No. 5-99-0830 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ... - Appellate.net

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millions of non-OEM parts on the road, or that any non-OEM part had failed a crash test. c. Evidence with Respect to Damages. In its class certification order, the circuit court acknowledged that damages might require individualized proof, A. 36, making it impossible to litigate damages and liability in a single trial. Prior to trial, plaintiffs sought a ruling allowing them to ask for classwide damages on an aggregate basis, without proof as to which (or how many) members of the class were hurt or by how much. State Farm objected to that motion, arguing that the fact and amount of damage could not be established on a classwide basis. In support of its position, State Farm pointed to the experiences of the various class representatives, many of whom could not claim to have suffered any economic loss at all. C. 18857. The circuit court rejected these arguments, granting plaintiffs’ motion to present their damages proof on an aggregate basis. A. 48. Plaintiffs sought two types of damages on the contract count. First, they sought $243 million in what they called “specification” (or “direct”) damages. These damages were supposed to compensate class members for having non-OEM parts specified on their repair estimates, regardless of whether they actually received such parts or made any out-of-pocket expenditure to obtain OEM parts. Under plaintiffs’ theory, even a class member who received an OEM part at State Farm’s expense would be entitled to “specification” damages. On cross-examination, plaintiffs’ damages expert, Dr. Iqbal Mathur, admitted that it made no “economic sense” to award damages based solely on the specification — as opposed to the installation — of non-OEM parts. R. 7222-23 (Q: “your theory of direct damages doesn’t make economic sense; isn’t that true, sir?” “A: That is correct.”). But he calculated those damages anyway because he believed them to be recoverable “legal damages.” R. 7229. -22-
Second, plaintiffs sought “installation” damages to compensate those class members who actually received non-OEM parts for the cost of replacing them with OEM parts. Based on a variety of assumptions about average costs, Dr. Mathur estimated total installation damages for the class to be between $658,450,000 and $1,211,500,000. R. 7187-89. On cross-examination, he admitted that this estimate might be as much as $1 billion too high. R. 7238. Dr. Mathur also admitted that there was no way to obtain the data necessary to eliminate the uncertainty in his estimate — such as how many non-OEM parts were actually installed, how many failed to restore vehicles to their pre-loss condition, how many vehicles were still in the policyholders’ possession, how long a repair would take, how much labor would cost, what a rental car would cost in each particular area, and the like. R. 7232-36. Under ICFA, plaintiffs sought compensatory damages in the form of both specification and installation damages; they also asked the court to impose a constructive trust on the $130,269,000 in “savings” State Farm had realized by specifying non-OEM parts during the three-year ICFA class period. R. 7437-38. Plaintiffs made clear that they were not claiming both specification and disgorgement damages — because both were calculated based on the amounts State Farm had saved for its policyholders by specifying non-OEM parts. Instead, they viewed specification and disgorgement damages as alternative theories to support the same recovery. R. 2459-60, 13040; C. 29176. d. Directed Verdict Motion and Instructions. At the conclusion of plaintiffs’ case, and again at the close of the evidence, State Farm moved for decertification of the class or, in the alternative, a directed verdict on all claims. C. 29338, 29879. State Farm argued, among other things, that plaintiffs could not prevail on behalf of the entire class because they -23-
Page 1 and 2: No. 5-99-0830 IN THE APPELLATE COUR
Page 3 and 4: Charles Hester Enters. v. Illinois
Page 5 and 6: In re Fibreboard Corp., 893 F.2d 70
Page 7 and 8: State v. Piedmont Funding Corp., 38
Page 9 and 10: Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940
Page 11 and 12: 1. Plaintiffs’ Body Shop Witnesse
Page 13 and 14: People v. Clayton, 302 Ill.App.3d 2
Page 15 and 16: VPHI, Inc. v. National Educ. Traini
Page 17 and 18: Okada v. MGIC Indem. Corp., 823 F.2
Page 19 and 20: Zekman v. Direct Am. Marketers, Inc
Page 21 and 22: Malooley v. Alice, 251 Ill.App.3d 5
Page 23 and 24: NATURE OF THE CASE This is an appea
Page 25 and 26: STATUTES INVOLVED Relevant portions
Page 27 and 28: to its “pre-loss condition.” DX
Page 29 and 30: OEM parts. 5/ At least two states
Page 31 and 32: paid the difference in cost out of
Page 33 and 34: epair estimate specified only OEM p
Page 35 and 36: potential class members whose names
Page 37 and 38: member’s vehicle other than those
Page 39 and 40: William Anderton, who had previousl
Page 41 and 42: categorically inferior and, in fact
Page 43: specified on their repair estimates
Page 47 and 48: parts] are inferior.” R. 12539 (
Page 49 and 50: had an adequate remedy at law if St
Page 51 and 52: loss condition. Instead of requirin
Page 53 and 54: ARGUMENT I. Class Certification Vio
Page 55 and 56: members.” Slimack v. Country Life
Page 57 and 58: of evidence State Farm would be ent
Page 59 and 60: that are incongruous with the effic
Page 61 and 62: fenders to its pre-loss condition.
