Zelisko v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners

674 N.E.2d 489, 285 Ill. App. 3d 323, 220 Ill. Dec. 946
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 19, 1996
Docket2-96-0285
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 674 N.E.2d 489 (Zelisko v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners) 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
Zelisko v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners, 674 N.E.2d 489, 285 Ill. App. 3d 323, 220 Ill. Dec. 946 (Ill. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

JUSTICE DOYLE

delivered the opinion of the court:

In August 1994, James Fleming (Chief), the chief of the Oak Brook police department (Department), filed disciplinary charges with the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the Village of Oak Brook (Board) against plaintiff, Martin Zelisko, a police officer with the Department. On December 15, 1994, the Board, with one of its three members dissenting, determined that plaintiff was guilty of wrongdoing and issued a final order imposing a 30-day suspension of plaintiff without pay.

On January 18, 1995, plaintiff filed a complaint in the circuit court of Du Page County for administrative review of the Board’s decision pursuant to the Administrative Review Law (735 ILCS 5/3— 101 et seq. (West.,1994)). Plaintiff’s complaint named as defendants: the Board, the Village of Oak Brook (Village), the Chief, and the two Board members who decided that plaintiff was guilty of wrongdoing. The complaint did not name the dissenting Board member as a defendant. A summons was issued and served on each of the named defendants.

On October 3, 1995, the trial court concluded that the Board’s findings that plaintiff was guilty of wrongdoing were against the manifest weight of the evidence and clearly erroneous. The court entered an order reversing the Board’s finding of guilty and the 30-day suspension of plaintiff.

On October 24, 1995, the named defendants motioned to vacate the trial court order of October 3, 1995, and to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint. The named defendants based their motion on plaintiff’s failure to name the dissenting Board member, John W. Craig, as a defendant.

On January 4, 1996, after a hearing on the matter, the trial court found that the Board did not name Craig as a party, but that Craig was a party of record to the proceedings. The court entered an order that denied defendants’ motion to vacate and dismiss. During the hearing, the trial court stated the following:

"And I will grant the Plaintiff an additional 21 days to serve [Craig] in the manner set forth in Section 3 — 103 of this Act [(735 ILCS 5/3 — 103 (West 1994))].
I think any other construction or application of the statute would unduly penalize the Plaintiff by depriving him of what 1 have already found was a valid cause of action.
And I believe that there was good faith on the part of the Plaintiff and his counsel in naming all the persons who apparently took an adverse stand to that of the Plaintiff.”

On January 11, 1996, plaintiff filed his first amended complaint and a summons was issued on Craig. The first amended complaint added Craig as a named defendant.

On February 8, 1996, the trial court conducted a hearing to determine if it was impermissible to join Craig at this juncture in the proceedings as argued by Craig’s attorney. After the hearing, the trial court entered an order reaffirming its order of October 3, 1995 (reversing the Board’s decision).

Defendants’ timely appeal followed. Defendants appeal from the trial court’s orders of October 3, 1995, January 4, 1996, and February 8, 1996.

On appeal, defendants first contend that the trial court should have dismissed plaintiff’s complaint because plaintiff failed to name Craig as a defendant within the time period jnandated by the Administrative Review Law. The parties agree that the Administrative Review Law (735 ILCS 5/3 — 101 et seq. (West 1994)) governs the procedural requirements for judicial review of the Board’s decision. Our supreme court has determined that these procedural requirements must be strictly adhered to because the Administrative Review Law is a departure from the common law. Lockett v. Chicago Police Board, 133 Ill. 2d 349, 353 (1990).

Section 3 — 102 of the Administrative Review Law cautions parties seeking administrative review that review may be barred if the procedures set out in the Administrative Review Law are not followed. Specifically, section 3 — 102 provides, in relevant part, that "[ujnless review is sought of an administrative decision within the time and in the manner herein provided, the parties to the proceeding before the administrative agency shall be barred from obtaining judicial review of such administrative decision.” 735 ILCS 5/3 — 102 (West 1994).

Section 3 — 103 of the Administrative Review Law sets out the general rule for the commencement of an administrative review action. Section 3 — 103 requires that an action for administrative review "shall be commenced by the filing of a complaint and the issuance of summons within 35 days from the date that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was served upon the party affected by the decision.” 735 ILCS 5/3 — 103 (West 1994).

Section 3 — 107(a) of the Administrative Review Law defines the persons who must be made defendants in an action for administrative review. Section 3 — 107(a), as in effect at the time plaintiff filed his complaint, provided, in pertinent part, as follows:

"[I]n any action to review any final decision of an administrative agency, the administrative agency and all persons, other than the plaintiff, who were named by the administrative agency in its final order as parties of record to the proceedings before the administrative agency shall be made defendants.
If the court determines that a person or party not named by the administrative agency as a party in its final order was a party of record to the proceedings ***, the court shall grant the plaintiff an additional 21 days to serve the unnamed party *** in the manner set forth in Section 3 — 103 of this Act.” 735 ILCS 5/3 — 107(a) (West 1994).

In International Precision Components Corp. v. Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals, 282 Ill. App. 3d 735 (1996), this court construed the language in section 3 — 107(a) quoted above. We determined that this language created two classes of persons who were parties of record to the proceedings and therefore were mandatory defendants. 282 Ill. App. 3d at 740. These classes are: persons who were named by the administrative agency in its final order as parties of record to the proceedings, and persons who were not so named. 282 Ill. App. 3d at 740. We held that the 35-day jurisdictional limit set out in section 3 — 103 of the Administrative Review Law applied to persons named by the administrative agency as parties of record to the proceedings and that the additional 21 days applied only to persons who were parties of record to the proceedings but were not so named by the administrative agency in its final order. 282 Ill. App. 3d at 740.

In this case, after the trial court ruled in plaintiffs favor to reverse the Board’s decision, defendants motioned to dismiss plaintiffs complaint on the ground that plaintiff failed to name Craig as a defendant.

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674 N.E.2d 489, 285 Ill. App. 3d 323, 220 Ill. Dec. 946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zelisko-v-board-of-fire-police-commissioners-illappct-1996.