Court Opinion

ID: 9716953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:54:39.209461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:50.239670
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE VAN DEUSEN, dissenting: A dismissal for want of prosecution is a final and appealable order. (Watts v. Medusa Portland Cement Co. (1971), 132 Ill. App. 2d 227, 230; Trojan v. Marquette National Bank (1967), 88 Ill. App. 2d 428, 436.) The fact that the General Assembly, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, has granted plaintiff an absolute right to refile her claim as a new action “within one year or within the remaining period of limitation, whichever is greater, after 00 * the action is dismissed for want of prosecution” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 83, par. 24a; Aranda v. Hobart Manufacturing Corp. (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 616, 620), does not, in my opinion, affect either the finality or appealability of the order dismissing the cause as originally filed for want of prosecution. The majority opinion’s reliance on Arnold Schaffner, Inc. v. Goodman (1979), 73 Ill. App. 3d 729, is misplaced. That case dealt not with an order of dismissal for want of prosecution but rather with an order dismissing the cause without prejudice. As the Schaffner court stated at page 731: “The order in the case at bar is on its face a non-appealable order because of the recitation ‘without prejudice’.” The effect of the majority opinion in this case would be to permit the General Assembly, by the adoption of legislation, to determine when judicial orders become final and appealable. Another effect of the dismissal of the appeal in this case, will be to deny to the appellant any judicial review of the alleged errors of the trial court. As a precedent, the majority opinion precludes judicial review in all cases dismissed for want of prosecution as long as plaintiff can file a new action under section 24 of the Limitation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 83, par. 24a).