Moore v. Mandell, 230 N.E.3d 696

Plaintiff (born with spina bifida) used a motorized scooter and was struck by defendant’s vehicle on Sept. 30, 2015, sustaining a right shoulder dislocation and later a rotator cuff tear repaired by surgery in March 2016.
Plaintiff sued for negligence (filed 2017), alleging permanent injuries, ongoing pain, and future medical needs; defendant admitted negligence at trial and liability, leaving damages, causation, and permanency disputed.
Defense had medical records showing a 2009 right-shoulder ER visit suggesting prior rotator-cuff injury; dispute at trial included whether 2015 or 2009 caused the tear and whether post-surgery symptoms were permanent.
Plaintiff’s 2019 visit with Dr. Blair Rhode (one-time exam) produced opinions that injuries were permanent and causally related to the 2015 accident; Dr. Rhode’s testimony was heavily relied on at closing.
Trial court excluded certain defense impeachment/cross-examination topics about Dr. Rhode (disciplinary history, prior paid expert work, communications with plaintiff’s counsel), and also excluded other defense evidence (e.g., 2009 injury, certain pretrial statements); jury awarded $818,655.03.
On appeal plaintiff conceded the trial court erred in barring impeachment of Dr. Rhode; the appellate court found the limitation prejudicial (Rhode’s testimony was central to future damages) and reversed and remanded for a new trial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Trial court barred impeachment/cross-exam of treating physician Dr. Rhode about bias, discipline, prior paid expert work, and counsel communications	Error was made but concededly so at oral argument; plaintiff argued any error was harmless given the record	Trial court abused discretion by preventing cross-examination that would show bias/financial motive and impact credibility	Reversed and remanded: exclusion was erroneous and prejudicial because Rhode was sole doctor testifying to permanency/future pain
Exclusion of evidence/testimony about plaintiff’s 2009 pre-accident right-shoulder ER visit	Plaintiff maintained lack of prior shoulder problems before 2015 and opposed admission or minimized relevance	Defendant argued 2009 records bore directly on causation and prior condition, so admissible	Not decided on merits (court did not rule because reversal on Rhode issue made further analysis unnecessary)
Exclusion/admission of plaintiff’s pretrial statements to medical providers denying functional impairments	Plaintiff disputed use or probative value of those statements for impeachment of claimed chronic impairment	Defendant argued the statements were inconsistent with trial claims and admissible for impeachment	Not decided on merits (court declined to fully address after ordering new trial)

York v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, 222 Ill.2d 147 (appellate standard and review of new-trial/admissibility rulings)
Kim v. Evanston Hospital, 240 Ill. App.3d 881 (treating physicians subject to same substantive cross-examination as retained experts)
Jackson v. Reid, 402 Ill. App.3d 215 (opposing party entitled to wide latitude to show expert bias and test credibility)
Noel v. Jones, 177 Ill. App.3d 773 (evidence of referrals/financial relationship relevant to credibility of treating physicians)
Sears v. Rutishauser, 102 Ill.2d 402 (treating-physician credibility and referral practices are jury-relevant)
Greaney v. Industrial Comm’n, 358 Ill. App.3d 1002 (erroneously admitted evidence is harmless when cumulative and nonprejudicial)
Jackson v. Pellerano, 210 Ill. App.3d 464 (harmless-error principles)
Watkins v. American Service Insurance Co., 260 Ill. App.3d 1054 (party seeking reversal bears burden to show prejudice)
Bergman v. Kelsey, 375 Ill. App.3d 612 (standard for reversal based on erroneous evidentiary rulings)