Court Opinion

ID: 9523382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:41:10.31668+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:12.312877
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE JIGANTI, dissenting: Respectfully, I dissent from the majority opinion. When res judicata is established, it is conclusive as to every matter which was or could have been offered to sustain or defeat the claim or demand. (Housing Authority for La Salle County v. YMCA (1984), 101 Ill. 2d 246, 251, 461 N.E.2d 959; Furgatch v. Butler (1988), 188 Ill. App. 3d 1060.) It applies even if a different type of relief for damages is sought in the subsequent action as long as the same set of operative facts gives rise to successive assertions of relief. (Toepper v. Cooker (1986), 150 Ill. App. 3d 206, 208, 501 N.E.2d 934.) The trial judge found that the instant cause involved the “exact same relief sought for the exact same parties on the exact same fact situations” which availed in the previous case. An examination of the facts in this case bears out the trial judge’s finding of res judicata. In the previous lawsuit on December 17, 1984, the trial court entered an order finding the balance due under the contract and gave the plaintiffs time to procure a mortgage. The complaint in the present lawsuit asserts that based on the December 17, 1984, order, the plaintiffs in fact made arrangements for a mortgage to pay off the balance but the defendants failed to comply. Both lawsuits seek conveyance of the property under the same operative facts. I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.