Matot v. Barnheisel

216 Ill. App. 366, 1920 Ill. App. LEXIS 338
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 26, 1920
DocketGen. No. 25,347
StatusPublished

This text of 216 Ill. App. 366 (Matot v. Barnheisel) 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
Matot v. Barnheisel, 216 Ill. App. 366, 1920 Ill. App. LEXIS 338 (Ill. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Dever

delivered the opinion of the court.

In a statement of claim filed in the municipal court of Chicago, the plaintiff averred that he recovered a judgment or decree on December 24, 1917, in the superior court of Cook county against Frederick R. Bamheisel, Mrs. Frederick R. Barnheisel and others in the sum of $2,553.57 and costs of suit, which costs amounted to $350; that an appeal was perfected from this judgment or decree to this court by the giving of an appeal bond, a copy of which was annexed to the statement of claim as an exhibit and made a part thereof ; that on November 11, 1918, the judgment or decree was, in effect, affirmed by this court.

It is conceded that the judgment or decree was not in all respects technically affirmed in the Appellate Court, but was in fact in part reversed and in part affirmed and the cause remanded to the trial court with directions to increase the amount of the judgment entered in favor of the plaintiff by the sum of $949. This court further awarded costs in favor of plaintiff (appellee in the former proceedings) incurred on the appeal.

Upon the trial of the cause plaintiff’s evidence consisted exclusively of certified copies of the final order and judgment of this court in the case of Matot v. Barnheisel, 212 Ill. App. 489.

In an affidavit of merits filed by defendant Chin. F. Foin, who brings the case here by appeal, he admits the execution of the bond but states that he had no knowledge of the judgment in the appeal from which the bond was given; that this judgment had been reversed and that no liability would accrue against the defendant until a new judgment “shall have been rendered and entered by the superior court.” A condition of the bond given on the appeal from the superior court judgment is that:

“If the said Frederick E. Barnheisel and Mrs. Frederick E. Barnheisel shall duly prosecute their said appeal with effect, and, moreover, pay the amount of the judgment, costs, interests and damages rendered, and to be rendered, against them in case the said judgment shall be affirmed in said Appellate Court, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.”

The certified copies of the final order and judgment of this court on the appeal from the superior court show that by the judgment of this court the decree of the superior court was reversed in part and the cause was remanded with directions to that court to increase the amount of the decree entered therein by the sum of $949, and the trial court was directed to enter a decree in favor of plaintiff for the increased amount; in other respects the decree of the superior court was affirmed.

It is shown by stipulation that a mandate was never issued.out of this court to the superior court of Cook county; that the cause was not redocketed in the superior court, and that no further judgment or decree was entered therein. The trial judge who tried the present ease, without a jury, found the issues in favor of the plaintiff and a judgment was entered in his favor and against defendant for the sum of $3,000. The defendant, being a surety upon the bond given by Frederick R. Barnheisel and his wife, alone prosecutes this appeal to reverse the judgment for the reasons as stated:

“(1) No cause of action is set forth in the plaintiff’s statement and affidavit of claim, the exhibit purporting to constitute a copy of the appeal bond being no part of the pleading; (2) the evidence fails to establish a legal liability for want of (a) the appeal bond, which was not offered on the trial, and the execution of which, as alleged, was alone admitted by appellant; (b) the condition of the bond, if considered as proved, was satisfied by the action of the Appellate Court, and the appellant exonerated from liability; (c) the amended judgment order of this court, entered March 3, 1919, was not properly before the trial court in the suit previously commenced; and (3) the municipal court had no discretion in the matter of allowing appellant to file his application to vacate the judgment previously entered, whatever the court’s ultimate action thereon might have been.”

It is insisted, first, that the statement of claim does not state a cause of action; that because the bond was attached to the statement of claim as an exhibit it did not thereby become a part of the statement, notwithstanding the fact that the statement of claim on its face expressly made the annexed copy of the bond a part of the statement.

An examination of the abstract of record does not disclose that the defendant who brings this appeal made, at any time before the trial, any objection to the sufficiency of the statement of claim. No motion was made by him to‘strike the statement or any part of it from the files. On the contrary he filed an affidavit of merits thereto in which he expressly admitted the execution of the bond, “as stated in plaintiff’s statement of claim.” It is apparent, then, that the parties, and in particular the defendant, saw fit, so far as the pleadings in the cause are concerned, to treat the bond as a part of the statement of claim. He admitted its execution, and the principal defense made by him in his affidavit of merits is that the judgment of the superior court was reversed and not affirmed, and that inferentially there had been no breach of the condition of the bond which would authorize a recovery against him.

There are cases decided by this and other courts to the effect that instruments attached or annexed to a statement of claim filed in the municipal court do not become thereby a part thereof. Jones v. City of Chicago, 167 Ill. App. 175; Boyles v. Chytraus, 175 Ill. 370.

In Epstein v. Fort Dearborn Motor Cartage Co., 207 Ill. App. 321, relied upon by defendant, this court said:

“Neither the statemerit of claim filed by the plaintiff nor the affidavit of merits of the defendant showed or stated as a fact that the notes sued upon were chattel mortgage notes. * * # # * * *

“Where a copy of a promissory note is filed with, or.a copy of an instrument sued upon is attached to, a declaration, such copies do not become a part of the pleadings. (McFadden v. Deck, 193 Ill. App. 178; McKinstry v. Bras, 180 Ill. App. 648.)”

The Epstein case, supra, is essentially different from the one before us. Here the defendant admits the execution of the bond which was expressly made a part of the statement of claim.

The case of Hesse v. John A. Colby & Sons, 197 Ill. App. 642, also relied upon by defendant, does not, as we read the opinion in that case,, sustain the position of defendant.

In the case of Plew v. Board, 274 Ill. 232, it was held that:

“After judgment, the rule by which pleadings before judgment are construed most strongly against the pleader is reversed and the pleading upon which the judgment is based is liberally construed for the purpose of sustaining the judgment. (Chicago & A. R. Co. v. Clausen, 173 Ill. 100; Klawiter v. Jones, 219 Ill. 626; Sargent Co. v. Baublis, 215 Ill. 428; Diamond Glue Co. v. Wietzychowski, 227 Ill. 388.) If the statement of claim filed in this cause stated a cause of action, however defectively or imperfectly, and the issue joined was such as necessarily to require proof of the facts defectively stated, it would be sufficient.”

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Bluebook (online)
216 Ill. App. 366, 1920 Ill. App. LEXIS 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matot-v-barnheisel-illappct-1920.