Moore v. Pinkert

171 N.E.2d 73, 28 Ill. App. 2d 320, 1960 Ill. App. LEXIS 552
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 23, 1960
DocketGen. 48,015
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 171 N.E.2d 73 (Moore v. Pinkert) 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
Moore v. Pinkert, 171 N.E.2d 73, 28 Ill. App. 2d 320, 1960 Ill. App. LEXIS 552 (Ill. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE McCORMICK

delivered the opinion of the court.

This appeal is taken from summary judgments entered in the Circuit Court of Cook County against Mary Moore and in favor of Joseph M. Dvorak and George Kotas. Mary Moore, hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff, had brought an action to recover money which she alleges was wrongfully paid to defendant Dvorak in connection with a second mortgage allegedly procured by fraud and deceit. The plaintiff claims additional moneys paid to Kotas by virtue of the same fraud and also asks to have removed as a cloud on title to real estate a separate second mortgage held by Kotas.

The case grew out of a real estate transaction. In the original complaint filed by the plaintiff, Harold Pinkert, Joseph Dvorak, Anthony Broccolo and George Kotas were all named as parties defendant. Motions for summary judgment were filed by Pinkert, Dvorak and Kotas. On the hearing on the motions the court entered an order permitting the plaintiff to file an amended complaint and taking the motions for summary judgment under advisement. Upon the filing of the amended complaint plaintiff dismissed out Pinkert and Broccolo. Defendants Dvorak and Kotas filed petitions asking that summary judgments be entered upon their motions previously filed.

The court entered a summary judgment in favor of defendant Kotas, in which judgment order it stated that the admissions of the plaintiff in her deposition and in the amended complaint negative the existence of a cause of action by the plaintiff against Kotas. In the judgment order in favor of Dvorak the court found that the amended complaint did not state an action against Dvorak and that the deposition of the plaintiff contained admissions negativing the existence of any liability of Dvorak to the plaintiff.

The instant lawsuit is based on an attempt of the plaintiff to recover money from those who allegedly profited by a series of complicated financial transactions in connection with the purchase of a home and who have in their possession money in equity and good conscience belonging to her.

In order for a full understanding of the case it was necessary for us to go to the record. This we are not required to do. However, because of the extraordinary character of the case and the flagrant disregard of the law and the principles of fair dealing should the allegations in the complaint be true, we prefer to determine the propriety of the entry of the summary judgments, disregarding the method in which the case has been presented to this court. McKey v. McKean, 384 Ill. 112, 115, 51 N.E.2d 189; Department of Finance v. Goldberg, 370 Ill. 578, 583, 19 N.E.2d 593; Reiter v. Illinois Nat. Casualty Co., 328 Ill. App. 234, 265, 65 N.E.2d 830.

The summary judgments were entered on defendants’ motions before the defendants had filed any pleadings. The 1955 amendment to the Civil Practice Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1955, chap. 110, par. 57) provided that a defendant might make a motion for summary judgment “at any time.” That amendment was modeled on Federal Rule 56. Federal cases interpreting that rule hold that a defendant may file a motion for summary judgment before he files any pleadings. Gifford v. Travelers Protective Ass’n of America, 153 F.2d 209; Lindsey v. Leavy, 149 F.2d 899. The case before us illustrates the danger of the indiscriminate application of such rule. The purpose of summary judgment procedure is to determine whether there is a genuine issue of fact involved in the case. Allen v. Meyer, 14 Ill.2d 284, 152 N.E.2d 576; Diversey Liquidating Corp. v. Neunkirchen, 370 Ill. 523, 19 N.E.2d 363. Ordinarily the issues are made up by the pleadings. From an inspection of the pleadings the court can determine whether or not a factual issue is raised. On summary judgment proceedings the court considers the pleadings, the affidavits and the entire record to determine whether or not it can be said that a material dispute exists as to the facts. People ex rel. Sharp v. City of Chicago, 13 Ill.2d 157, 148 N.E.2d 481. When there is no answer filed and the defendant petitions for a summary judgment, the court must apply the same rule, and among other things which the court can and should consider is whether or not the corn-plaint, standing alone, states a cause of action. It would seem better to first test the validity of the complaint by a motion to strike. No such motion was made in this case and in the Dvorak judgment order the court holds that the complaint failed to state a cause of action. There was no answer filed to the complaint, inartificially drawn as it was. In this proceeding all uncontradicted allegations made by the plaintiff must be taken as true (Roberts v. Sauerman Bros., Inc., 300 Ill. App. 213, 20 N.E.2d 849), unless there is a showing made in the affidavits and other documents in the record that the allegations cannot be proved. Loving v. Allstate Ins. Co., 17 Ill.App.2d 230, 149 N.E.2d 641.

We will first consider the judgment entered against defendant Kotas. In her verified amended complaint the plaintiff alleges that on or about June 1, 1953 she, desirous of purchasing real estate, called at the office of the Buchanan Realty Company. She was referred to George Kotas, who held himself out as a real estate broker although he had no license. Kotas called attention of plaintiff to several parcels of real estate, and about June 15, 1953 exhibited to plaintiff the property commonly known as 1836 South Millard Avenue, Chicago. Kotas took the plaintiff to call on the owner of the property to examine the premises. Kotas told the plaintiff that the owner would sell the property for $20,000 and that such price was fair and proper. He also stated to the plaintiff that he would secure for her benefit a first and second mortgage with which to finance the purchase. It was agreed that the plaintiff was to make a down payment of $2,500 and that Kotas would arrange for the execution of a first mortgage of $11,500, which was in favor of General Savings and Loan Association (hereinafter referred to as “General”), of which Harold Pinkert was president and Joseph Dvorak the attorney and general counsel. A second mortgage was procured by Kotas for $6,000 and executed by tbe plaintiff. As a matter of fact tbe seller had only asked $14,000 for tbe property.

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Bluebook (online)
171 N.E.2d 73, 28 Ill. App. 2d 320, 1960 Ill. App. LEXIS 552, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-pinkert-illappct-1960.