Court Opinion

ID: 9819551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:27:28.071634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:38:31.213571
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. It is not just tempting to distinguish Mitchell. We are bound to distinguish Mitchell. In this case, the trial court specifically indicated that it would rule in the parties’ presence, leading the parties to believe they had no Mitchell obligation to check for court rulings. To add insult to injury, the circuit clerk failed to follow the usual and customary practice of providing copies of the court’s order to the parties. If the court had not conducted a review hearing on June 8, 2000, the parties still would not know the court had ruled. The trial court was correct when it set aside the March 24, 2000, order and entered it June 8, 2000. The court set aside not only a ministerial error (Graves v. Pontiac Firefighters’ Pension Board, 281 Ill. App. 3d 508, 516, 667 N.E.2d 136, 141 (1996)), but also a judicial error. See Needham v. White Laboratories Inc., 639 F.2d 394, 398 (7th Cir. 1981). The court clearly never expressed its order publicly in words at the situs of the proceeding as required. See Granite City Lodge No. 272, Loyal Order of the Moose v. City of Granite City, 141 Ill. 2d 122, 127, 565 N.E.2d 929, 931 (1990). For these reasons, this court should address the issues and the evidence herein.