Plaintiff, the independent administrator of the estate of a deceased individual, brought a lawsuit against defendant for survival and wrongful death under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and the defendant appealed from a trial court order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial. On appeal, defendant argued that it was prejudiced by a misstatement of law in the plaintiff’s closing argument and that the trial court erred in its instruction regarding the credibility of a fact witness. The appellate court affirmed, finding that the jury was properly instructed to disregard any misstatement of law made by the lawyers and that any confusion caused by the closing argument did not result in prejudice or an unfair trial. The appellate court further found that the trial court acted within its discretion when it allowed a corporate representative to be in the courtroom during proceedings and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it gave a curative instruction in which it instructed the jury it could consider the fact that the witness/corporate representative heard the testimony of other witnesses prior to testifying. (ROCHFORD and MARTIN, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Jury Instructions