Court Opinion

ID: 9719832
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:06:22.518129+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:32.328841
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE GEORGE J. MORAN, dissenting: This court should deny the praecipe for fee bill and demand for certificate of costs because petitioners do not meet the statutory requirements for an allowance of fees. The Statewide Appellate Assistance Service of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association handled the appeals in the cases now before us and subsequently filed petitions requesting an assessment by this court of the appropriate fees under section 8 of “An Act concerning fees and salaries ** * *” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 53, par. 8) against each defendant. These petitions were filed in the names of the state’s attorneys of the counties where the initial prosecutions were undertaken. Section 8 provides in pertinent part: “State’s attorneys shall be entitled to the following fees: For each case of appeal taken from his county or from the county to which a change of venue is taken to his county to the Supreme or Appellate Court when prosecuted or defended by him, *50.” Under the plain language of this section this court cannot award fees to a state’s attorney who did not perform the services for which fees are requested nor can we authorize the Appellate Assistance Service to petition for such fees on behalf of a state’s attorney. At common law successful litigants were not entitled to recover from losing parties the costs and expenses of litigation. Thus, the allowance and recovery of such costs is based solely on statutory provisions. (See Daily v. Leigh (1954), 2 Ill. 2d 499, 119 N.E.2d 204; Ritter v. Ritter (1943), 381 Ill. 549, 46 N.E.2d 41.) Since statutes which authorize fees and costs are in derogation of the common law and are penal in nature, they must be strictly construed. Thus, the right to an allowance for costs or fees, or to any specific item of costs or fees claimed, must be clearly granted by statute. Commissioners of Lincoln Park v. Schmidt (1946), 395 Ill. 316,69 N.E.2d 869; Wintersteen v. National Cooperage & Woodenware Co. (1935), 361 Ill. 95, 197 N.E. 578. Section 8 provides that a state’s attorney is entitled to a *50 fee for prosecuting or defending an appeal taken from his county or from the county to which a change of venue is taken to his county. “Fees” have been defined as the compensation of officers of the court for services rendered. (See Galpin v. Chicago (1910), 159 Ill. App. 135, affd (1911), 249 Ill. 554, 94 N.E. 961.) The right of fees, therefore, arises only upon the actual performance of services. A state’s attorney who merely enters an appearance or signs his name to a brief written and argued by the Appellate Assistance Service, but takes no further action, is not entitled to a fee award. The fees provided for in section 8 of “An Act concerning fees and salaries # ” are taxable as costs under section 13 of division XIV of the Criminal Code of 1874 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 180 — 3), and are recoverable under section 5 of “An Act in regard to attorneys general and state’s attorneys” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 14, par. 5), only under the circumstances delineated in these provisions. A fee for taking an appeal under section 8 may be assessed only if undertaken by a state’s attorney, and that state’s attorney has exclusive authorization to recover the fee. There are, however, two narrowly defined circumstances under which the duties of a state’s attorney may be performed by another person. Section 6 of “An Act in regard to attorneys general and state’s attorneys” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 14, par. 6) provides that when a state’s attorney has resigned or died, or is otherwise unable to prosecute a cause which it is his duty to prosecute, the court in which the cause is pending may appoint a competent attorney to discharge the duties of the state’s attorney in that particular case. In addition, duly authorized assistant state’s attorneys may perform the duties of a state’s attorney in the same manner and to the same extent that the state’s attorney could act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 53, par. 18.) It has been held that where the legislature uses the term “State’s attorney” in describing the rights and obhgations associated with that office it intends that an assistant state’s attorney is entided to the same rights and could perform the same duties. People v. Nahas (1973), 9 Ill. App. 3d 570, 292 N.E.2d 466. Petitioners correctly point out that it has long been held in IEinois that state’s attorneys may be assisted in criminal prosecutions by other counsel and stiE be entided to statutory fees. (See e.g., People v. Ford (1960), 19 Ill. 2d 466, 168 N.E.2d 33; People v. Farnsley (1973), 53 Ill. 2d 537, 293 N.E.2d 600.) It has never been held, however, that private counsel who assist a state’s attorney in a criminal prosecution are authorized to petition for the recovery of statutory fees in behalf of that state’s attorney. Moreover, it is clear that the cited cases do not support the proposition that a state’s attorney is entitled to the *50 statutory fee for a criminal appeal in cases where the Appellate Assistance Service has handled the appeal. In the cases where a trial court has been upheld in allowing a state’s attorney to be assisted by private counsel, the state’s attorney has performed a substantial portion of the tasks associated with the prosecution and has therefore been entitled to fees under section 8 of “An Act