Schaffner v. Chicago & North Western Transp. Co.

• Decision Date: 19 June 1989
• Docket Number: Nos. 66080,66090,s. 66080
• Citation: 541 N.E.2d 643,129 Ill.2d 1,133 Ill.Dec. 432
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: , 133 Ill.Dec. 432, 15 A.L.R.5th 1005 Jean SCHAFFNER, as Guardian of the Estate and Person of Daniel Schaffner, Appellee and Cross-Appellant, v. CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY et al., Cross-Appellees (Chicago & North Western Transportation Company, Appellant).

Page 643

541 N.E.2d 643

129 Ill.2d 1, 133 Ill.Dec. 432, 15

A.L.R.5th 1005

Jean SCHAFFNER, as Guardian of the Estate and Person of Daniel Schaffner Appellee and Cross-Appellant, v. CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY et al., Cross-Appellees (Chicago & North Western Transportation Company, Appellant).

Nos. 66080, 66090.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 19, 1989.

Lawrence X. Pusateri, Larry R. Eaton, Mary F. Andreoni, Peterson, Ross, Schloerb & Seidel; James P. Daley, George H. Brant, Myles L. Tobin, Chicago, for appellant and cross-appellee.

Corboy & Demetrio, P.C., Chicago, Philip H. Corboy, Bruce Robert Pfaff and David A. Novoselsky, of counsel, for appellee and cross-appellant.

Baker & McKenzie, Chicago, Francis D. Morrissey, Michael K. Murtaugh, Marie A. Monahan and John A. Krivicich, of counsel, for appellee Schwinn Bicycle Company.

Kenneth L. Novander, Chicago, for amici curiae Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company et al.

Kathryn A. Bettasso, of Chicago, for amicus curiae Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Justice MILLER delivered the opinion of the court:

Daniel Schaffner was severely injured when the wheel disengaged from the front fork of his bicycle while he was riding over a railroad crossing in Highland Park. Daniel was later declared a disabled person as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident, and his parents, Jean and Perry Schaffner, were appointed co-guardians of his estate. The Schaffners brought the present action on behalf of their son (plaintiff) in the circuit court of Cook County against the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company (North Western), owner of the railroad crossing where the accident occurred, and the Schwinn Bicycle Company (Schwinn), manufacturer of Daniel's bicycle. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against North Western, and in favor of Schwinn and against the plaintiff; the jury determined the plaintiff's damages to be in the amount of $8,235,000. Judgment was entered on the verdict. Both North Western and the plaintiff appealed, and the appellate court affirmed the circuit court judgment. (161 Ill.App.3d 742, 113 Ill.Dec. 489, 515 N.E.2d 298.) We allowed North Western's and the plaintiff's separate petitions for leave to appeal (cause Nos. 66080, 66090, respectively), and we consolidated the appeals for purposes of argument and disposition.

Around 10 p.m. on September 4, 1976, the plaintiff, who was then 15 years old, and two of his friends, Brian Coxon and James Fiocchi, rode their bicycles to a movie theatre in Highland Park. The movie ended shortly before midnight, and the three boys then left the theatre and rode west on Central Avenue. James was in the lead, followed by the plaintiff and then Brian. As Daniel rode across the North Western railroad crossing, the front wheel of his bicycle disengaged from its fork, and the plaintiff flew over the handlebars, landing about 10 feet west of the railroad crossing; the bicycle landed on top of him. An ambulance was called, and the plaintiff was taken to the Highland Park hospital. There, a neurosurgeon found that the plaintiff had sustained massive injuries to his brain. The plaintiff became comatose shortly after the accident, and he remained in that condition for more than two months. The plaintiff was not released from the hospital care until June 1977.

The plaintiff suffers from a number of permanent, disabling conditions as a result of the accident. These include impaired speech, unstable and abnormal gait, left-sided hemiparesis and spasticity, clawed left hand, blindness in his right eye, and loss of half the field of vision in his left eye. Also, the plaintiff engages in inappropriate, uninhibited behavior. Although the plaintiff is able to provide for certain basic needs, such as dressing and bathing himself, and is capable of performing simple household tasks, he requires supervision in his activities and is therefore unable to live alone. The accident has severely impaired the plaintiff's ability to learn, and he is considered unemployable. At the time of trial the plaintiff was living with his parents. The plaintiff's father died while the cause was pending in the appellate court, and Mrs. Schaffner is now the plaintiff's sole guardian.

