Court Opinion

ID: 9819343
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:23:15.638338+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:09:41.292411
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HOLDRIDGE, dissenting; I would find that the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to strike the officer’s sworn report pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 137. 155 Ill. 2d R. 137.1 therefore respectfully dissent. On appeal, the defendant relies upon People v. Badoud, 122 Ill. 2d 50, 521 N.E.2d 884 (1988), and People v. Palacios, 266 Ill. App. 3d 341, 640 N.E.2d 657 (1994), for the proposition that the officer’s sworn report in a summary suspension proceeding is analogous to a complaint in an ordinary civil proceeding. The defendant reasons that because the officer is an agent of the State, and the State is represented by an attorney, the sworn report must be signed by an attorney for the State in compliance with Rule 137.1 agree. The court in Badoud indicated that in a proceeding to rescind a summary suspension, an officer’s sworn report serves a function analogous to a complaint in an ordinary civil proceeding. Badoud, 122 Ill. 2d 50, 521 N.E.2d 884. In Palacios, this court stated that the officer’s sworn report plays a unique role in a summary suspension hearing because, like a complaint in a civil case, it is the jurisdictional step that starts the proceeding. Palacios, 266 Ill. App. 3d 341, 640 N.E.2d 657. In the present case, the officer’s sworn statement was the first jurisdictional step in a civil summary suspension proceeding. The officer was an agent of the State of Illinois, which is represented by the office of the State’s Attorney. The officer’s sworn statement is a pleading, motion, or other paper of a party represented by the State’s Attorney. Therefore, under Rule 137,1 would find that this pleading, motion, or other paper must be signed by a State’s Attorney or it may be stricken. I do not believe that requiring the State’s Attorney to sign an officer’s sworn statement represents an onerous burden on law enforcement officers. Rule 137 already requires the officer to submit a copy of the sworn statement to the circuit court of venue and the Secretary of State. I would hold that the plain language of Rule 137 requires this pleading, motion, or other paper in a civil matter to be signed by the attorney of record, who is the State’s Attorney, before being submitted to the circuit court. I note that Rule 137 also permits the absence of an attorney’s signature on a pleading, motion, or other paper to be cured by the prompt signature of the attorney of record as soon as the omission is brought to the attention of that attorney. In this case, I would reverse the denial of the defendant’s motion to strike and remand the matter to the circuit court with instructions that the State’s Attorney may promptly sign the officer’s sworn statement as soon as this omission is brought to the State’s Attorney’s attention. For the foregoing reasons, I would reverse the ruling of the Will County circuit court and remand the matter with directions. I therefore dissent.