Page 63 and 64: a result of Allstate’s specificat
Page 65 and 66: insurance regulators and consumer a
Page 67 and 68: have been the overwhelming predomin
Page 69 and 70: some class members and the issue of
Page 71 and 72: not sooner, that plaintiffs could n
Page 73 and 74: explained above, class members who
Page 75 and 76: Even if the court had been right in
Page 77 and 78: value” of “parts at the time of
Page 79 and 80: page 7, supra. All of these statute
Page 81 and 82: (7th Cir. 1995) (decertifying class
Page 83 and 84: As the circuit court itself recogni
Page 85 and 86: the same shortcut, arguing — just
Page 87 and 88: epresentatives who appeared at tria
Page 89 and 90: — was injured by the alleged dece
Page 91 and 92: Litig., 182 F.R.D. at 225. Basic fa
Page 93 and 94: Meineke’s continued financial via
Page 95 and 96:
this decision, plaintiffs were excu
Page 97 and 98:
corresponding OEM part. R. 7169. In
Page 99 and 100:
Mathur’s testimony was particular
Page 101 and 102:
end of the day, Mathur conceded tha
Page 103 and 104:
Zimny, 256 Ill.App.3d 386, 390-91 (
Page 105 and 106:
the jury was focused on the wrong i
Page 107 and 108:
to its pre-loss condition.” R. 12
Page 109 and 110:
quality of non-OEM parts. See Baltu
Page 111 and 112:
which is not surprising because the
Page 113 and 114:
In this case, plaintiffs’ experts
Page 115 and 116:
Bender could not swear that the non
Page 117 and 118:
OEM part construction “had some d
Page 119 and 120:
theory, even non-OEM parts that are
Page 121 and 122:
of his training or expertise”). P
Page 123 and 124:
eflected a policy of “discriminat
Page 125 and 126:
“speak up for justice.” R. 1301
Page 127 and 128:
12984-85. The perversion of ostensi
Page 129 and 130:
Polywheels company makes both the O
Page 131 and 132:
parts — was simply a made-for-lit
Page 133 and 134:
In contrast, each of the 47 other s
Page 135 and 136:
occurred outside Illinois. 51/ In t
Page 137 and 138:
laws of the State where the policy
Page 139 and 140:
This Court should follow the weight
Page 141 and 142:
other states, Illinois cannot apply
Page 143 and 144:
state’s law when it is not within
Page 145 and 146:
headquartered in Michigan); Endo, 1
Page 147 and 148:
for this Court to alter that author
Page 149 and 150:
y using parts of like kind and qual
Page 151 and 152:
plaintiffs’ failure to identify a
Page 153 and 154:
percentage of the class (New York a
Page 155 and 156:
committing fraud: if all non-OEM pa
Page 157 and 158:
specification damages they had soug
Page 159 and 160:
A. It Is Unconstitutional To Punish
Page 161 and 162:
that will subject him to punishment
Page 163 and 164:
fact benefitted from access to non-
Page 165 and 166:
deterrence and therefore must be va
Page 167 and 168:
517 U.S. at 576. This case is not i
Page 169 and 170:
either higher premiums or the incre
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