Court Opinion

ID: 9744216
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:56:55.533448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:47.562484
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MILLER, dissenting: I do not agree with the majority’s conclusion that a premature and unnecessary finding under Supreme Court Rule 304(a) may later take effect when, as in this case, a motion for sanctions is subsequently filed. In my view, the majority’s holding is inconsistent with the purposes of Rule 304. The order dismissing the plaintiffs’ complaint was originally appealable of right under Supreme Court Rule 301, for it disposed of all the then-pending claims of all the parties. The additional finding under Rule 304(a) included in the dismissal order was unnecessary and of no effect. Pines v. Pines, 262 Ill. App. 3d 923, 929 (1994). The plaintiffs could have sought that finding later, after the defendants filed their motion for sanctions; as Rule 304(a) states, “Such a finding may be made at the time of the entry of the judgment or thereafter on the court’s own motion or on motion of any party.” 155 Ill. 2d R. 304(a). The plaintiffs did not later request a finding under Rule 304(a), however, and the earlier finding contained in the dismissal order should not be given effect. Rule 304(a) is designed to prevent piecemeal appeals in the absence of circumstances that would justify an immediate appeal. Marsh v. Evangelical Covenant Church, 138 Ill. 2d 458, 465 (1990). This requires a judge to consider, before making a Rule 304(a) finding, the advisability of permitting an immediate appeal from an order that is final but not otherwise appealable, because of the existence of other parties or claims. Waters v. Reingold, 278 Ill. App. 3d 647, 657 (1996). Application of the rule should therefore be discretionary, but the procedure approved by the majority removes all discretion from the trial court’s consideration. Rather than require an assessment of the circumstances of the case and a decision whether an immediate appeal of an order disposing of fewer than all the claims or parties would be beneficial, the majority dispenses with that discretion and gives subsequent effect to a finding that was not operative when it was made. Findings under Rule 304(a) should not be entered reflexively; rather, due consideration must be given to the circumstances of the case at hand. Indeed, in the present case, there is reason to believe that entry of a finding allowing an immediate appeal would have represented an abuse of discretion. The plaintiffs’ appeal from the order dismissing their complaint raised the question whether the complaint stated a cause of action; the defendants’ subsequent motion for sanctions involved a similar question, whether the plaintiffs’ action was frivolous. Because of the substantial overlap between the two, allowing an immediate appeal from the order dismissing the complaint would have been an abuse of discretion. The language of Rule 304(a) was invoked here without the requisite exercise of discretion on the part of the judge entering the finding. Because application of Rule 304(a) is meant to be discretionary, a finding under the rule should be effective only when the judge has been called upon to exercise his or her discretion. To allow a Rule 304(a) finding to have effect later, even though it was unnecessary when it was made, undermines the purpose of the rule.