Gay v. Open Kitchens, Inc.

427 N.E.2d 338, 100 Ill. App. 3d 968, 56 Ill. Dec. 258, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3432
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 30, 1981
Docket79-867, 80-087, cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 427 N.E.2d 338 (Gay v. Open Kitchens, 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
Gay v. Open Kitchens, Inc., 427 N.E.2d 338, 100 Ill. App. 3d 968, 56 Ill. Dec. 258, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3432 (Ill. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE RIZZI

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case involves an appeal by plaintiff, Edward N. Gay, and an appeal by defendant, Open Kitchens, Inc. The appeals were consolidated.

Plaintiff brought a personal injury action against defendants Open Kitchens, Inc., and Gullo International. Summary judgment was entered in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff. Subsequently, plaintiff filed a section 72 petition to vacate the summary judgment, which was denied. Plaintiff appeals from the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and from the order denying his section 72 petition.

After the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff had been granted, Open Kitchens filed a third-party action against Gullo predicated on theories of contractual indemnity and indemnity based on active/passive negligence. Summary judgment was entered in favor of Gullo and against Open Kitchens. Open Kitchens filed a motion to vacate this summary judgment and for leave to amend the third-party complaint, which was denied. Open Kitchens also filed a section 72 petition to vacate the summary judgment entered in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff. The section 72 petition was denied. Open Kitchens appeals from the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against Open Kitchens, from the order denying its motion to vacate the summary judgment and for leave to amend the third-party complaint, and from the denial of its section 72 petition.

We strike plaintiff’s appeal from the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and affirm the denial of plaintiff’s section 72 petition. Also, we reverse the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against Open Kitchens, reverse the order denying Open Kitchens’ motion for leave to file its amended third-party complaint and affirm the order denying Open Kitchens’ section 72 petition.

Plaintiff was injured on June 22, 1975, when he fell into a ramp-pit adjacent to a loading dock. In a separate count against Gullo, plaintiff alleged that Gullo was the general contractor for the construction of the premises where the accident occurred, and that Gullo was negligent because it failed to provide a restraining type chain to safeguard the loading dock area and failed to comply with OSHA standards. In a separate count against Open Kitchens, plaintiff alleged that Open Kitchens owned and maintained the premises where the accident occurred, and that Open Kitchens was negligent because it failed to properly fence off the ramp-pit area and failed to comply with unspecified OSHA standards.

Gullo filed a motion for summary judgment. The motion was supported by an affidavit signed by Gullo’s president. According to the affidavit, Gullo did not construct and/or install a restraining type chain; the construction contract did not provide for such a chain; and Gullo had no obligation to construct and/or install any restraining type chain. The motion was set for hearing on a subsequent date. Plaintiff did not file any documents opposing the motion, and neither plaintiff nor Open Kitchens appeared on the day the motion was set for hearing. The motion for summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff was therefore granted without opposition.

Almost two months later, Open Kitchens filed a third-party complaint against Gullo in which it pleaded a right to indemnity based upon contract and upon the theory of active/passive negligence. Gullo filed a motion for summary judgment in the third-party action. Generally, Gullo relied on the doctrine of collateral estoppel and contended that since summary judgment had been entered in its favor and against plaintiff, it could not be liable to Open Kitchens in the third-party action. The motion for summary judgment in the third-party action was granted.

Within the next two weeks, Open Kitchens filed a motion to vacate the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against Open Kitchens, and it moved for leave to amend its third-party complaint to allege a breach of implied warranty action. The motion was denied. Open Kitchens then filed a section 72 petition in which it sought to vacate the summary judgment entered in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff. The petition was denied.

We first address the issues raised by plaintiff. Initially, plaintiff argues that Gullo was not entitled to summary judgment against him because of the insufficiency of the affidavit filed by Gullo in support of its motion for summary judgment. The summary judgment was entered on February 14, 1978, and it states that there was no just reason to delay enforcement or appeal. Thus, plaintiff had 30 days from that date to file his notice of appeal. (ILl. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 110A, par. 303(a).) However, plaintiff did not file his notice of appeal until January 7, 1980, well beyond the 30 day limit. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to consider plaintiff’s appeal from the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff, and that appeal is stricken. _

Next, plaintiff contends that the court erred in denying his section 72 petition to vacate the summary judgment because of the insufficiency of the affidavit filed by Gullo. However, nowhere in his petition or brief does plaintiff present any facts which could not have been presented to the trial court at the time the summary judgment was entered. The purpose of a section 72 petition is to permit a party to bring before the trial court facts which, if known to the court at the time the judgment was entered, would have precluded entry of the judgment. (Lilly v. County of Cook (1978), 60 ILl. App. 3d 573, 576, 377 N.E.2d 136, 139 (1978); McKnelly v. McKnelly (1976), 38 Ill. App. 3d 637, 639, 348 N.E.2d 500, 502.) Also, a section 72 petition proceeding cannot be utilized to review judgments from which the party could have taken a timely appeal. (Wells v. Kern (1975), 25 Ill. App. 3d 93, 97, 322 N.E.2d 496, 499.) Therefore, plaintiff’s contention that the court erred in denying his section 72 petition to vacate the summary judgment in favor of Gullo is unavailing.

We next address the issues raised on appeal by Open Kitchens. We first consider whether the summary judgment in favor of Gullo and against Open Kitchens is proper and whether Open Kitchens should be given leave to amend its third-party complaint to allege a breach of implied warranty action. Gullo contends that since summary judgment was entered in favor of Gullo and against plaintiff, the doctrine of collateral estoppel precludes Open Kitchens from pursuing the third-party action against Gullo. Specifically, Gullo claims that Open Kitchens cannot seek indemnity from it because Open Kitchens is estopped from “relitigating” the issue of whether Gullo was negligent.

A prior judgment may serve as a collateral estoppel only when the party against whom it is applied had an effective opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior action. (See Franciscy v. Jordan (1963), 43 Ill. App. 2d 344, 354, 193 N.E.2d 219, 223-24.) Thus, in this sense, it is an estoppel in pais and, therefore, an equitable estoppel, subject to equitable principles.

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Bluebook (online)
427 N.E.2d 338, 100 Ill. App. 3d 968, 56 Ill. Dec. 258, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gay-v-open-kitchens-inc-illappct-1981.