Merritt v. Randall Painting Co.

732 N.E.2d 116, 314 Ill. App. 3d 556, 247 Ill. Dec. 400
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 22, 2000
Docket1-99-4171
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 732 N.E.2d 116 (Merritt v. Randall Painting Co.) 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
Merritt v. Randall Painting Co., 732 N.E.2d 116, 314 Ill. App. 3d 556, 247 Ill. Dec. 400 (Ill. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE HOFFMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Andrienne Merritt, appeals from an order of the circuit court dismissing the instant action as time-barred. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

On July 8, 1999, the plaintiff filed the instant negligence action seeking recovery for injuries she claims to have sustained on October 16, 1995. According to her complaint, the plaintiff was struck in the head by a window screen that had not been properly secured after the gymnasium located in the Hartigan Elementary School had been painted. The plaintiffs complaint alleges that the “[defendants agreed to scrape, plaster patch, clean and paint the entire interior of said school, including the gymnasium, and move all moveable objects, including furniture, equipment, supplies, books, boxes and any other items, in performing such work.”

Two of the named defendants, Randall Painting Company and John Randall, filed a motion for involuntary dismissal of the plaintiffs action pursuant to section 2 — 619(a)(5) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2 — 619(a)(5) (West 1998)), contending that the action was not filed within the two-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions set forth in section 13 — 202 of the Code (735 ILCS 5/13 — 202 (West 1998)). After being served, defendant Glenn De-Loach joined in the motion. Thomas Montgomery, Jerry Finch, Ralph Wilson, and Pat Johnon were also named as. defendants in the plaintiffs complaint. They have never been served and have not appeared.

In response to the motion to dismiss, the plaintiff argued, as she does on appeal, that her action is governed by the four-year statute of limitations set forth in section 13 — 214(a) of the Code (735 ILCS 5/13 — 214(a) (West 1998)). The trial court found that the plaintiffs action was governed by the two-year statute of limitations set forth in section 13 — 202 of the Code and dismissed the plaintiffs action with prejudice. The trial court also found that its order was “final and appealable.” Thereafter, the plaintiff filed a timely notice of appeal.

Before addressing the substantive issue presented by this appeal, we feel compelled to comment on the source of our jurisdiction. The plaintiff asserts that we have jurisdiction pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 301 (155 Ill. 2d R. 301). The trial court’s order states that the “complaint is dismissed with prejudice.” An argument can be made, however, that the dismissal applies only to the three defendants ,that actually moved for dismissal and not to the remaining four, unserved defendants. If such were the case, as this court found it to be in Zak v. Allson, 252 Ill. App. 3d 963, 964-65, 625 N.E.2d 160 (1993), the trial court’s order would dispose of the plaintiffs claim with regard to less than all defendants and would not be appealable under Rule 301. We would, therefore, lack jurisdiction over this appeal entirely as the trial court’s finding that its order is “final and appealable” is insufficient to satisfy the requirements under Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (155 Ill. 2d R. 304(a)). Coryell v. Village of La Grange, 245 Ill. App. 3d 1, 5, 614 N.E.2d 148 (1993). Accordingly, we must determine whether the trial court intended its dismissal to be only with regard to the served defendants who pursued the motion to dismiss or whether it intended to dismiss the complaint in its entirety.

In Zak, this court held that an order granting a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs complaint with prejudice on the basis of res judicata was not appealable under Rule 301 where the motion had been filed on behalf of only one defendant. We reasoned that, since a second, unserved defendant had not invoked the defense of res judicata, a procedural defense that can be waived if not raised, and the unserved defendant was not a party to the case upon which the defense rested, the trial court’s dismissal order applied only to the served defendant. Zak, 252 Ill. App. 3d at 963-64.

Here, as in Zak, the motion to dismiss was brought by fewer than all of the defendants and the basis of the motion, the expiration of the statute of limitations, is also a procedural defense that can be waived if not raised (Boonstra v. City of Chicago, 214 Ill. App. 3d 379, 389, 574 N.E.2d 689 (1991)). A significant factual distinction exists, however, between the instant case and Zak. In the instant case, the liability of Randall Painting Company, one of the defendants that was served and moved for dismissal, is predicated, in part, upon the alleged acts of its agents and employees, the four unserved defendants. Accordingly, as to the acts alleged to have been committed by the four unserved defendants, Randall Painting Company and those defendants constitute a unified tortfeasor. Towns v. Yellow Cab Co., 73 Ill. 2d 113, 123-24, 382 N.E.2d 1217 (1978). Furthermore, the claims asserted against Randall Painting Company under the theory of respondeat superior and those asserted against the four unserved defendants “are one and the same” (Towns, 73 Ill. 2d at 125). Under these circumstances, we interpret the trial court’s order as a dismissal of the complaint in its entirety. Accordingly, we find we have jurisdiction over the instant appeal under Rule 301. Having so concluded, we now turn to the merits of the issue raised.

Since the trial court dismissed the plaintiffs action in response to a motion pursuant to section 2 — 619 of the Code, our review is de novo. Kedzie & 103rd Currency Exchange, Inc. v. Hodge, 156 Ill. 2d 112, 116, 619 N.E.2d 732 (1993). In conducting that review, we accept as true all well-pleaded facts in the plaintiff’s complaint and draw from those facts all reasonable inferences that are favorable to the plaintiff. Mackereth v. G.D. Searle & Co., 285 Ill. App. 3d 1070, 1074, 674 N.E.2d 936 (1996). We do not, however, accept as true conclusions of law or fact that are unsupported by allegations of specific fact. Spillyards v. Abboud, 278 Ill. App. 3d 663, 668, 662 N.E.2d 1358 (1996). Our function is to determine “whether the existence of a genuine issue of material fact should have precluded the dismissal or, absent such an issue of fact, whether dismissal is proper as a matter of law.” Kedzie & 103rd Currency Exchange, Inc., 156 Ill. 2d at 116-17.

Section 13 — 202 of the Code provides that actions for damages for an injury to the person shall be commenced within two years next after the cause of action accrued. 735 ILCS 5/13 — 202 (West 1998). Section 13 — 214(a) of the Code, however, provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
732 N.E.2d 116, 314 Ill. App. 3d 556, 247 Ill. Dec. 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merritt-v-randall-painting-co-illappct-2000.