Johnson v. Ortiz

614 N.E.2d 408, 244 Ill. App. 3d 384, 185 Ill. Dec. 274, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 512
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 12, 1993
Docket1-92-0257
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 614 N.E.2d 408 (Johnson v. Ortiz) 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
Johnson v. Ortiz, 614 N.E.2d 408, 244 Ill. App. 3d 384, 185 Ill. Dec. 274, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 512 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE BUCKLEY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff Sam Johnson filed a two-count complaint seeking damages for injuries sustained on January 6, 1989, in Calumet City, Illinois, when his car was hit by the car driven by codefendant Miguel Ortiz, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. Defendant Debbie Green owned the vehicle which codefendant was driving at the time of the accident. Count I of the amended complaint alleged that codefendant negligently operated the car. Count II alleged that defendant negligently entrusted her car to codefendant. Defendant initially filed a special appearance to contest in personam jurisdiction and move to quash service. The circuit court denied defendant’s motion and held that she was subject to jurisdiction in Illinois. Then, defendant filed a motion for summary judgment on count II. The circuit court ordered summary judgment in favor of defendant. Plaintiff filed this appeal. Defendant’s response brief included a cross-appeal arguing that the circuit court improperly held that it had in personam jurisdiction over her.

On January 6, 1989, at approximately 9:30 a.m., plaintiff and codefendant were involved in a car accident with each other on River Oak Drive in Calumet City, Illinois. Plaintiff allegedly suffered injuries from that accident. A police officer arrived on the scene and prepared a report. Codefendant claimed his address was 4 Carroll Street, apartment 2 in Hammond, Indiana, which was defendant’s address.

Codefendant stated in his deposition that on January 5, 1989, he was living with his sister on Hohman Street in Hammond, Indiana. On the evening of January 5, codefendant and his daughter walked to defendant’s apartment. Codefendant, his daughter, defendant and her son watched movies at the Carroll Street apartment. After defendant, her son and codefendant’s daughter fell asleep, codefendant went into defendant’s bedroom and took all the keys from her purse, including her keys to the apartment and to her 1978 Thunderbird. During his deposition, codefendant testified that he did not have permission to drive defendant’s car, but took it anyway. Codefendant further admitted that if he had asked for permission, she would have denied it. Defendant had not allowed him to use her car since his regular license had been taken by the State of Indiana and replaced with a work permit license. Codefendant intended to take the car and return with it before defendant awoke. He testified that he had never taken defendant’s car without her prior express permission and had never driven her car since having a work permit license. The approximately 10 to 15 times he had used defendant’s car in the past, he had had a valid driver’s license and her express permission. Codefendant also explained that after the accident, he gave defendant’s address as his own so that the police officer would not think that he stole the car.

Defendant testified during her deposition that when she awoke on January 6, she found that codefendant’s daughter was still asleep, but that codefendant was not there. She went outside and discovered that her car was missing. Defendant called the police and made a report that the car was stolen. She could not remember if she had learned of codefendant’s accident prior to reporting the car stolen. She did remember that the police did not arrive at her apartment until that afternoon and that by that time she had learned of the accident. The police incident report reflects that she informed police that codefendant had taken her car sometime between 10 p.m. on January 5 and 8 a.m. on January 6 without her permission.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the circuit court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of defendant because there are genuine issues of fact. A motion for summary judgment should only be granted if “the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 2 — 1005(c).) In determining whether a triable issue exists, the court must construe the pleadings, depositions and affidavits most strictly against the moving party and most liberally in favor of the opponent. (Purtill v. Hess (1986), 111 Ill. 2d 229, 240, 489 N.E.2d 867, 871.) Discovery depositions must be taken as true if left uncontroverted by affidavit or counteraffidavit. In re Estate of Myers (1983), 120 Ill. App. 3d 726, 458 N.E.2d 1102.

A person may be liable for negligent entrustment of an automobile if that person entrusts an automobile to one whose incompetency, inexperience or recklessness is known or should have been known by the owner or entrustor of the automobile and an injury results from that entrustment. (Giers v. Anten (1978), 68 Ill. App. 3d 535, 386 N.E.2d 82.) It is uncontroverted that defendant did not give codefendant express permission to use her car. Plaintiff, however, theorizes that defendant negligently entrusted her car to codefendant through implied permission. Implied permission involves an inference or circumstances arising from a course of conduct or relationship between the parties in which there is a mutual acquiescence or lack of objection under circumstances signifying permission. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Poths (1968), 104 Ill. App. 2d 80, 243 N.E.2d 40.

Plaintiff asserts that several questions of material fact exist which relate to the issue of implied permission. For example, plaintiff argues that defendant acquiesced in codefendant’s use of the car because she did not report that the car was stolen until after she learned that codefendant had an accident while driving it and, additionally, because she never pressed charges against him for allegedly stealing it. Plaintiff also argues that questions of material fact exist as to whether codefendant knew where the keys to the car were kept and whether he was residing with defendant at the time of the accident. Even when we view the above inferences most liberally in favor of plaintiff, they do not amount to evidence of mutual acquiescence or lack of objection as required for there to be implied permission.

In Kosrow v. Acker (1989), 188 Ill. App. 3d 778, 544 N.E.2d 804, the appellate court held that facts similar to those above, such as leaving the keys on a dresser in a bedroom where the unauthorized driver sometimes sleeps, living with the unauthorized driver and failing to report the car stolen until after learning of the accident, did not establish implied permission. (Kosrow, 188 Ill. App. 3d at 784-85, 544 N.E.2d at 808.) The court reasoned that there was no evidence that there was a regular practice of allowing the unauthorized driver to use the car. The Kosrow court further found that there was overwhelming evidence to the contrary of implied permission, such as the unauthorized driver’s testimony that he knew the defendant did not want him driving his car and defendant’s testimony that he did not allow the unauthorized driver to use his car. Kosrow, 188 Ill. App. 3d at 785, 544 N.E.2d at 808.

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Bluebook (online)
614 N.E.2d 408, 244 Ill. App. 3d 384, 185 Ill. Dec. 274, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-ortiz-illappct-1993.