Halilovic v. Penske Truck Leasing

On December 8, 2004, Penske Truck Leasing rented a trailer, which had previously been stolen and then recovered, to Sabahudin Halilovic. On January 13, 2005, Halilovic learned of the history of his rental when he was arrested in Illinois for receipt of stolen goods, namely the Penske trailer he was pulling when stopped by the Illinois Highway Patrol. On June 3, 2005, Halilovic filed a lawsuit against Penske in the State Court of Fulton County alleging Penske was negligent in leasing him the trailer without first taking steps to assure its recovery had been properly reported to law enforcement. Halilovic contends that Penske knew the trailer had been reported stolen in November 2004, knew the theft had been reported to law enforcement, and was aware the trailer had been recovered by a private wrecker service. Yet they failed to notify the proper authorities when it was recovered the same month. As a result, the trailer in question was still listed as stolen in the National Crime Information Computer NCIC when it was leased to Halilovic in December of 2004. Penske’s leasing of the trailer, Halilovic contends, constituted a breach of the duty of ordinary care to him as the lessee and was the proximate cause of the injuries he suffered when arrested and detained for nineteen hours.

Penske filed a motion for summary judgment which was granted on September 18, 2006. Halilovic appeals, citing in his enumeration of errors that 1 the trial court committed reversible error by ignoring material issues of disputed fact regarding Penske’s breach of duty to Halilovic, and 2 that Halilovic’s due process rights were infringed when neither he nor his counsel were given notice of a hearing on Penske’s motion for summary judgment.