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Hoffman v. Orthopedic Systems, Inc.

Case Date: 02/07/2002
Court: 1st District Appellate
Docket No: 1-01-0754 Rel

FOURTH DIVISION

FEBRUARY 7, 2002



1-01-0754

 

BARBARA K. HOFFMAN, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
                       Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Cook County.
)
             v. )
)
ORTHOPEDIC SYSTEMS, INC., ) Honorable
) Sophia H. Hall,
                         Defendant-Appellee. ) Judge Presiding.
)
)
)
)

JUSTICE HARTMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Barbara K. Hoffman, brought this action againstdefendants, Dr. F. Todd Wetzel, Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital(Weiss Hospital), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, andOrthopedic Systems, Inc. (OSI), a Delaware corporationmanufacturing medical products, for injuries she sustained duringthe performance of back surgery. Plaintiff's amended complaintalleged two counts against OSI for strict liability and negligence. Her actions against Weiss Hospital and Dr. Wetzel were voluntarilydismissed.

Following plaintiff's deposition, OSI moved for summaryjudgment under Code of Civil Procedure (Code) sections 2-1005 (735ILCS 5/2-1005 (West 2000)), 13-202 (735 ILCS 5/13-202 (West 2000))and 13-213 (735 ILCS 5/13-213 (West 2000)), asserting thatplaintiff's complaint was time-barred by the two-year statute oflimitations, which motion the circuit court granted. Plaintiffappeals, raising the issue of whether the court erred by grantingOSI's summary judgment motion by construing the discovery ruleimproperly.

On September 27, 1995, plaintiff underwent back surgery, whichincluded a decompression of the L4-5 and L3-4 discs in her spine,reexploration of a prior spinal decompression, a laminectomy at theL3-4 vertebrae, a bilateral facetectomy at the L4-5 vertebrae anda bilateral foraminotomy at the L3-4 and L4-5 vertebrae.(1) Dr.Wetzel, who performed the surgery at Weiss Hospital, firstexplained to plaintiff that the procedure was to be fairly simple,would last for one and one-half hours and would relieve pressure onthe L3, L4 and L5 areas of the spine.

Prior to the surgery, plaintiff was positioned on an AndrewsSpinal Surgery Table (Andrews Table), Model SST-3000