concerning fees and salaries ° * *” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 53, par. 8). In appeals undertaken by the Appellate Assistance Service, however, the state’s attorney serves as Mttle more than pro forma cocounsel. Under these circumstances it cannot be said that the state’s attorney has met the requirement of section 8 that he personally prosecute or defend the appeal. It is argued that when the Appellate Assistance Service attorneys undertake an appeal at the request of a state’s attorney, they are in effect serving as assistant state’s attorneys and are therefore authorized to recover a fee award pursuant to section 8 of “An Act concerning fees and salaries” and section 5 of “An Act in regard to attorneys general and state’s attorneys” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 14, par. 5). In view of the fact that an assistant state’s attorney is authorized to perform the duties of an elected official, the legislature has delineated a number of requirements designed to make assistant state’s attorneys publicly accountable. Under section 2 of “An Act " * 4 to provide for the collection and disposition of fees ” * *paid to the state’s attorney ” ” *” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 53, par. 18), the office of assistant State’s attorney must be created by the county board of supervisors, the assistant must be appointed and work under the supervision of the state’s attorney and each assistant must take an oath of office. The Appellate Assistance Service does operate with the approval of the county board of supervisors and state’s attorney of the counties from which it takes appeals. It also operates under the apparent supervision of the state’s attorneys responsible for the prosecution of cases appealed by the Service. Appellate Assistance Service attorneys do not, however, take an oath of office. Petitioners conveniently disregard the significance of this last requirement and conclude that Appellate Assistance Service attorneys, not having taken an oath of office, are simply “de facto” assistant state’s attorneys. This implication of statutory authority that would allow Service attorneys to petition for fees does not comport with the firmly established principle that statutory allowances for costs and fees are to be strictly construed. A court cannot by inference or implication assume the power to impose costs. (People v. Fox (1972), 7 Ill. App. 3d 707, 288 N.E.2d 500.) To do so would be a clear abuse of discretion. See Wintersteen v. National Cooperage & Woodenware Co. (1935), 361 Ill. 95,197 N.E. 578; Adams v. Silfen (1951), 342 Ill. App. 415, 96 N.E.2d 628. The allowance and recovery of costs rests entirely upon explicit statutory provision and no liability for costs can exist in the absence of clear statutory authorization. Since petitioners have failed to show sufficient compliance with the terms of the authorizing statutes in question the praecipe for fee bill and demand for certificate of costs should be denied. Although not specifically at issue on appeal, this case raises serious questions regarding the authority of the Appellate Assistance Service which merit brief comment here. As was noted earlier in this dissent, it is well established in Illinois that state’s attorneys may be assisted in criminal prosecutions by private counsel. The services performed by the Appellate Assistance Service, however, go far beyond mere assistance. The primary purpose of the Service is to provide participating state’s attorneys’ offices with a centrally coordinated appellate office. Implicit in this purpose is the objective of eventually taking over responsibility for all the appeals now handled by state’s attorneys. I note that the total cost per brief during the first 13 months of the Statewide Appellate Assistance Service was approximately *1250. While ostensibly under the supervision of individual state’s attorneys, both the present and anticipated scope of operation of the Appellate Assistance Service indicate that it is and will increasingly become a centralized and relatively independent appellate office. This would seem to be a clear usurpation of a state’s attorney’s duties as prescribed in section 5 of “An Act in regard to attorneys general and state’s attorneys” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 14, par. 5). State’s attorney is an elective office and the legislature, in providing for the appointive position of assistant state’s attorney, has been very careful to insure that assistant state’s attorneys are publicly accountable for actions they take in discharging the duties of the state’s attorney’s office. It is the duty of a state’s attorney to intelligently weigh the chances of the successful termination of a particular prosecution and appeal, having in mind the interests of the county he serves. The state’s attorney is held accountable to the people of the county he serves through the ballot box and the assistant state’s attorney through his oath of office and close supervision by the state’s attorney. The Appellate Assistance Service, on the other hand, is largely independent and unaccountable. Moreover, as the organization continues to grow and to assume a greater share of the workload and duties now performed by state’s attorneys, the public will gradually lose a large measure of influence over this very important aspect of the judicial process. This development runs contrary to the Illinois Constitution and the intent of the General Assembly in prescribing the duties and obligations of state’s attorneys and in my opinion merits a close examination by our court of the Appellate Assistance Service’s participation in the appeals process.