Ness v. Bell

246 Ill. App. 79, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 256
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 27, 1927
DocketGen. No. 7,804
StatusPublished

This text of 246 Ill. App. 79 (Ness v. Bell) 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
Ness v. Bell, 246 Ill. App. 79, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 256 (Ill. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Boggs

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellee obtained a judgment before a justice of the peace in Grundy county against appellant. for $300. Said cause was appealed to the circuit court, the transcript being filed on May 10, 1926.

On June 2,1926, the April term of said court was adjourned to court in course, and on September 10,1926, the June term was so adjourned. On December 22, the court made the following entry in this proceeding:

“Now, on this day comes the plaintiff by his attorney, Cornelius Riordan, and' it appearing to the court that the defendant, Gordon Bell, has failed to enter his appearance in writing in this behalf, therefore on motion of plaintiff’s attorney, it is ordered that said appeal be and the same is hereby dismissed at defendant’s costs for want of appearance in writing being filed by appellant, and that a procedendo do issue herein to the court below.”

Judgment was rendered against appellant for costs, and execution was ordered to issue therefor. On the same day an order was entered adjourning the September term until court in course.

On January 10, 1927, appellant filed a motion to set aside the order of December 22, 1926, and to reinstate said cause, etc. In support of said motion Warren E. Bull, attorney for appellant, filed his affidavit setting forth that on June 9, 1926, he handed to the deputy clerk of said court his appearance in writing as counsel for appellant, a copy of which said appearance he attached to said affidavit; that the clerk of said court “through a mistake and misprision, failed to place said appearance among the files in this cause, and failed to make any entry on the court records showing the filing of said appearance,” etc.; that neither he nor appellant knew of the entry of said judgment until the 5th day of January, 1927; “that within two or three days after the said trial before the justice of the peace below, the said Frank H. Hayes, then acting as attorney for the said L. L. Ness, and this affiant,' acting as attorney for the said Gordon Bell, agreed that this cause should be tried in the Circuit Court of Grundy County, Illinois, to which it had been appealed, before the first "jury to be called in said court after the said Gordon Bell returned to the State of Illinois, which return the said Gordon Bell expected to make early in the fall of 1926.' This affiant further says that the said L. L. Ness, the plaintiff in this cause, knew of the agreement of his. counsel, Frank H. Hayes, with this affiant.

“This affiant further says that no jury was called during either the June or September terms of the Circuit Court of Grundy County, Illinois, in the year 1926; that the said L. L. Ness procured another counsel than the said Frank H. Hayes to appear for him and secure the default entered against the said Gordon Bell in the above entitled cause, which entry of default was in violation of the agreement between his said counsel, Frank H. Hayes, and this affiant. ’ ’

Said motion set forth substantially the same facts as were stated in the affidavit. Notice was given appellee by service of a copy of said motion and affidavit.

It is insisted by counsel for appellee that, inasmuch as the term, at which. said suit was dismissed, was adjourned before the motion to vacate was made, the trial court at the following term had no jurisdiction to entertain said motion. In support of this contention, counsel cites Glaefke v. Western Electric Co., 145 Ill. App. 383. An examination of that case discloses that the suit there involved was dismissed on a general call of the docket. The court at page 385 says:

“The record also contains an order of the circuit court authorizing a general call of cases on the law docket. In this order appears the following provision: ‘It is further ordered that the cases so called for trial * * * may for good cause shown to the court, on notice to the opposite party or his attorney, be reinstated within ninety days from date of said order. ’ "

The instant case, at the time said order of dismissal was entered, was not on the general or trial call of the docket.

A motion to correct errors of fact in proceedings of courts of record is.the commencement of a new suit, in which the motion stands in place of a declaration. People v. Noonan, 276 Ill. 430; Rolenec v. Rolenec, 210 Ill. App. 329. Such motion is in the nature of a new suit, having for its object the determination of an error of fact aliunde the record. Madden v. City of Chicago, 283 Ill. 165, rev’g 205 Ill. App. 612; Smith v. Fargo, 307 Ill. 300.

Motions of this character are based on section 89 of the Practice Act (Cahill's St. ch. 110, ¶ 89) which provides :

“The writ of error coram, nobis is hereby abolished, and all errors of fact, committed in the proceedings of any court of record, and which, by the common law, could have been corrected by said writ, may be corrected by the court in which the error was committed, upon motion in writing, made at any time within five years after the rendition of final judgment in the case, upon reasonable notice.”

Under this section a misprision of the clerk in failing to enter and continue a motion to quash an attachment, which resulted in the entry of a judgment against the defendant, without negligence on his part, was an error in fact which did not appear of record, and warranted the setting aside of the judgment. Warner v. Wende, 214 Ill. App. 431.

Where a circuit clerk has failed to obey a rule of court requiring him to place on wrapper of case the name of the judge to whom the case has been reassigned, and, in consequence, a default judgment has been entered by a judge whose name is on file and to whom case had been assigned at prior time would also warrant the setting aside of the judgment. Holbrook v. Lawton, 207 Ill. App. 497.

In Domitski v. American Linseed Co., 117 Ill. App. 292, the court in discussing a question of this character at page 295 says:

“The Superior Court was from the facts above stated * * *, warranted in finding that the failure of the defendant to file a plea in time to prevent a default and judgment, was not caused by nor was it the result of any default or negligence on the part of the defendant or its attorneys, but was caused by and was the result of the fault and misprision of the clerk of the court in failing either to keep the declaration among the files of the case where it belonged or to make an entry or minute in the register kept by him showing the filing of a declaration in the case. ‘Rules of practice when established have the force of law.’ Lancaster v. W. & S. W. R. R. Co., 132 Ill. 492. The register must be regarded as a book which the clerk was by law required to keep.
“Chapter 67 of our Practice Act abolishes the writ of error coram nobis and provides that ‘all errors in fact committed in the proceedings of record and which by the common law could have been corrected by said writ may be corrected by the court in which the error was committed upon motion in writing. ’ ” This case was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Domitski v. American Linseed Co., 221 Ill. 161.

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Bluebook (online)
246 Ill. App. 79, 1927 Ill. App. LEXIS 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ness-v-bell-illappct-1927.