Pretzel & Stouffer Attorneys Submit Amicus Brief for Illinois Defense Counsel

Pretzel & Stouffer partners, Rich Burgland and Donald Eckler, filed an amicus brief in the Illinois Supreme Court in support of the petitioner in Crim v. Dietrich on behalf of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel.

This case deals with whether a party is required to file a post-trial motion to preserve issues decided by a jury on appeal where the issue originally appealed was a directed verdict.

In Crim, the Illinois Appellate Court held that in a case against a doctor arising out of alleged errors in the delivery of a child, the jury’s verdict on the negligence count had to be retried following the issuance of a general mandate. The court came to this conclusion despite: 1) the plaintiff only having appealed the directed verdict on the informed consent claim against the doctor; 2) the plaintiff not having filed a post-trial motion on the negligence count decided by the jury; and, 3) the plaintiff having explicitly stated that she was not appealing the jury’s verdict.

Key issues of trial and appellate practice and procedure are implicated by this case.