Court Opinion

ID: 9744617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:10:29.959073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:50.531348
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE BRESLIN, dissenting: Dismissal of an action pursuant to Rule 103(b) is within the sound discretion of the trial court; it should not be disturbed on review absent an abuse of that discretion. (North Cicero Dodge, Inc. v. Victoria Feed Co. (1987), 151 Ill. App. 3d 860, 503 N.E.2d 868.) An abuse of discretion will be found only when no reasonable person could take the view of the trial court. (King v. American Food Equipment Co. (1987), 160 Ill. App. 3d 898, 513 N.E.2d 958.) Our job on review is not to rejudge the matter, but to determine whether an abuse of discretion has occurred. Unlike the majority, I can find no such abuse. Looking to the six factors to be considered in a Rule 103(b) analysis, I find that the plaintiff took nearly 17 months to serve the defendant (first factor); conducted no search activities in Florida (second factor) even though she knew that the defendant may have been in Florida (third factor); that the defendant could have been located relatively easily (fourth factor) by conducting a skip trace; that the plaintiff failed to show that the defendant did in fact know of the reinstatement of the suit (fifth factor); and that the only "special circumstances” shown by the plaintiff were the bad feelings of the family members (sixth factor), which may have kept her from learning of the defendant’s location by the easiest method but did not stop her from learning of it through other avenues. By finding that this plaintiff has exercised due diligence, the majority invites every plaintiff to delay service by attempting to reach the defendant at an address which the plaintiff knows, or has reason to know, is not valid and follow up that delay with the response, "I thought the defendant would return someday.” I cannot condone such an invitation. I respectfully dissent.