In re Marriage of Padilla

2022 IL App (1st) 200815, 220 N.E.3d 1173, 468 Ill. Dec. 394
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 11, 2022
Docket1-20-0815
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2022 IL App (1st) 200815 (In re Marriage of Padilla) 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
In re Marriage of Padilla, 2022 IL App (1st) 200815, 220 N.E.3d 1173, 468 Ill. Dec. 394 (Ill. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

2022 IL App (1st) 200815 No. 1-20-0815 Third Division May 11, 2022

____________________________________________________________________________

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

In re MARRIAGE OF

MARTHA PADILLA, Appeal from the Circuit Court Petitioner and Counterrespondent-Appellee, of Cook County.

and No. 14 D 6997

ROBERT KOWALKSI, The Honorable Mark J. Lopez, Judge Presiding. Respondent and Counterpetitioner-Appellant.

______________________________________________________________________________

PRESIDING JUSTICE GORDON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices McBride and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 The instant appeal arises from the trial court’s order appointing a receiver over the estate

of respondent in connection with a dissolution of marriage action. Respondent appeals this

order, claiming that the trial court lacked jurisdiction or statutory authority to appoint a receiver

and that the trial court abused its discretion in doing so. Respondent further claims that the

court erred by appointing a receiver because the order appointing the receiver improperly

enjoined respondent from presenting his earlier-filed petition for substitution of judge for

cause. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. No. 1-20-0815

¶2 BACKGROUND

¶3 The instant appeal represents the fourth time the parties have appeared before this court in

connection with the dissolution of their marriage. See In re Marriage of Padilla, 2017 IL App

(1st) 170215; In re Marriage of Padilla, 2018 IL App (1st) 173064-U (Padilla II); In re

Marriage of Padilla, 2019 IL App (1st) 182267-U (Padilla III). Since the record on appeal is

sparse, we fill in background details from our prior decisions and from official electronic

dockets, of which we may take judicial notice. See TCF National Bank v. Richards, 2016 IL

App (1st) 152083, ¶ 50.

¶4 On September 29, 2014, petitioner Martha Padilla filed for dissolution of marriage from

respondent Robert Kowalski, pursuant to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage

Act (Marriage Act) (750 ILCS 5/101 et seq. (West 2014)). This dissolution of marriage action

has resulted in extended litigation. In addition to numerous motions and pleadings on both

sides, respondent has sought to remove a number of judges from the case. Since the dissolution

action commenced, respondent has filed no fewer than 12 petitions for substitution of judge (1

as a matter of right and 11 for cause), 3 motions to reconsider the denials of such petitions, 1

motion to vacate the denial of a petition for substitution of judge, 1 motion to transfer venue,

and 3 interlocutory appeals relating to respondent’s efforts to substitute judges. 1 During this

time, two judges have also recused themselves from the case.

1 The specific chronology of respondent’s petitions for substitution of judge and related motions are set forth in detail in our prior decisions. Padilla II, 2018 IL App (1st) 173064-U, ¶¶ 6-8, 12-19, 23-29, 55-60; Padilla III, 2019 IL App (1st) 182267-U, ¶¶ 7-18. In Padilla II, 2018 IL App (1st) 173064-U, we found that the denial of respondent’s petitions for substitution of judge for cause were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. In Padilla III, 2019 IL App (1st) 182267-U, we dismissed respondent’s appeal from an order “enjoining hearing” on respondent’s petition to substitute a judge for cause because the order from which respondent appealed was not an interlocutory order granting an injunction, and we therefore lacked jurisdiction to consider respondent’s interlocutory appeal. 2 No. 1-20-0815

¶5 Despite respondent’s efforts, this dissolution case has remained in front of Judge William

Boyd 2 since the case was assigned to him on October 26, 2016, except for certain matters that

Judge Boyd transferred to Judge Mark Lopez for hearing. 3

¶6 On March 29, 2018, while the dissolution proceedings were ongoing, respondent sought

bankruptcy protection in the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois. In re

Kowalski, No. 18-09130, 2018 WL 6841355 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. Nov. 30, 2018). According to

respondent’s appellate brief, on October 2, 2019, petitioner entered into a “Family Support

Agreement” with the trustee of respondent’s bankruptcy estate, through which petitioner

“received substantial income producing properties” in “exchange and compromise of her

claims for marital assets.” This purported agreement is not included in the record on appeal.

¶7 On December 16, 2019, in this dissolution action, the trial court entered a judgment for

dissolution of marriage. Although the record suggests that the judgment incorporated a

settlement agreement between the parties regarding the allocation of their marital estate,

neither the order of judgment itself nor any settlement agreement is included in the record on

appeal.

¶8 On July 8, 2020, respondent filed a “Petition for Substitution of Judge Mark Lopez for

Cause” pursuant to section 2-1001(a)(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-

1001(a)(3) (West 2020)). While styled as a petition to substitute Judge Lopez, respondent’s

petition in fact sought to remove both Judge Lopez and Judge Boyd from the case and to void

the December 16, 2019, judgment for dissolution order. Respondent made three main

2 Since the instant appeal requires us to make determinations concerning respondent’s petition for substitution of judge for cause, the specific trial judges involved in certain proceedings are relevant, so we include their names in our recitation of the facts. 3 We note that while respondent claims that Judge Boyd transferred “all aspects” of the case to Judge Lopez via a February 1, 2019, order, that order explicitly transfers the matter to Judge Lopez for a “motion to quash” and does not purport to reassign the case for other purposes. 3 No. 1-20-0815

arguments in support of the petition. First, respondent argued that the local rules of the circuit

court did not permit Judge Boyd to transfer matters directly to Judge Lopez, and Judge Lopez

therefore lacked subject matter jurisdiction to enter any orders in the case. Second, respondent

argued that once Judge Boyd transferred certain matters in the case to Judge Lopez, the local

rules of the circuit court did not permit Judge Boyd to continue to preside over the case, and

Judge Boyd therefore also lacked subject matter jurisdiction to enter any orders. Lastly,

respondent argued that Judge Lopez, Judge Boyd, and other officers of the circuit court had

engaged in misconduct and manipulated the judicial assignment process to bias the dissolution

proceedings against respondent in violation of respondent’s constitutional and statutory rights.

We note that it does not appear from the record on appeal that Judge Lopez ruled on

respondent’s petition for substitution of judge at this time, nor did he send the petition to

another judge. It is noted that the petition for substitution of judge did not meet statutory

requirements, as we will explain later in this opinion.

¶9 A day later, on July 9, 2020, petitioner filed an “Emergency Motion for the Appointment

of a Receiver Over the Estate of [Respondent].” In the emergency motion, petitioner argued

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Bluebook (online)
2022 IL App (1st) 200815, 220 N.E.3d 1173, 468 Ill. Dec. 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-padilla-illappct-2022.