Court Opinion

ID: 9722516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:37:47.517117+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:07:00.419718
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, dissenting: This court is without jurisdiction to consider this case because the defendant has not taken the steps which are required by statute to make the judgment of the' Appellate Court reviewable in this court. The constitution distributes jurisdiction between this court and the appellate courts. It provides that appeals and writs of error to review judgments of the appellate courts “shall lie to the supreme court, in all criminal cases, and cases in which a franchise or freehold or the validity of a statute is involved, and in such other cases as may be provided by law.” (Const, art. VI, sec. n, Italics supplied.) 'Neither the validity of a statute nor a franchise or freehold is involved in this civil case. Jurisdiction therefore depends upon whether or not the case falls within the italicized clause of the constitution, — that is, upon whether or not jurisdiction to review the judgment of the appellate court has been otherwise “provided by law.” The only relevant statutory provision is section 75(2) (c) of the Civil Practice Act, which reads as follows: “(c) In any case heard and determined in the trial court upon actual trial in which the Appellate Court upon appeal from the final judgment or decree entered in the cause in the trial court reverses the judgment or decree and remands the cause for a new trial or hearing, and in which the party in whose favor the trial court’s judgment or decree was rendered presents to and files with the Appellate Court an affidavit stating that he will be unable on a future trial or hearing to adduce other or additional evidence, facts or circumstances than were adduced in the trial court and expressly waiving the right to a new trial or hearing and consenting and requesting that the portion of the judgment of the Appellate Court remanding the cause for new trial or hearing be deleted and stricken from the judgment of the Appellate Court, then that court upon motion shall amend its judgment by striking out the portion thereof remanding the cause for new trial or hearing. Thereupon it is competent for the Supreme Court to grant leave to appeal from such final judgment of reversal for its review and determination with the same power and authority in the case, and with like effect, as in other cases in which leave to appeal from the final judgments of the Appellate Courts is authorized in this section.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1961, chap, no, par. 75. In the present case the defendant has refused to take the steps required by the statute, and therefore this court is without jurisdiction. Although the facts are clear and the parties have argued their legal effect, the opinion of this court fails to mention the matter, and therefore it is neces7 sary to state the relevant circumstances here. The affidavit in support of the defendant’s motion to strike the remanding clause did not, as the statute requires, contain any statement “expressly waiving the right to a new trial or hearing.” Instead it stated that the affiant “expressly and affirmatively states that nothing contained in the affidavit is in any way a consent to the entry of any ultimate finding of any liability of any money judgment against the defendant-appellee * * iji » If there was any doubt as to the meaning of this reservation, it is removed by the following statements of the defendant in support of the motion it made in this court to require the Appellate Court to strike its order remanding the cause for a new trial: “Thus once the remanding order is stricken in accordance with the section (75 (2) (c)) the case comes before this Court with a final order, i.e., reversed. If the Court does in its discretion hear the case and holds the Appellate Court was correct in reversing the judgment (or affirms the Appellate Court for whatever reason) the remanding order would be reinstated here. If, on the other hand, review is not granted, either this Court, in its order denying the petition for leave to appeal (or the Appellate Court itself) would reinstate the remanding order so that the plaintiff could proceed to the ordered retrial. * * * We freely concede that different consequences may flow as between a plaintiff and a defendant in the filing of .the Section 75(2) (c) motion and affidavit, i.e., a plaintiff’s filing results in his losing all right to a retrial while a defendant’s filing apparently results in his being precluded upon any retrial from making any defenses or offering any evidence not made at the first trial.” Thus it is clear that the defendant did not, as section 75(2) (c) requires, file an affidavit “expressly waiving the right to a new trial or hearing.” Instead, it expressly sought to reserve the right to a new trial, and to substitute for the required statutory waiver an anomalous procedure by which the new trial is waived if the defendant ultimately prevails, but is not waived if the plaintiff prevails. Of course the statute does not authorize such a procedure, and this court is without jurisdiction. Mr. Chief Justice Hershey concurs in this dissenting opinion.