The plaintiff's action against North Western was brought under common law negligence and statutory theories of liability, both of which were based on the allegedly poor condition of the Central Avenue crossing. The plaintiff sought to recover from Schwinn under strict liability in tort, alleging that the design of the bicycle was unreasonably dangerous. Originally, the plaintiff sought both compensatory and punitive damages from each defendant, but during trial the parties entered into a stipulation under which the plaintiff dismissed his claims for punitive damages and North Western and Schwinn agreed to submit to the jury verdict forms that required a judgment against at least one of the two defendants. North Western initially filed a claim against Schwinn for indemnity, but that action was dismissed before trial.

The parties presented extensive evidence regarding the condition of North Western's Central Avenue crossing and the design of the Schwinn bicycle the plaintiff was riding at the time of the accident. The Central Avenue crossing was originally constructed in 1959. It comprised two sets of railroad tracks, and the crossing was at grade; gumwood timbers were used for the crossing surface. In 1971, North Western decided to rebuild the crossing, and the company budgeted $8,870 for that purpose. The work was never performed, however, and the project was eventually cancelled. During 1974 and 1975 officials of Highland Park wrote to North Western to complain about the condition of the crossing, which was said to be rough and hazardous. In March 1977, six months after the accident at issue here, North Western again authorized the replacement of the crossing. At that time, a company document listed the Central Avenue crossing as the top priority among the crossings requiring repair in that division of the North Western rail system. The work was completed in June 1977, the same month that the plaintiff was released from hospital care and returned home.

The plaintiff introduced expert testimony from Joseph Kostur pertaining to the condition of the crossing. Kostur was employed by the Illinois Department of Transportation and had conducted safety-related inspections of railroad crossings in connection with his work. Based on his examination of photographs of the crossing taken shortly after the plaintiff's accident, Kostur stated that there were substantial deviations between the tops of the rails and the gumwood crossing surface. In Kostur's opinion, the roadway and rails were not substantially flush, and the crossing was therefore in violation of a rule of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Kostur's observations were supported by a number of witnesses who had examined the crossing shortly after the occurrence here. Schwinn employees Jay Towmley and Michael Fritz inspected the scene in September 1976. They testified that the gumwood timbers forming the crossing surface were 2 to 3 1/2 inches higher than the rails along the western pair of tracks, where the plaintiff's bicycle wheel had disengaged. The Schwinn employees rode a bicycle over the crossing, and they described it as being quite rough. They noticed that cars passing over the crossing would cause the timbers to bounce up several inches. The plaintiff's friends, Brian Coxon and James Fiocchi, similarly testified that the crossing was rough and uneven.

G. Rex Nichelson, an independent consultant and a professional engineer, testified as an expert witness in behalf of North Western. Viewing photographs of the Central Avenue crossing, Nichelson stated that the rails and crossing surface were substantially flush. Several Highland Park police officers who had driven over the crossing around the time of Daniel's accident testified that the crossing was not rough. Peter Conenna, the section foreman in charge of the stretch of track that includes the Central Avenue crossing, testified that the crossing had been in good condition throughout the period from 1971 to 1977.

At trial, the parties also introduced evidence concerning the design of the bicycle the plaintiff was riding at the time of the accident, a 1973 Schwinn "Continental" 10-speed. The front hub of the bicycle was equipped with a quick-release mechanism which is a device that enables the user to remove the wheel from the front fork by turning a lever. According to a stipulation introduced into evidence, in the period from 1968 to 1985, Schwinn received 131 reports of incidents in which wheels disengaged from quick-release axles while moving. In 1977 Schwinn began selling its quick-release models with positive retention devices, which would prevent disengagement of the wheel in the event that the quick-release lever came open.

The plaintiff also presented the expert testimony of Irving Hazard, a mechanical engineer. Hazard stated that the design of Daniel's 1973 Schwinn bicycle was unreasonably dangerous because it did not have a positive retention device on the front axle, which would have prevented the wheel from disengaging as Daniel rode his bicycle over the rough crossing. Hazard believed that several retention devices, including one that Schwinn had developed by 1973, but had decided not to use, would have been effective for that purpose.

Arthur DeLong, an engineer, testified as an expert witness in Schwinn's behalf. DeLong believed that the design of the bicycle was reasonable. In his reconstruction of the accident, DeLong concluded that the plaintiff's bicycle was reasonable. In his reconstruction of the accident, DeLong concluded that the plaintiff's bicycle had struck a depression 8 1/2 inches wide and 2 to 3 inches deep in the crossing at a 15- to 20-degree ...