McKinney v. Coca Cola Bottling Co.

Defendants, Coca Cola Bottling Company of Chicago and Jewel Companies, Incorporated, appeal from the order of the circuit court of Du Page County granting plaintiff, Joann McKinney, a new trial. The trial court granted a new trial when plaintiff discovered that an instruction defining proximate cause had not been presented to the jury in this product liability action. We allowed defendants’ petition for leave to appeal pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 306(a)(1)(i) (107 Ill. 2d R. 306(a)(1)(i)).

On appeal, defendants argue that plaintiff failed to tender the instruction defining proximate cause…