Deaver v. Hickox
Illinois Appellate Court
81 Ill. App. 2d 79, 224 N.E.2d 468 (1967)

- Written by Darius Dehghan, JD
Facts
A vehicle driven by Ronald Hickox (defendant) collided with Philip Deaver’s vehicle. Philip was killed in the collision. Althea Deaver (plaintiff), the executor of Philip’s will, brought a wrongful-death suit against Hickox. At the trial, Joe McCombs testified as an expert witness. McCombs, a police officer trained in accident investigation, assessed the physical evidence from the collision. During his testimony, McCombs expressed an opinion about the speed of Hickox’s vehicle at the time of the collision. But McCombs did not explain how the specific pieces of physical evidence helped inform his opinion about the speed of Hickox’s vehicle. The trial-court judge admitted McCombs’s opinion. Subsequently, the jury ruled in favor of Althea. Hickox appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Trapp, J.)
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