Court Opinion

ID: 9526639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:21:37.238174+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:56.975435
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE HALLETT, dissenting: I fully agree that the plaintiff here was not diligent and that the foregoing opinion certainly follows the many earlier appellate court opinions (some by this court) which hold that this statute is available only to the “diligent suitor” and does not confer an absolute right to refile a suit within 1 year after it has been dismissed for want of prosecution. But the statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 83, par. 24a), in pertinent parts, plainly provides that “* * 0 if 0 * * the action is dismissed for want of prosecution then, * * * the plaintiff may commence a new action within one year * * * after 000 the action is dismissed for want of prosecution.” Certainly the wording of a statute of limitations is a legislative, not a judicial function, and it is obvious that the legislature here could have but chose not also to require “diligence.” The conclusion of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Factor v. Carson, Pirie Scott & Co. (1968), 393 F.2d 141, 147, that this statute is precise and complete and that the court cannot impose additional requirements not specified in the statute, seems perfectly sound. If the nonlegislative requirement of “diligence” is to be superimposed upon this very simple statute, it should at least be done by our supreme court, not by appellate courts, however, numerous. I therefore most respectfully dissent, not on the ground that the foregoing opinion does not follow earlier appellate court cases (because it does) but in the hope that the supreme court will take this case and pass squarely on this issue.