Affordable Housing Preservation Foundation v. Wiiams

872 N.E.2d 562, 375 Ill. App. 3d 305, 313 Ill. Dec. 579, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 759
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 13, 2007
Docket1-05-3744
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 872 N.E.2d 562 (Affordable Housing Preservation Foundation v. Wiiams) 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
Affordable Housing Preservation Foundation v. Wiiams, 872 N.E.2d 562, 375 Ill. App. 3d 305, 313 Ill. Dec. 579, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 759 (Ill. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

JUSTICE TULLY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Affordable Housing Preservation Foundation, a Colorado not-for-profit corporation (AHPF), brought an action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against defendants Smith Wiiams and the Illinois Affordable Housing Preservation Foundation (Illinois Affordable). On March 24, 2005, the lower court entered a final order granting a permanent injunction. On April 22, 2005, defendant Wiiams filed a motion to vacate the March 24 injunction order, and on July 21, 2005, Wiiams filed a motion to reconsider the March 24 order. Both motions were denied on October 20, 2005. On November 18, 2005, Wiiams filed his notice of appeal.

Our initial inquiry concerns whether we have jurisdiction to hear this appeal. Plaintiff contends that defendant’s notice of appeal was untimely since there was no legitimate postjudgment motion filed within 30 days of the March 24, 2005, order granting a permanent injunction, which was a final judgment. Plaintiff argues that defendant’s motion to vacate was invalid because it did not include any specific grounds that would warrant the court’s vacating its decision and was nothing more than an attempt to stall for time and, therefore, did not extend the time in which to file a notice of appeal. After thoroughly reviewing the record, the briefs and the case law, we have determined that defendant’s notice of appeal was timely and this court has jurisdiction of this appeal. We conclude that defendant’s motion to vacate met the requirements for postjudgment motions as set out by section 2 — 1203 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2— 1203 (West 2004)), thus triggering the extension of time in which to file a notice of appeal.

In addressing plaintiffs claims, we begin with the proposition that jurisdiction is conferred upon this court only through the timely filing of a notice of appeal. Archer Daniels Midland Co. v. Barth, 103 Ill. 2d 536, 538, 470 N.E.2d 290 (1984); 155 Ill. 2d R 301. Under Supreme Court Rule 303(a) (155 Ill. 2d R. 303(a)), a notice of appeal must be filed “within 30 days after the entry of the final judgment appealed from, or, if a timely post-trial motion directed against the judgment is filed, *** within 30 days after the entry of the order disposing of the last pending post-judgment motion.”

Here the record shows that within 30 days of the circuit court’s entry of an injunction, the defendant did file a posttrial motion directed against the judgment. As previously indicated, the sole issue raised by plaintiff is the sufficiency of that motion. Because the motion attacked a judgment entered by the court sitting without a jury, it was subject to section 2 — 1203 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 1203 (West 2004)) and had to specifically request one or more of the types of relief specified in that provision, i.e., rehearing, retrial, modification of the judgment, vacating the judgment or other similar relief. Marsh v. Evangelical Covenant Church of Hinsdale, 138 Ill. 2d 458, 461, 563 N.E.2d 459 (1990); Fultz v. Haugan, 49 Ill. 2d 131, 135-36, 305 N.E.2d 873 (1971). Defendant’s motion here included such a request. It expressly asked the court to vacate its order. Although defendant did not detail in the motion itself precisely why he thought the judgment was infirm, he was not required to do so under section 2 — 1203. Section 2 — 1203 provides in pertinent part:

“(a) In all cases tried without a jury, any party may, within 30 days after the entry of the judgment or within any further time the court may allow within the 30 days or any extensions thereof, file a motion for a rehearing, or a retrial, or modification of the judgment or to vacate the judgment or for other relief.” (Emphasis added.) 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1203 (West 2004).

In contrast to section 2 — 1202 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 1202 (West 2004)), which governs posttrial motions in jury cases, section 2 — 1203 contains no requirement that the motion contain the points on which it is based or that it specify the grounds supporting it. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Jerome, 255 Ill. App. 3d 374, 389, 625 N.E.2d 1195 (1994).

Notwithstanding the plain language of the statute, this court has sometimes viewed the requirements for posttrial motions under section 2 — 1203 more stringently. Based on language the Illinois Supreme Court used in Andersen v. Resource Economics Corp., 133 Ill. 2d 342, 347, 549 N.E.2d 1262 (1990), and Beck v. Stepp, 144 Ill. 2d 232, 241, 579 N.E.2d 824 (1991), various appellate court decisions have held that motions filed under section 2 — 1203 are required to specify the grounds warranting the relief requested. See, e.g., American Country Insurance Co. v. James McHugh Construction Co., 344 Ill. App. 3d 960, 801 N.E.2d 1031 (2003); J.D. Marshall International, Inc. v. First National Bank of Chicago, 272 Ill. App. 3d 883, 888, 651 N.E.2d 518 (1995); Sho-Deen, Inc. v. Michel, 263 Ill. App. 3d 288, 293, 635 N.E.2d 1068 (1994). However, the circumstances in Andersen and Beck were qualitatively different from those present here.

In Andersen, the supreme court stated that a postjudgment motion must (1) include a request for at least one of the forms of relief specified in section 2 — 1203 and (2) allege grounds that would warrant the granting of the relief requested. Andersen, 133 Ill. 2d at 347. Because the plaintiffs motion in Andersen, which was merely a motion for leave to amend, failed in the first instance to include a request for any of the forms of relief specified in section 2 — 1203, the court did not address the merits of the second criterion. Andersen, 133 Ill. 2d at 347-48, 549 N.E.2d at 1264. Unlike the plaintiff in Andersen, here the defendant filed a proper motion to vacate which was directed against the judgment.

The Andersen court noted in dictum that the posttrial motion at issue lacked specificity and was “nothing more than a title and an ambiguous prayer for relief with absolutely no substance in between.” Andersen, 133 Ill. 2d at 347, 549 N.E.2d at 1264. In discussing the specificity requirement, the Andersen court relied upon the case of Brown v. Decatur Memorial Hospital, 83 Ill. 2d 344, 415 N.E.2d 337 (1980). The Andersen court, however, failed to note that Brown was a jury case decided under the statute dealing with jury cases.

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Bluebook (online)
872 N.E.2d 562, 375 Ill. App. 3d 305, 313 Ill. Dec. 579, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/affordable-housing-preservation-foundation-v-wiiams-illappct-2007.