Board of Education v. Idle Motors, Inc.

90 N.E.2d 121, 339 Ill. App. 359
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 2, 1985
DocketGen. 44,856
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 90 N.E.2d 121 (Board of Education v. Idle Motors, Inc.) 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
Board of Education v. Idle Motors, Inc., 90 N.E.2d 121, 339 Ill. App. 359 (Ill. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Niemeyer

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiffs, the Board of Education of School District 85%, River Grove, Illinois, certain citizens and residents of River Grove, each of whom is a parent of one or more of the minor plaintiff pupils of the elementary public school of the board of education, and minor pupils of the school, seek by count one of their amended complaint, hereafter called the complaint, to restrain the defendant Idle Motors, Inc., hereafter called Idle Motors or defendant, from erecting or constructing a building, or operating directly or indirectly a public garage for the storage and repair of automobiles therein in River Grove, and by count two, the writ of mandamus compelling defendants, the president, board of trustees, village clerk and building commissioner of River Grove, hereafter referred to as village officials, “to enforce the Zoning Ordinance and Building Ordinance of the Village of River Grove, and more particularly, to stop any further construction of said proposed building by defendant Idle Motors, Inc., and to revoke and declare null and void the purported building permit issued by the Village Clerk on October 7, 1948.” From separate orders, entered on motions of Idle Motors and the village officials, in effect dismissing the complaint as to the respective defendants, plaintiffs appeal.

The first count sets out certain provisions of the zoning and building ordinances of River Grove and alleges that the building is being constructed in violation of the zoning ordinances in that no side yard has been provided and that the proposed building and accessory buildings will occupy in excess of 85 per cent of the area of the lot; that the permit was issued in violation of the provisions of the zoning and building ordinances as to the application and granting of permits; that the proposed public garage, “if the same is completed and placed into operation,” will be dangerous to the lives and health of pupils attending the public school and will interfere with the normal and necessary operation of the school and with the normal activities of the pupils by reason of the noises and fumes emanating from the buildings, the increased fire hazard due to the gasoline and other dangerous combustibles stored and used in the building, the increased automobile traffic in front of and in the general neighborhood of the-school, and the shutting out of the light and air from the school and its classrooms. The second count incorporates these allegations and alleges the failure and refusal of the village officials to comply with the zoning and building ordinances, the duty of the village officials or some of them to enforce the ordinances, revoke the building permit and stop construction of the building.

Separate answers were filed by Idle Motors and the village officials. In their answer the village officials 1 ‘ state the fact to be that they are without pow-„ er or authority to revoke said building permit and that the court is without jurisdiction to compel said officials to revoke said building permit.” Treating this as a plea to the jurisdiction, they obtained an immediate hearing (Civil Practice Act, sec. 43, subpar. (3) [Ill. Eev. Stat. 1947, ch. 110, par. 167, subpar. (3); Jones Ill. Stats. Ann. 104.043, subpar. (3)]) and their dismissal from the proceedings for want of “jurisdiction of the court to grant relief requested by plaintiffs.” In the answer and order the word “jurisdiction” is used loosely and incorrectly in a sense in which it is made to depend upon the correctness of the decision rendered. By the Constitution of 1870 (art. 6, sec. 12) the circuit court is given original jurisdiction of all causes in law and equity. It has jurisdiction of mandamus actions. The filing of the complaint and issuance of the summons gives it jurisdiction in this particular case to adjudicate the claims of the parties as to the issuance of the writ. According to the theory of the village officials, and as we shall hereafter hold, plaintiffs are not entitled to the writ prayed for. Inability to properly grant the relief prayed, or error in granting it, does not oust the court of jurisdiction. Knaus v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 365 Ill. 588. The court said (p. 592):

“Jurisdiction of the subject matter is the power to hear and determine cases of the general class to which the proceedings in question belong. Such jurisdiction is conferred by the constitution or by legislative enactment and does not depend upon the sufficiency of the bill of complaint in a particular case, the validity of the demand set forth therein, the regularity of the proceedings or the correctness of the decision rendered.”

The question presented by the plea was the propriety of granting the relief prayed for. Jurisdiction was not involved. The case stood for hearing on the complaint and answer. The court erred in setting the motion for hearing on a question of jurisdiction and dismissing the complaint as to the village officials for want of jurisdiction, as stated in the order.

It does not follow that the order should be reversed. In Heckle v. Grewe, 125 Ill. 58, 63, the court said:

“Courts of review reverse only for such errors as may have been prejudicial to the complaining party, and certainly no error or number of errors can, with any propriety, be said to prejudice a party, when it is clear, as it is here, that the judgment upon the conceded facts is the only one that could properly be rendered, and that another trial would therefore necessarily result the same way. ’ ’

Or as said in People v. City of Olney, 322 Ill. App. 43, 48:

“The Appellate Court will not reverse the judgment of a lower court when it can determine from the record that the judgment is the only one which could properly be rendered. ’ ’

People v. Michael, 280 Ill. 11; Standard Oil Co. v. Burkhartsmeier Co-op. Co., 333 Ill. App. 338, 355; 3 Am. Jur., Appeal and Error, secs. 1003, 1007. Examination of the complaint shows that plaintiffs are not entitled to any relief against the village officials. Mandamus will not lie where to issue the writ will put into the hands of the court the control and regulation of the general course of official conduct, as in the general enforcement of a statute or ordinance. People ex rel. Bartlett v. Dunne, 219 Ill. 346; Retail Liquor Dealers Protective Ass’n v. Schreiber, 382 Ill. 454. Independent of any power the village officials might have to revoke the permit, mandamus does not lie “to set aside and so undo what has already been done, even though it ought not to have been done.” People ex rel. Witherell v. City of Chicago, 131 Ill. App. 266, 274; People ex rel. Olson v. Sweitzer, 185 Ill. App. 282. Refusing to direct revocation of the permit, the court will not attempt to accomplish indirectly the same result by directing the village officials to stop the construction of the building. If we should remand the case and leave should be obtained to move to strike the complaint, or a trial be had on the merits, the case must end with dismissal of the complaint as to the village officials. We affirm the order appealed from.

In dismissing the complaint as to the Idle Motors the court also departed from established practice.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 N.E.2d 121, 339 Ill. App. 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-education-v-idle-motors-inc-illappct-1985.