardian of the integrity of a general verdict in a civil jury trial. For that reason, our courts of review have drawn a fine but critical line between proper and improper argument when a lawyer urges jurors to answer a special interrogatory in a certain way.
In this case, the trial judge found plaintiff’s lawyer crossed the line during his rebuttal argument. A new trial was ordered after the jury returned a verdict awarding the plaintiff more than $10 million in damages. Our task is to determine whether the trial judge abused his…
2Cases cited24 opinions
- Maple v. GustafsonIllinois Supreme Court · 1992
- Thompson v. County of CookIllinois Supreme Court · 1993
- Auton v. Logan Landfill, Inc.Illinois Supreme Court · 1985
- Sommese v. Maling Bros., Inc.Illinois Supreme Court · 1966
- Wagner v. City of ChicagoIllinois Supreme Court · 1995
19 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by24 opinions
- Simmons v. GarcesIllinois Supreme Court · 2002
- Blue v. Environmental Engineering, Inc.Illinois Supreme Court · 2005
- Ferguson v. Bill Berger Associates, Inc.Appellate Court of Illinois · 1998
- Northern Trust Co. v. University of Chicago Hospitals & ClinicsAppellate Court of Illinois · 2004
- Whirlpool Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's LondonAppellate Court of Illinois · 1998
19 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.