Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois
transfer to arbitration
I had the car accident, but insurance company of another driver refused to pay. I filed case as pro se in small claim court ($1500.0). I had ex parte judgement (they did not showed up on the court day), which later was dismissed by an attorney representing another driver's insurance company and therefore (since they requested 6 man jury trail) case was transferred to mandatory arbitration.
However, at the hearing of arbitration the opponent's attorney objected to present any evidences which I had.
Thay said that I had to submit it to them for review 30 days in advance according to the rule 90 of Supreme court.
Even so they did not have any evidences as well, they won this case, because I did not have a right to presen my evidences. I mentioned the rule 287 which states that in small claim court no discosures should be made except by the permission of court. And they did not had this permission (even no motion for that ever have been filed). If you could clarify it for me? Is anything could be done further on this matter? Thank you so much for your help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: transfer to arbitration
Unfortunately you fell in the "technicality" trap. The Supreme Court Rules says that in order to present evidence at the arbitration without the need for the usual hoops you have to jump through to have the same evidence presented in a real trial, you have to prepare a so called 90(c) package and deliver it to the opposing party at least 30 days in advance. You failed to do so and so you were not able to present your evidence.
Rule 287 pertains to small claims cases and specifically claims for less than $1000. Even so, Rule 287 pertains to the actual trial of a case and not the mandatory arbitration process.
At this point, your ONLY choices are 1) to accept the loss and go about your business or 2) to reject the arbitration after having paid $200 to the Clerk of Court and if you are filing your rejection within 30 days of the entry of the award. If 30 days have past, you cannot reject and your case is over.
You must be careful. If you do get to reject, there are a lot of technicalities and hoops you have to jump through in order to prepare your case for a jury trial. This won't be like you see on "People's Court" where you can just present your evidence and have a conversation with the jury.
You should read Rule 213 and specifically 213(f), rule 218 to begin with and of course you have to know how to present your evidence--which it would be impossible for me to even attempt to give you a lesson.
I hope this helps,
Nima Taradji
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