Court Opinion

ID: 9709226
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:43:12.232947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:47.119588
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE JIGANTI, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. By statute, the defendant-landlord was required to pay interest on the security deposit it held. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 80, par. 121.) Also by statute a landlord “who willfully fails or refuses to pay the interest” shall be liable for an amount equal to the security deposit together with costs and reasonable attorney fees. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 80, par. 122.) After cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court entered judgment against the landlord in the amount of the interest of $15. The court, however, did not enter judgment for an amount equal to the security deposit nor did it award reasonable attorney fees. The plaintiffs appeal, contending that they are entitled to those items. The question presented is whether, under the statute, the landlord’s conduct was a willful failure or refusal to pay interest. The parties treat the hearing on the motion for a summary judgment as a trial and I will also. When the suit was filed, there were other matters at issue but only the nonpayment of interest and failure to award attorney fees are here on appeal. The plaintiffs alleged that they repeatedly requested the interest and that the landlord willfully failed or refused to pay. The defendant-landlord did not answer the complaint but filed a motion for summary judgment. The essence of that motion is that there was no interest due. In the motion for summary judgment the defendant noted that the lease contained a provision which stated, “It is understood that the security deposit is net of security deposit interest, if any.” On the hearing on the cross-motions for summary judgment, the attorney for the landlord stated that the provision means that the yearly interest on the $300 at 5% is $15 per year or $1.25 per month. In fact, therefore, the rent is $300 plus $1.25 per month so that the rent actually paid by each plaintiff, $300 per month, was the net figure after the deduction for interest. During the course of the hearing the attorney for the plaintiff said that he thought the clause in the lease was against public policy; however, the plaintiff did not file a response to the defendant’s motion for summary judgment nor make any other challenge to the defendant’s interpretation of the clause. The trial court ordered the payment of the interest but refused to order payment of penalties. The court did not make a specific finding concerning the issue of willful failure but did comment that the landlord had attempted to return the security deposit. The court’s order and comments imply a finding that the defendant did not willfully fail or refuse to pay. While the trial court did not find that the conduct of the landlord was willful, the majority of this court did. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “willful” as voluntary or intending the result which actually comes to pass. As a further definition it states that willful is voluntary and intentional with the specific intent “to do something the law forbids, or with the specific intent to fail to do something the law requires to be done; that is to say, with bad purpose either to disobey or to disregard the law.” (Black’s Law Dictionary 1434 (5th ed. 1979).) The author of an article in the University of Illinois Law Forum discusses the term “willful” in the context of security deposits. (Kalish, Residential Tenant Security Deposits: A Legislative Proposal, 1974 U. Ill. L.F. 569.) The author states that “wrongful” connotes that the deposit was retained when there is no right but that “willful” has the connotation that there is an intention to retain wrongfully. (1974 U. Ill. L.F. at 606 n.117.) Further, the author states that where the landlord makes an innocent mistake, the remedy is to allow the tenant to recover the deposit. Only if the landlord acts willfully should he be subjected to severe penalties. 1974 U. Ill. L.F. at 607. The trial court, in refusing to impose the statutory penalty of an amount equal to the security deposit along with attorney fees, impliedly found that the landlord was not motivated by bad purpose or an intent to retain wrongfully. A finding that the landlord’s conduct was not willful is amply supported by the evidence. The landlord attempted to return the security deposit. Further, the plaintiff did not challenge the landlord’s contention that the $300 rent that was collected was net rent after deducting the security deposit interest of $1.25. There is no suggestion as to what else this provision in the lease might mean. I believe it was the intent of the legislature that the meaning of the phrase “willfully fails or refuses to pay” is that in order to penalize the landlord there must be an intention to retain wrongfully. The trial court found none and I would defer to the judgment of the trial court.