Karlin v. Inland Steel Co.

• Decision Date: 26 September 1979
• Docket Number: No. 78-1586,78-1586
• Citation: 77 Ill.App.3d 183,395 N.E.2d 1038,32 Ill.Dec. 657
• Parties: , 32 Ill.Dec. 657 H. KARLIN d/b/a Karlin Cartage Co., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. INLAND STEEL CO., a corporation, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1038

395 N.E.2d 1038

77 Ill.App.3d 183, 32 Ill.Dec. 657

H. KARLIN d/b/a Karlin Cartage Co., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. INLAND STEEL CO., a corporation, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-1586.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

Sept. 26, 1979.

Crooks, Gilligan & Kages, Chicago (John W. Gilligan, Laurence J. Dunford, Chicago, of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Paul M. Heller, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

SIMON, Presiding Justice:

A jury awarded $8,000 to the plaintiff Karlin Cartage Company for damages to his tractor-trailer dump truck and loss of use of the vehicle for 9 weeks while it was undergoing repair. The truck was damaged in a collision with a slag truck known as a Euclid Hauler owned by defendant Inland Steel Company. The Inland vehicle is a large tandem truck between 20 to 30 feet long. It weighs 50,000 to 60,000 pounds empty and can carry loads of between 100,000 to 150,000 pounds. The driver sits 10 to 15 feet above the ground.

The accident occurred at the Inland Steel Company plant in East Chicago, Indiana. The company has marked out roads on its premises and the collision occurred at the intersection of two of these roads, Slag Road which has two lanes, one northbound and one southbound, and a roadway called Route 46 which has one lane eastbound and one westbound. Slag Road is used by Euclid Haulers to carry slag from Inland's blast furnaces to a landfill area north and west of Route 46.

The plaintiff's vehicle was hauling a load of scrap metal to Inland's plant; it was proceeding westbound on Route 46 while Inland's Euclid Hauler was moving northbound on Slag Road. Plaintiff's vehicle came to a stop at the intersection of Route 46 and Slag Road which, although not marked by street signs, is controlled by a stop sign regulating east-to-west traffic on Route 46. The sign has the legend "Cross Traffic Does Not Stop." Then, as the plaintiff's vehicle moved into the intersection, it was struck by Inland's Euclid Hauler.

The plaintiff testified that his vehicle was incapable of being driven after the accident, stated that it had to be towed to the manufacturer for repairs and described in detail the extensive damage to the vehicle. He also testified it took 9 weeks to repair the vehicle and that he lost $8,670 in profits because his truck was unavailable during this time. The cost of repairing plaintiff's vehicle was $5,500.

Inland contends that the judgment should be reversed and judgment should be entered for it, or, in the alternative, the cause should be remanded for a new trial, urging that the trial court erred in the following respects: In allowing the plaintiff to examine the driver of the Euclid Hauler at trial as an adverse witness under section 60 of the Illinois Civil Practice Act; in refusing to permit portions of the discovery deposition of the driver of Karlin's vehicle to be read to the jury as a declaration against interest admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule; in refusing to strike the testimony of the plaintiff on the issue of damages for loss of the use of his truck because of his failure to introduce evidence regarding the length of time reasonably necessary to repair the vehicle; in giving the jury issues instructions on matters which were alleged in the complaint but on which no evidence was introduced; and in instructing the jury on the elements of damage. Inland also contends that the plaintiff failed to offer sufficient proof that he suffered a loss of profits during the period his truck was being repaired.

Two errors at trial require that the judgment in favor of the plaintiff be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. First, it was improper to examine the driver of the Euclid Hauler as an adverse witness under section 60 of the Illinois Civil Practice Act over the objection of Inland. There was no showing that the driver was the head of a department or that he supervised or had control over other employees. Therefore, we conclude that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant treating the driver as a managing agent or foreman within the meaning of section 60. (Gillespie v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co. (1972), 3 Ill.App.3d 779, 278 N.E.2d 420; Lamberes v. Northern Cartage Co. (1967), 86 Ill.App.2d 311, 229 N.E.2d 901; see also Frunk v. Calumet City (1958), 17 Ill.App.2d 285, 149 N.E.2d 776.) The plaintiff concedes it was error to call the driver as an adverse witness under section 60, but contends the error was harmless. The examination of the driver was prejudicial because, during his adverse examination, the plaintiff was permitted to lead him and to introduce parts of his deposition which were not impeachment. It was improper for the plaintiff to call the driver as an adverse witness and then, under the guise of impeachment, and over Inland's objection, to inform the jury of his deposition testimony.

Second, the trial judge erred in refusing to permit Inland to read portions of the discovery deposition of the plaintiff's driver to the jury. The driver, Leonard Rolla, died before the trial took place. In his deposition, Rolla admitted that he did not see the Inland vehicle (which was 30 feet long and 18 feet high) before he pulled into the intersection and until it was 15 feet away. He also testified that he pulled out into the intersection when his view was blocked, that he failed to yield the right-of-way and that he was one cab length past the stop sign when the collision occurred. These were admissions against Rolla's interest, and as such admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule. (Frazier v. Burks (1968), 95 Ill.App.2d 51, 56, 238 N.E.2d 78.) The requirements set forth in Frazier, as well as in Merritt v. Chonowski (1978), 58 Ill.App.3d 192, 15 Ill.Dec. 588, 196, 373 N.E.2d 1060, for making a declaration against interest eligible for admission as an exception to the hearsay rule were present here. Rolla was unavailable. He had competent knowledge of the facts he stated and no...