Supreme Court of Illinois

In a class action suit for breach of contract and statutory consumer fraud, judgement in favor of plaintiff reversed where: 1) because of the various types of language used in the different insurance policies, it was error for the circuit court to certify a nationwide class as to the contract claims; 2) plaintiffs failed to establish any breach of contract; and 3) plaintiffs failed to establish contract damages. As to the claim of statutory fraud, the circuit court erred in certifying a nationwide class because there was only one named plaintiff whose vehicle was assessed and repaired in Illinois and plaintiff failed to establish causation or actual damages.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/18/2005
• Published 08/18/2005

Judges

• Chief Justice McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

Court

• Supreme Court of Illinois

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michele Odorizzi, Bradley J. Andreozzi, Allan Erbsen, of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, William R. Quinlan, of Quinlan & Carroll, Ltd., Marci A. Eisenstein, Aphrodite Kokolis, of Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Gino L. DiVito, of Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein, L.L.C., Chicago, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Wayne W. Whalen, Edward M. Crane, Gregory S. Bailey, Chicago, Sheila L. Birnbaum, Douglas W. Dunham, New York, New York, of counsel), Robert H. Shultz, Jr., of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Edwardsville, for appellant., Richard F. Record, Jr., Stephen L. Corn, of Craig & Craig, Mattoon, for amici curiae Department of Insurance of the State of North Carolina et al., Robert H. King, Jr., Steven C. Coberly, of Greenberg Traurig, P.C., Chicago, for amicus curiae Alliance of American Insurers., Jeffrey P. Lennard, Richard L. Fenton, Brett J. Hart, of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, for amicus curiae Allstate Insurance Company., Brian L. Crowe, Patricia S. Spratt, of Shefsky & Froelich, Ltd., Chicago, Robin S. Conrad, Washington D.C., for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America., Iwan, Cray, Huber, Horstman & VanAusdal, L.L.C., Chicago (Elaine S. Vorberg, Michael D. Huber and James K. Horstman, of counsel), for amicus curiae Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation., Mitchell A. Orpett, Chicago (Tribler, Orpett & Crone, P.C., of counsel), for amicus curiae J. Lee Covington II, Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Insurance., John H. Beisner, Marc E. Isserles, of O'Melveny & Myers, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for amici curiae General Motors Corporation and Ford Motor Company., J. William Lucco, Joseph R. Brown, Jr., of Lucco, Brown & Mudge, Edwardsville, David P. Gersch, of Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C., Sheila Carmody, of Snell & Wilmer, Phoenix, Arizona, for amici curiae Government Employees Insurance Company et al., James R. Thompson, Steven F. Molo, Norman K. Beck, Jon J. Kramer, of Winston & Strawn, Chicago, for amicus curiae Illinois Chamber of Commerce., Robert N. Enoex, Springfield, for amicus curiae Illinois Department of Insurance., David E. Bennett, James A. Spizzo, Thomas A. Baker, of Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, Chicago, for amicus curiae Illinois Manufacturers' Association., Richard Hodyl, Jr., of Williams, Montgomery & John, Ltd., Chicago, for amici curiae National Association of Independent Insurers et al., John W. Bauer, Kansas City, Missouri, for amicus curiae National Association of Insurance Commissioners., Richard J. Rappaport, of Ross & Hardies, Chicago, for amici curiae Public Citizen, Inc. and The Center for Auto Safety., John Lingner, of Kakacek & Lingner, Chicago, Daniel J. Popeo, Richard A. Samp, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Washington Legal Foundation., J. Timothy Eaton, Kevin P. Shea, of Ungaretti & Harris, Chicago, for amici curiae National Conference of Insurance Legislators and The American Legislative Exchange Council., Dmitry Feofanov, Dixon, F. Paul Bland, Jr., Washington, D.C., for amici curiae Trial Lawyers for Public Justice et al., Jerome F. Crotty, of Rieck & Crotty, P.C., Chicago, for amici curiae Alliance of Automotive Service Providers National Association et al., William J. Harte, Ltd., Joseph E. Tighe, P.C., and Sotiras & Mannix, Ltd., Chicago, for amicus curiae Illinois Trial Lawyers Association., Lawrence S. Fischer, Chicago, Eugene Anderson, New York, New York, of Anderson, Kill & Olick, P.C., Amy Bach, Mill Valley, California, for amicus curiae United Policyholders.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael B. Hyman, William H. London, Melinda J. Morales, of Much, Shelist, Freed, Denenberg, Ament & Rubenstein, P.C., Robert A. Clifford, Robert P. Sheridan, of Clifford Law Offices, Chicago, Patricia Murphy, of Marion, Edward J. Kionka, Carbondale, Elizabeth A. Cabraser, Morris A. Ratner, Scott P. Nealey, of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, L.L.P., San Francisco, California, for appellees.