Court Opinion

ID: 9527336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:29:45.384181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:43.385887
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I dissent. The judgment of the circuit court was entered upon allowance of defendant Illinois Central Railroad’s motion for summary judgment and is clearly erroneous. The purpose of summary judgment proceedings is to determine whether there is any genuine triable issue of fact to be decided, and if the pleadings, discovery depositions and exhibits present a genuine issue as to any material fact summary judgment should not be entered. The affidavits filed in support of a motion for summary judgment are to be strictly construed, while the affidavits filed in opposition to the motion are to be liberally construed. The right of the moving party to summary judgment must be free from doubt, and the motion should be denied if there are triable issues of fact which, if decided favorably to the opponent of the motion, will entitle him to the relief sought in his pleadings. Even a cursory examination demonstrates beyond doubt that the affidavits upon which the judgment rests do not meet the requirements for granting summary judgment. Rule 191 provides that “Affidavits in support of and in opposition to a motion for summary judgment under section 57 of the Civil Practice Act *** shall be made on the personal knowledge of the affiants; shall set forth with particularity the facts upon which the claim, counterclaim, or defense is based; shall have attached thereto sworn or certified copies of all papers upon which the affiant relies; shall not consist of conclusions but of facts admissible in evidence; and shall affirmatively show that the affiant, if sworn as a witness, can testify competently thereto. If all of the facts to be shown are not within the personal knowledge of one person, two or more affidavits shall be used.” (50 Ill.2d R. 191.) The affidavit filed in support of defendant’s motion fails to comply with the explicit language of the Rule and shows only that the affiant “has made an investigation and has truthfully and correctly reported those matters to which said investigation relates based upon the information furnished to him.” Plaintiff’s complaint, as amended, makes no mention of railroad yards, and the issue is a “red herring” introduced in defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Anyone so unfortunate as to be required to drive streets on which there are grade crossings can take notice of the fact that trains stop for long periods of time at points other than railroad yards and the defendant’s unverified conclusion that “there would be no occasion for a freight train of defendant to have stopped so as to permit any person to board an unoccupied box car nor be locked therein ***” is precisely the type of “conclusion” proscribed by Rule 191. The majority appears to be of the opinion that when confronted with a motion for summary judgment a party is required to submit his entire case by counteraffidavit. This is clearly not the law. Counteraffidavits are required only if the affidavits filed in support of the motion, if uncontravened, would entitle the movant to judgment. It would have been necessary for plaintiff to contravene defendant’s affidavit, assuming it were in proper form, only if it served to foreclose the possibility that plaintiff entered its freight car and that as alleged in the amended complaint defendant and its agents “knew or should have known that trespassers frequently boarded their trains and rode in their cars, and were grossly negligent in failing to properly maintain the fence along the right of way at Marquette Road and Dorchester Ave., which they knew or should have known was pulled aside and torn open by children and others who played upon and about the railroad embankment, and in failing to inspect their cars for children or incompetents, particularly before locking their cars, and as a result of said gross negligence, the Plaintiff’s Incompetent, Jessie Barnes, was able to enter the railroad embankment through the hole in the fence, climb up the embankment and enter one of the railroad cars of the defendant ***.” Adickes v. S. H. Kress and Co., 398 U.S. 144, 26 L. Ed. 2d 142, 90 S. Ct. 1598. Although the briefs and arguments of the parties, and the opinion of the appellate court, are in large part directed to the questions of whether there was a duty on the part of the defendant to fence its right of way to protect children from the dangers of hazardous conditions present there, and whether the same protection should be afforded a mentally incompetent adult, I am of the opinion that it was not necessary, on this record, to decide these issues. The allegations in plaintiff’s amended complaint that trespassers frequently boarded defendant’s trains and rode in its cars, if proved, would support the inference that these facts were known to the defendant or that the practice had persisted for a sufficient length of time so that defendant was chargeable with knowledge. Under those circumstances defendant could be charged with the duty to inspect its cars before locking them and its negligence in failing so to do, resulting in the plaintiff’s ward being locked in its car for three days, could render it liable for the injuries which he suffered. Bernier v. Illinois Central R.R. Co., 296 Ill. 464; Joy v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy R.R. Co., 263 Ill. 465. Irrespective of the issues of defendant’s duty to fence the right of way and the mentality of plaintiff’s ward, the amended complaint stated a cause of action against the defendant. The amended motion for summary judgment and the supporting affidavit fail to show that there is no triable issue of fact and the trial court erred in allowing the motion for summary judgment. I would affirm the judgment of the appellate court. MR. JUSTICE KLUCZYNSKI joins in this dissent.