Adams v. J. I. Case Co.

261 N.E.2d 1, 125 Ill. App. 2d 388, 7 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1270, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1572
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 23, 1970
DocketGen. 11,140
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 261 N.E.2d 1 (Adams v. J. I. Case Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. J. I. Case Co., 261 N.E.2d 1, 125 Ill. App. 2d 388, 7 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1270, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1572 (Ill. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

JONES, J.

Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Circuit Court granting defendants’ motions to dismiss his Second Amended Complaint.

The case is presented to us upon the pleadings. It appears from plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint that defendant J. I. Case Company, a corporation, is the manufacturer, (and is hereinafter referred to as manufacturer), defendant Jones Farm Supply, a corporation, is the seller (and is hereinafter referred to as dealer), and plaintiff is the purchaser of a crawler loader tractor. Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint contains five counts, each directed against both defendants and each based upon essentially the same factual allegations. In each count of the complaint the plaintiff uses language that would pertain to breach of express warranty, '"breach of implied warranty, manufacturer’s strict liability and negligent manufacture. One count also alludes to the remedy of restitution. The prayers for relief in the several counts seek both direct and consequential damages. Each of the defendants filed its Motion to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint. After argument the trial court entered a final order of dismissal of plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint, filing a Memorandum of Opinion which recited that plaintiff had elected to stand on his pleadings requesting involuntary dismissal with prejudice so an appeal would immediately lie. The Memorandum recited:

“The Second Amended Complaint attempts to recover on a number of legal theories, some inconsistent, some barred by admitted written warranty, some by the provisions of the Uniform Code, and some by operation of law. All are intermingled in numerous counts, none of which conform to the requirements of Section 38, Subsection 2 of the Civil Practice Act. Rather than examine in detail all of the defects of the complaint, the Court will rather indicate substantial merit in most of the points raised in the two Motions to Dismiss.
“The Complaint is therefore subject to dismissal for numerous reasons including duplicity.”

Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss for failure of the complaint to state a cause of action admit all well-pleaded facts and while the Second Amended Complaint is to be construed strictly against plaintiff, it is entitled to all reasonable inferences which can be drawn from the well-pleaded facts. However, defendants’ motions do not admit conclusions of law or conclusions of facts unsupported by allegations of specific facts upon which such conclusions rest. Rhodes Pharmacal Co. v. Continental Can Co., 72 Ill App2d 362, 219 NE2d 726. Plaintiff has suffered the ultimate sanction for bad pleading — final dismissal of his complaint. The basis of the trial court’s order of dismissal is that plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint is legally insufficient in both form and substance.

The complaint was found insufficient in form because of its failure to comply with section 33(2) of the Civil Practice Act (Ill Rev Stats 1967, c 110, § 33 (2)) which provides that each separate claim or cause of action upon which a separate recovery might be had shall be stated in a separate count . . . and each count . . . shall be separately pleaded, designated and numbered, and each shall be divided into paragraphs numbered consecutively, each paragraph containing as nearly as may be a separate allegation. It must be conceded that when tested against this requirement of the Civil Practice Act, plaintiff’s complaint leaves something to be desired, because it asserts elements of each of several theories of liability in its separate counts. However, before there may be a final dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint, consideration must be given to other sections of the Civil Practice Act. Section 4 of the Civil Practice Act provides that the Act shall be liberally construed, to the end that controversies may be speedily and finally determined according to the substantive rights of the parties, that the rule that statutes in derogation of the common law must be strictly construed does not apply to the Civil Practice Act or rules made pursuant thereto. Section 33(3) provides that pleadings shall be liberally construed with a view to doing substantial justice between the parties: Section 42(2) provides that no pleading is bad in substance which contains such information as reasonably informs the opposite party of the nature of the claim or defense which he is called upon to meet. The trend of the cases interpreting the apparent conflict arising between section 33 (2) on the one hand with sections 4, 33(3) and 42(2) evidences the intention of courts to follow the requirements for liberal construction and uphold complaints which contain sufficient allegations to inform the defendant of a valid claim under a general class of cases to the end that controversies may be decided on their merits and not because of the adherence to a rigid form of pleading required by a strict interpretation of the Civil Practice Act. In Consolidated Const. Co. v. Great Lakes Plumbing, 90 Ill App2d 196, 234 NE2d 378, the court said:

“Recent decisions such as Kita v. Young Men’s Christian Ass’n of Metropolitan Chicago, 47 Ill App 2d 409, 198 NE2d 174 (1964), and Miller v. Veterans of Foreign Wars of United States, 56 Ill App2d 343, 206 NE2d 316 (1965), have stressed that ‘pleadings shall be liberally construed with a view to doing substantial justice between the parties/ Section 33 (3).
“In Kita, the court said (p 425):
‘The intent of the Civil Practice Act was to get away from the formality and rigidity of the common-law pleading. In Crosby v. Weil, 382 Ill 538, 548, 48 NE2d 386, 391, the court states that “It is only necessary that the allegations state a cause of action.” The court quotes section 42 of the Civil Practice Act and says further:
‘ “. . . Under the Civil Practice Act, pleadings are to be liberally construed with the view toward doing substantial justice between the parties and no pleading is to be deemed bad in substance which shall contain such information as shall reasonably inform the opposite party of the nature of the claim. (Frasier v. Finlay, 375 Ill 78.) With the adoption of the Civil Practice Act there has been a definite attempt to abolish the so-called technicalities of common-law pleading. . . .”
‘. . . If the courts, by their restrictive interpretation of that Act, again place the rights of the plaintiff and defendant in a legal straitjacket, they are pursuing the path pointed out by Judge Clark. The purpose of the law is to do substantial justice and the courts must exercise restraint in construing a statute which seeks to reach that end/ ”

In Fitzgerald v. Van Buskirk, 96 Ill App2d 432, 239 NE2d 330, the court in construing the above sections of the Civil Practice Act stated:

“These sections of the Civil Practice Act are designed and intended to permit controversies to be determined according to substantial justice between the parties, and not according to the technicalities or niceties of pleading. Under the Act, the test of the sufficiency of the complaint is whether it informs the defendant of a valid claim under a general class of eases.” (Citations.)

In the case of Church v. Adler, 350 Ill App 471, 113 NE2d 327, it is held:

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261 N.E.2d 1, 125 Ill. App. 2d 388, 7 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1270, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-j-i-case-co-illappct-1970.