Noesges v. Servicemaster Co.

598 N.E.2d 437, 233 Ill. App. 3d 158, 174 Ill. Dec. 240, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1292
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 14, 1992
Docket2-91-1348
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 598 N.E.2d 437 (Noesges v. Servicemaster 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
Noesges v. Servicemaster Co., 598 N.E.2d 437, 233 Ill. App. 3d 158, 174 Ill. Dec. 240, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1292 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE McLAREN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Thomas M. Noesges, Jr., appeals from an order of the circuit court of Du Page County which dismissed his complaint against defendant, Servicemaster Company, based upon section 1 of the Frauds Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 59, par. 1). Plaintiff raises four issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in dismissing count I of the complaint because plaintiff had completely performed all of his obligations under the oral agreement; (2) whether the trial court erred in dismissing count I of the complaint because plaintiff had substantially performed all of his obligations under the oral agreement; (3) whether the trial court erred in dismissing count I of the complaint based upon its ruling that, as a matter of law, the terms of the oral agreement could not be completed within one year; and (4) whether the trial court erred in dismissing count II of the complaint, which sought an equitable accounting. We reverse and remand.

On June 10, 1991, plaintiff filed his two-count complaint against defendant. He alleged, in count I, that he and defendant entered into an oral contract on or about February 17, 1989. He alleged that the terms of the oral agreement were that defendant agreed to hire plaintiff “to develop a computer software accounting and business package tailored for Defendant’s distributors and franchisees, referred to as the Residential/Commercial Franchisee Computer System Project (GADGETS).” He further alleged that defendant agreed to pay plaintiff an annual salary of $40,000, plus normal employee benefits, and also agreed to pay plaintiff $200 per copy of the software “sold to Defendant’s distributors and franchisees up to the first 1,500 copies sold, which was estimated would take approximately 5 years.” Plaintiff alleged that defendant agreed that it would license, endorse and market the software.

Plaintiff also alleged that, under the terms of the contract, he agreed to develop, beta test and make ready for distribution the computer software package and that he “duly performed all obligations required of him under” the contract. He further alleged that defendant had refused to perform the terms of the agreement, and he sought damages for breach of contract.

In count II, plaintiff also alleged that he performed all of his obligations under the oral contract. He stated that he worked for defendant from February 1989 until his termination on January 15, 1991. He further alleged that approximately 39 software packages were sold from January 1990 to October 1990 and that he was paid incentive commissions pursuant to the oral contract for these packages. He stated that he was of the opinion and belief that a large number of software packages had been sold after November 1990, but that defendant refused to disclose the number of the packages sold. Plaintiff thus sought an order requiring an accounting from defendant of the number of software packages sold after November 1990 and the amount received for the packages. Plaintiff also sought a judgment against defendant for the amount found to be due and owing to plaintiff based upon the number of packages sold.

On August 26, 1991, defendant filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint. It argued that count I of the complaint should be dismissed pursuant to section 2—619 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 110, par. 2—619) because the oral contract was not enforceable under section 1 of the Frauds Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 59, par. 1). Defendant relied solely on the allegations in plaintiff’s complaint that payment of a $200-per-sale bonus would take approximately five years. Defendant argued that an “agreement to work for another, or to render services, for longer than one year beyond the time the agreement is made” must be in writing.

Defendant also argued that count II of the complaint should be dismissed pursuant to section 2—615 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 110, par. 2—615) because plaintiff did not allege the absence of an adequate remedy at law, a prerequisite to the right to maintain a suit for an equitable accounting. Defendant further argued that the “information Plaintiff seeks would be available by pm-suing appropriate discovery, so that a separate action for accounting is unnecessary.”

Plaintiff filed a response to the motion to dismiss on September 30, 1991. Citing Lund v. E.D. Etnyre & Co. (1968), 103 Ill. App. 2d 158, plaintiff argued that count I should not be dismissed because the Frauds Act did not apply to the alleged oral agreement. He contended that the agreement was capable of being performed within one year. Plaintiff also argued that “not only could the software have been developed and tested within one year, it in fact was intended to have been developed and tested within that time frame.” He further contended that, although the parties estimated that it would take five years to sell 1,500 copies of the software, all 1,500 could have been sold within one year.

Regarding count II of the complaint, plaintiff argued that, as defendant had continued to sell the software packages, a full and formal accounting was of ultimate importance to his cause of action. He contended that count II should not be dismissed because courts have broad discretion in determining whether to order an accounting.

Defendant filed a reply to plaintiff’s response, contending that plaintiff did not allege in count I of his complaint that the software could have been developed and tested within one year so that the complaint “is clearly deficient insofar as in voiding the application” of the statute. Citing cases which involved motions to dismiss pursuant to section 2—615 of the Code (or its predecessor), defendant further argued that plaintiff’s argument, unsupported by the pleadings, could not be considered in relation to the motion to dismiss and that “[fjacts which are not set forth in the Complaint cannot be raised in a Motion for Dismissal based upon the sufficiency of the Complaint.” Defendant also argued that count II should be dismissed because plaintiff did not allege any ground for equity jurisdiction, a necessity for seeking the equitable remedy of an accounting.

A hearing was held regarding defendant’s motion on October 2, 1991. The court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss count I of the complaint, stating:

“Here there is nothing to indicate that it would be possible to distribute or sell the first 1,500 copies within a year—the allegation which must be taken on their [sic] face as indicated in paragraph 4, which was estimated to take approximately five years. That’s the allegation that we have to deal with, and I don’t think that’s sufficient to *** take it outside the statute of frauds. The statute of frauds would apply.”

The court then also stated, “[w]ith regard to count 2, so long as there’s no count 1,1 don’t see the need to proceed with count 2.”

Plaintiff then requested leave to amend the complaint to state specifically that “it was the intention of the parties to actually have this occur within a year’s time.” The court then advised plaintiff that he had the opportunity to file affidavits in response to defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to section 2—619(c) of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 110, par. 2—619(c)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
598 N.E.2d 437, 233 Ill. App. 3d 158, 174 Ill. Dec. 240, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noesges-v-servicemaster-co-illappct-1992.