Heupel v. Jenkins
Illinois Appellate Court
884 N.E.2d 1263 (2008)
- Written by Jody Stuart, JD
Facts
Katherine Heupel (plaintiff) was walking on the sidewalk when the cars driven by Jorie Jenkins (defendant) and Nivethitha Murugeson collided in an intersection. Jenkins’s car then went onto the sidewalk and seriously injured Heupel. Prior to initiating a lawsuit, Heupel settled with Murugeson for $100,000, the amount of Murugeson’s insurance coverage. Subsequently, Heupel filed suit in trial court against Jenkins. Murugeson was indigent, and Jenkins was wealthy. Before the trial, Jenkins moved to file a third-party action against Murugeson, requesting that Murugeson be named as a third-party defendant in order to protect Jenkins’s rights under § 2-1117 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The trial court denied Jenkins’s motion but informed the parties that Murugeson would be named on the jury’s verdict form because a third-party action did not need to be filed in order for the jury to assess the negligence of a prior-settling tortfeasor. The jury reached a verdict in favor of Jenkins. Heupel appealed, asserting that the trial court erred in including the name of a nondefendant on the verdict form.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Greiman, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 834,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
