Plaintiff, the administrator of the estate of a deceased individual, filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful death, medical negligence, and violations of the Nursing Home Care Act. A jury returned verdicts in favor of each defendant and the trial court entered judgment on the verdicts. Plaintiff timely filed a post-judgment motion seeking a new trial alleging issues with the liability of one of the two defendants. Plaintiff later sought leave to amend the post-judgment motion to include evidentiary errors relating to the second defendant. The trial court found that it did not have jurisdiction to entertain the amendment because it was made more than 30 days after the final judgment and denied both the motion for leave to amend the post-judgment motion as well as the post-judgment motion. The appellate court vacated and remanded, finding that the trial court incorrectly concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the amendment to the post-judgment motion and to exercise its discretion in determining whether to grant leave to amend. (McBRIDE and D.B. WALKER, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Post-Judgment Motions