Court Opinion

ID: 9598020
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:04:33.347225+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:27:49.385425
License: Public Domain

Clarke, Justice,
concurring specially.
I am concurring in the judgment because of the procedural posture in this case.
If the order of the trial court could be held to be an order overruling a motion for summary judgment, the facts and law might very well require a reversal. I have concluded, however, that the order of the trial court must be construed as an order denying a motion to dismiss and not an order denying a summary judgment. This conclusion is reached in spite of the wealth of discovery in the record and the court’s reference to it. The court denominated its order as being on a motion to dismiss and based it on Rule 12 of the Civil Practice Act. Although a simple label does not change the nature of an order, the additional fact that the court did not allow the *410respondent the required thirty-day period within which to respond convinces me that the order must be treated as a denial of a motion to dismiss. Such an order relates only to the pleadings. I would hold, therefore, that the court did not reach the question of whether there are genuine issues of material fact. In my opinion, this question can still be raised on motion for summary judgment.