Western United Dairy Co. v. Miller

189 N.E.2d 786, 40 Ill. App. 2d 403, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 468
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 27, 1963
DocketGen. 48,455, 48,456, 48,502
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 189 N.E.2d 786 (Western United Dairy Co. v. Miller) 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
Western United Dairy Co. v. Miller, 189 N.E.2d 786, 40 Ill. App. 2d 403, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 468 (Ill. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE ENGLISH

delivered the opinion of the court.

Three appeals, all taken by Western United Dairy Company, have been consolidated in this case. Western had obtained a judgment against defendants in the Municipal Court of Chicago, and the first appeal is from an order satisfying that judgment on defendants’ petition in the nature of a writ of audita querela. The second appeal is from an order of the same court dismissing garnishment proceedings which had been instituted for the collection of the judgment. The third appeal is by Western as intervening petitioner in a Superior Court garnishment proceeding. A different creditor had obtained a judgment in that court against the same defendants, and sought to satisfy it from the same funds which were the subject of the garnishment proceedings in the Municipal Court. The Superior Court directed the funds to be paid to the Superior Court judgment creditor. The garnishee bank has not taken part in any of the appeals.

We consider the time element to be significant, so the consolidated facts will be set forth in chronological order. We refer to the Municipal Court unless otherwise indicated.

May 12, 1960: Judgment by confession entered in favor of Western and against defendants for $17,322.-82 on a note and conditional sales agreement.

August 3,1960: Garnishment summons served.

August 12, 1960: Answer of garnishee filed showing funds due defendants in the amount of $2,583.53.

October 17, 1960: Appearance and jury demand filed by defendants (with leave of court) together with a petition in the nature of a writ of audita querela alleging that subsequent to the entry of judgment the property, subject of the sales agreement between the parties, had been turned over to plaintiff; that plaintiff thereupon elected to retain the property and, under the terms of the agreement, accept previous payments as liquidated damages; and that the judgment was thereby satisfied in full. Hearing on the petition was set for October 25, 1960, and, on that date, continued to November 15,1960.

November 15, 1960: At an ex parte hearing on defendants’ petition jury was waived, and an order entered satisfying the judgment of May 12,1960.

November 21,1960: (Superior) Judgment by confession entered in favor of Marvin P. Cohen and against defendants for $2,700 on a note dated October 10,1960. Cohen is the attorney for defendants.

November 22,1960: (Superior) Garnishment summons served.

December 2, 1960: (Superior) Answer of garnishee filed showing no funds due defendants.

December 12, 1960: Order entered denying a motion of Western to vacate the order of November 15, 1960.

December 20,1960: On motion of defendants, based on satisfaction of the judgment, an order was entered dismissing the garnishment proceedings.

December 28, 1960: Petition filed by Western to vacate the orders of November 15 and December 12, 1960.

January 19, 1961: Order entered denying Western’s petition to vacate.

January 20, 1961: Appeal bond ($2,500), re garnishment dismissal, approved and filed.

January 25, 1961: Appeal bond ($250), re denial of petition to vacate, approved and filed.

February 2, 1961: Western filed notice of appeal from the orders of January 19,1961, December 12,1960 and November 15, 1960 (Appeal Number 48455). Western also filed notice of appeal from the garnishment dismissal order of December 20, 1960 (Appeal Number 48456).

February 8, 1961: (Superior) After hearing, order entered on garnishee to file amended answer.

February 17, 1961: (Superior) Amended answer of garnishee filed, stating that prior to service of Superior Court garnishment summons it had been served with garnishment summons in the Municipal Court and had answered that it held funds due to defendants; that the issues involved in the Municipal Court litigation had not been fully resolved; that the funds were, therefore, still subject to the prior jurisdiction of the Municipal Court.

February 24, 1961: (Superior) Reply filed by Cohen to the amended answer of garnishee stating that the Municipal Court garnishment proceedings had been dismissed on December 20, 1960, and tbat tbe pending appeal did not operate as a supersedeas.

March 8, 1961: (Superior) Intervening petition of "Western filed, by leave of court, stating that tbe Municipal Court appeal did operate as a supersedeas, and tbat those proceedings, therefore, bad priority over tbe Superior Court garnishment. Answer filed by Cohen denying tbe allegations of tbe intervening petition.

March 27, 1961: (Superior) After a bearing devoted to a study of the Municipal Court record and to arguments of counsel, an order was entered finding tbat tbe Municipal Court appeal did not operate as a supersedeas, and tbat, therefore, tbe funds in tbe bands of tbe garnishee were subject to the jurisdiction of tbe Superior Court. Western’s intervening petition was denied, and judgment was entered for $2,-583.53 against garnishee and in favor of defendants for the use of Cohen.

March 28, 1961: (Superior) Western filed notice of appeal from tbe judgment order of March 27, 1961 (Appeal Number 48502).

March 30, 1961: (Superior) Appeal bond ($2,-600) approved and filed.

We shall consider first tbe appeal from the Municipal Court orders of January 19, 1961, December 12, 1960 and November 15, 1960. It was by tbe latter order tbat Western’s judgment was satisfied, and the other two orders were denials of Western’s motion and petition to vacate. In seeking to set aside tbe satisfaction, tbe actions taken by Western were timely, in our opinion, so tbe question presented then reduces itself to tbe sufficiency of tbe petition of December 28, 1960 as a basis for vacating tbe ex parte order of November 15, 1960.

Tbat petition, which was verified, alleged tbat: a young and newly-employed attorney, associated with the attorneys for Western, intended to represent Western at the scheduled hearing of defendants’ petition to satisfy the judgment, and to ask the court for a continuance of said hearing; he had gone to the proper courtroom at the proper time on the morning of November 15, 1960; he was there told by the clerk, however, that the court file was missing and that no order of continuance could be entered until it was found; the judge told him the same thing and suggested he return later in the day; he did return several times later that day, each time being informed by the judge or the clerk that the file had not been located; finally, late in the afternoon he was told by the clerk that a draft order had inadvertently been entered granting the prayer of defendants’ petition and satisfying the judgment, on the premise that "Western had failed to appear at the time set for the hearing that morning.

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189 N.E.2d 786, 40 Ill. App. 2d 403, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-united-dairy-co-v-miller-illappct-1963.