Yanan v. Ewing

In Yanan v. Ewing, 205 Ill. App. 3d 96, 562 N.E.2d 1243, 150 Ill. Dec. 440 (1990), the plaintiff suffered injuries to the same parts of her body in two separate and unrelated car accidents occurring more than four months apart. Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 97. The plaintiff claimed her injuries were indivisible because the second accident aggravated her injuries from the first accident. Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 97. She said she could not apportion the pain, suffering, medical expenses and permanent physical injuries between the two accidents. Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 97. The Court concluded the plaintiff had not suffered a single indivisible injury. Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 101. "Clearly, if the plaintiff had been injured in different parts of the body in the two accidents, there could be no claim that she suffered one indivisible injury." Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 101. "Where a party negligently aggravates a preexisting injury caused by another's negligence, he has committed a tort that is separate and distinct from the tort committed by the first wrongdoer, and the injuries inflicted by each are separate and distinct injuries." Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 101. "It is the aggravation, the change in the nature of the injury or the increase in the pain, as distinguished from the original injury, for which the second driver is liable." Yanan, 205 Ill. App. 3d at 101.