Gretchen Harris Sperry Discusses Some of the Biggest Illinois Court Decisions in 2022

Gretchen Harris Sperry—Hinshaw partner and chair of Hinshaw's appellate practice group—was quoted in a Law360 article titled "Biggest Ill. Decisions Of 2022: A Midyear Report." Sperry discussed an Illinois Supreme Court decision that held employers could be both directly and vicariously liable for the same incident.

The decision upended appellate precedent which had stood for over a half-century, and had held that plaintiffs could not pursue direct negligence claims against companies that had admitted vicarious liability for employees' negligence.

Sperry stated that prior to the Supreme Court's ruling, plaintiffs had often seen their direct negligence claims get dismissed when a company admitted vicarious liability, and claims that made it past dismissal would often be targeted in pretrial motions. "Now, those motions are no longer viable and it becomes an issue of jury instruction," she added.

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"Biggest Ill. Decisions Of 2022: A Midyear Report" was published by Law360 on July 21, 2022.