Hartzog v. Martinez

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Hartzog v. Martinez

State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-06-1901 Rel

Case Date: 03/30/2007

Preview:SIXTH DIVISION March 30, 2007

No. 1-06-1901

LAZERRIC HARTZOG and ANGELA HARTZOG, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BRUNILDA MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellee.

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Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. No. 04 M4 1971 Honorable Cheryl D. Ingram Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE JOSEPH GORDON delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiffs, Lazerric and Angela Hartzog, brought suit against their landlord, Brunilda Martinez, alleging that Lazerric was injured when he slipped and fell on the back stairs of their apartment, which Martinez had negligently allowed to accumulate water. The circuit court granted Martinez's motion for summary judgment and plaintiffs filed a motion to reconsider and requested leave to file an amended complaint to allege that Lazerric's slip and fall was additionally caused by Martinez's negligence in failing to properly light the stairwell. The circuit court denied plaintiffs' motions. They now appeal only the circuit court's denial of their request to file an amended complaint. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiffs' complaint, filed October 19, 2004, alleged that husband and wife, Lazerric and Angela Hartzog, were tenants in an apartment building owned by Martinez. On October 19,

No. 1-06-1901 2002, Lazerric was descending the rear exterior steps of the apartment to dispose of garbage in the rear of the building when he fell and sustained injuries. The complaint further alleged that the cause of Lazerric's fall was that Martinez had allowed water to accumulate in an unnatural manner at the base of the steps and that other tenants of the building had tracked the water onto the steps, making them slippery. Plaintiffs sought compensation for Lazerric's injuries as well as for Angela's loss of the care, comfort, society, consortium and services of her husband. On May 11, 2005, Martinez filed an answer in which she denied any negligence. She further alleged that Lazerric failed to exercise reasonable care in descending the steps. On August 16, 2005, the circuit court ordered that discovery be completed by September 13, 2005, that depositions of the parties be completed by October 11, 2005, and that the matter be continued to October 19, 2005, for status. On October 6, 2005, Lazerric's deposition was taken. With regard to the day of his fall, Lazerric testified that at about 8:30 to 9 p.m. that evening, he exited the rear door of his apartment to take out the trash. He said he was holding the garbage bag with his right hand and holding onto the stairway railing with his left hand. Lazerric described the stairs as consisting of six or seven steps per landing. He said he made it down the first two steps and then slipped and fell the rest of the way down. The following colloquy then took place between Lazerric and defendant's counsel: "Q. What happened that caused you to fall? A. It was wet. It's the moisture, the wood and everything from when it rained or whatever. There's puddles always down at the bottom. And I don't

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No. 1-06-1901 know if that moisture comes up or whatever, but it's always wet and moist. *** Q. Do you know how the stairs became wet and moist? A. It rained. *** Q. When you fell, the stairs were still wet from the rain? A. Yes. Q. From the day before? A. Right. *** Q. Was there anything else other than the rain water on the stairs that you believe caused you to fall? A. No." Later in the deposition, Lazerric testified regarding the lighting in the stairways: Q. How did you feel after you fell down the stairs? A. I was pissed off in a way. Attitude, pissed off. My body, my butt was sore. Q. It was sore once you had fallen? A. Yes. Q. What were you upset about? A. I mean because of the fact that it's always like that. The light is out in the back ***." Lazerric also stated that at the time of his fall the lights on the back porch had been out for about

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No. 1-06-1901 two weeks. Near the end of the deposition, Lazerric again testified about the lighting: "Q: Prior to falling down the stairs, sir, did you notice that the stairs were wet? A: It was dark. Couldn't see a thing. I was feeling my way. Q: When did you first notice that the stairs were wet then? A: When I hit the bottom. When I hit

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