Mueller v. Mueller

239 N.E.2d 451, 96 Ill. App. 2d 463, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1209
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 22, 1968
DocketGen. No. 68-19
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 239 N.E.2d 451 (Mueller v. Mueller) 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
Mueller v. Mueller, 239 N.E.2d 451, 96 Ill. App. 2d 463, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1209 (Ill. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE SEIDENFELD

delivered the opinion of the court.

Defendant, Marjorie Mueller, appeals from an order denying her motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over her person, and holding, among other things, that her special appearance became a general appearance.

Defendant contends that the court erred, in assuming jurisdiction of the divorce complaint of plaintiff filed in McHenry County when it appeared that process was first served on the subsequent complaint for divorce in Cook County; in denying an evidentiary hearing on defendant’s affidavit of nonservice; and in ordering defendant to cease prosecution of independent habeas corpus and criminal actions in Cook County.

Plaintiff filed his complaint for divorce in McHenry County on November 14, 1967. Defendant filed her complaint for divorce in Cook County on November 15, 1967. On November 17, 1967 summons was purportedly served on plaintiff here on the Cook County complaint. Defendant here was purportedly served with summons in the McHenry County action on November 28, 1967.

On December 1st defendant filed her special and limited appearance in the McHenry County case supported by affidavit of one of her attorneys, alleging the filing of the Cook County suit, and advising of a hearing in that suit set on notice for December 1st. On December 13th plaintiff herein appeared specially in the Cook County action asking its dismissal, on the basis of alleged defective process and on the basis that a prior action was pending. The record does not disclose a disposition of this special appearance.

On December 15th, plaintiff filed a petition in the McHenry County Court for discovery and injunctive relief. At the same time defendant moved to quash process. The record does not include a report of this proceeding, but the order entered on December 15th recited that “the court hearing fully arguments by counsel including evidence presented in open court, briefs and the contents of the court file and being otherwise fully advised in the premises . . . ,” and orders “that defendant’s motion to quash service of summons and process upon herself is denied and her special appearance becomes a general one . . . that defendant is directed to discontinue prosecution of proceedings in Cook County and this court takes full jurisdiction of this case . . . ,” and “that defendant submit to a discovery deposition.

On the issue of whether the Circuit Court in McHenry County properly assumed jurisdiction, plaintiff relies principally on People ex rel. Lehman v. Lehman, 34 Ill2d 286, 215 NE2d 806 (1966), as holding that the date upon which the complaint is filed determines the pendency of an action. In Lehman an order of the Circuit Court of DuPage County in a habeas corpus case was in issue. The wife had taken her children to DuPage County from South Carolina in violation of a custody order resulting from divorce proceedings there. She filed an action in Cook County on December 14th, asking that she be given custody on alleged change of circumstances, and the Cook County court issued an ex parte injunction restraining the father from interfering with custody. On December 30th summons in the Cook County action was served on the father. On December 29th the habeas corpus action was filed in DuPage County and summons served on December 30th. The record did not disclose which process was first served. The court assumed for the purpose of its ruling that the DuPage County process was served prior to that of Cook County. In reversing the order of the Circuit Court of DuPage County the Supreme Court held that the proper forum for the litigation was in Cook County. In Lehman, the court refused to distinguish the doctrine of prior jurisdiction in habeas corpus as opposed to divorce actions, and placed reliance on People ex rel. Bradley v. McAuliffe, 24 Ill2d 75, 179 NE 2d 616, in which the court in a mandamus action expunged an order of a Cook County court which purported to vacate a prior decree of divorce in Williamson County; and upon Leonard v. Bye, 361 Ill 185, 197 NE2d 546, which held that the constitutional objection to the validity of a statute could only be raised in the court in which the first action was pending.

Defendant seeks to distinguish Lehman as standing “for little more than that one court, which has concurrent jurisdiction with that of another, could not determine whether a party before it had previously filed a false and fraudulent allegation of residence in the other court.” We cannot agree. In Lehman, the court states, on pages 290-291:

“It does not appear from the documents before us which court’s process was served first, but for the purpose of this case we shall assume that personal jurisdiction over both litigants was first secured in the DuPage County action. We shall further assume that without personal jurisdiction of the parties, the Cook County court would have been unable to grant the relief that the mother sought. (See May v. Anderson, 345 US 528, 97 L Ed 1221.) Even under these hypotheses, however, we do not agree that the court in DuPage County could ignore the pendency of the Cook County action between the same parties.
“Section 48 of the Civil Practice Act provides for the dismissal of an action upon motion upon the ground that ‘there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause.’ (Ill Rev Stats 1963, c 110, par 48(1) (c).) The purpose of the provision is to foster orderly procedure by preventing a multiplicity of actions. The pendency of an action might be determined by the date upon which the complaint is filed, the date upon which summons is issued, or the date upon which the court acquires jurisdiction over the parties. None of these alternatives is entirely satisfactory, but so long as both actions are brought in Illinois the choice between the competing rules was made in section 13 of the Civil Practice Act which provides: ‘Every action, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, shall be commenced by the filing of a complaint.’ (Ill Rev Stats 1963, c 110, par 13.) If the plaintiff fails to show reasonable diligence to obtain service of process, Rule 4 of the Rules of this court provides for dismissal of the action upon motion of a defendant or on the court’s own motion. (Ill Rev Stats 1963, c 110, par 101.4; see Department of Public Works and Buildings v. Lanter, 413 Ill 581, 594; Vukovich v. Custer, 415 Ill 290, 294.) We are aware of no provisions' of statute or rule that would indicate that the pendency of an action is to be determined otherwise than by the filing of the complaint.” (Emphasis added.)

The suit in McHenry County court was pending before the Cook County action by the filing of the complaint in McHenry County first. All issues, including custody, which could be raised in the Cook County divorce or habeas corpus proceedings can be raised in the McHenry County action. There is no question here involved of lack of diligence to serve process out of the latter court. Therefore, the McHenry County court had acquired prior jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action and by diligent service of process would acquire personal jurisdiction over the parties defendant to that action.

The defendant cites a number of cases for the proposition that where two or more courts have concurrent jurisdiction of the same subject matter the court first acquiring it by service of process will retain it to the exclusion of the other.

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Bluebook (online)
239 N.E.2d 451, 96 Ill. App. 2d 463, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mueller-v-mueller-illappct-1968.