Court Opinion

ID: 9860297
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:17:26.936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:20:31.541525
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MILLER, dissenting: I do not agree with the majority’s conclusion that the circuit court properly acquired jurisdiction over the present appeal. For that reason, I respectfully dissent. It is well settled that the circuit court exercises a special statutory jurisdiction in reviewing Industrial Commission decisions, and that the circuit court obtains jurisdiction only in the manner prescribed by statute. Arrington v. Industrial Comm’n, 96 Ill. 2d 505, 510-11 (1983); Perusky v. Industrial Comm’n, 72 Ill. 2d 299, 301 (1978); International Harvester v. Industrial Comm’n, 71 Ill. 2d 180, 185 (1978). Strict compliance with the statutory requirements is necessary to vest the circuit court with subject matter jurisdiction. Arrington, 96 Ill. 2d at 508; Wabash Area Development, Inc. v. Industrial Comm’n, 88 Ill. 2d 392, 395-96, 398 (1981); Boalbey v. Industrial Comm’n, 66 Ill. 2d 217, 218 (1977). “ [T]he methods of procuring jurisdiction are specifically defined in the [Workers’] Compensation act, and the courts can obtain jurisdiction only in the manner provided by that statute.’ ” Peter H. Clark Lodge No. 483, I.B.P.O.E. of W. Elks v. Industrial Comm’n, 48 Ill. 2d 64, 69 (1971), quoting Village of Glencoe v. Industrial Comm’n, 354 Ill. 190, 193 (1933). Under the version of section 19(f)(1) applicable at the time of those earlier decisions, a party seeking judicial review was required to file a praecipe for a writ of certiorari-, as amended, the statute now provides that a party seeking review is to file a request for a summons. Although the terminology is different, the essential requirements remain the same. One of the statutory requirements that has remained constant through the years is the requirement that, before the writ or summons may be issued, the party seeking review must provide the circuit clerk with proof that the party has paid the Industrial Commission the probable cost of preparing the record. This court has previously stated that compliance with this requirement is a condition precedent to the circuit court’s exercise of jurisdiction. Clark Lodge, 48 Ill. 2d at 68-69, quoting Moweaqua Coal Mining & Manufacturing Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 322 Ill. 403, 405 (1926). Ignoring this precedent, the claimant argues, and the majority agrees, that only substantial compliance with the statute was necessary in this case and, further, that substantial compliance was achieved in the present matter. For the reasons set out below, I do not agree with either proposition. In essence, the majority adopts a theory more appropriately termed “eventual performance,” excusing a party’s failure to comply with all the requirements of the statute. The conditions under which this court has previously endorsed substantial compliance with the statutory requirements for seeking review of Industrial Commission decisions are far different from the circumstances in the present case. In Berry v. Industrial Comm’n, 55 Ill. 2d 274 (1973), the claimant’s lawyer received the Commission’s decision on May 10, 1972. On May 25, counsel sent to the circuit clerk a praecipe for writ of certiorari, which was received by the clerk the next day, May 26. Counsel sent the Commission a check for payment for costs and sent the circuit clerk the filing fee and a copy of the letter he had sent the Commission. Following a weekend and intervening holiday, the clerk received, on May 30 — the 20th day of the statutory period — the fee and the copy of counsel’s letter to the Commission. That day, the deputy clerk called the Commission and verified that the costs had been paid. The clerk then filed the petition for a writ of certiorari. Berry, 55 Ill. 2d at 276. The Berry court held that the claimant had substantially complied with the requirements of section 19(f)(1) and that the circuit court therefore possessed jurisdiction over the review proceeding. The court found distinguishable decisions applying the principle of strict construetian to the requirement of the statute that the receipt be exhibited to the clerk before the praecipe could be filed. In Berry, the clerk had verified the payment of the probable cost of the record with a telephone call prior to issuing the writ, and therefore the court believed that the purpose of the statute had been fulfilled. The present case is much different from Berry. The claimant in the present case, unlike the claimant in Berry, did not fulfill the essential requirements of the statute. Here, the circuit clerk could not have been satisfied that payment of costs was made to the Commission before issuing the summons, because payment was not made until six days after the summons was issued; no further summons was issued following the submission of proof of payment to the clerk. Section 19(f)(1) expressly requires payment and proof of payment prior to issuance of a summons; because the petition did not comply with those conditions precedent, the summons should be deemed to have been without effect. In Berry, in contrast, the writ was not issued until after the clerk was satisfied that the costs had been paid. The limited scope of the holding in Berry is shown by two later decisions of this court — decisions that the majority virtually ignores. Attempting to distinguish one of these cases, Wabash Area Development, Inc. v. Industrial Comm’n, 88 Ill. 2d 392 (1981), the majority suggests that the court’s rationale in that case turned on the absence from the record of a receipt for payment of costs and, further, that the court would have reached a different result if the record had contained a copy of the receipt. 188 Ill. 2d at 327 (“section 19(f)(1) required that proof of payment be established by exhibition of a receipt and not an affidavit; the record did not contain a copy of any receipt showing payment”). A plain reading of the opinion refutes the majority’s interpretation, however, for the court discussed the possibility now mentioned by the majority and rejected it. The court explained: “However, even if such a receipt could be produced, it would simply establish that the receipt was dated after the writ was issued by the circuit court on August 18, 1980, and after a motion was filed on August 20 to quash the writ because of the absence of a receipt. In fact, the only evidence of any receipt having been filed in this case is found in the clerk’s ‘Record Sheet,’ which contains the following entry, ‘9/2/80 copy of receipt filed.’ This entry likewise evidences the fact that the writ of certiorari issued August 18, 1980, should not have been given. If there was a receipt issued by the Commission, it was apparently executed after the writ had issued and was likewise filed with the clerk after the writ had issued. Although the statute does not require that the receipt be filed, it appears that the receipt in this case could not have been ‘exhibited to the clerk of the Circuit Court’ before the writ was issued. Thus, the clerk issued the writ outside the statutory requirement that such receipt be exhibited to the clerk before the writ is issued.” (Emphasis in original.) Wabash Area Development, 88 Ill. 2d at 397-98. Thus, contrary to the majority’s view, the court in Wabash Area Development did not endorse the notion that a late receipt would be sufficient, or that the sequence in which the statutory requirements are satisfied is irrelevant, so long as they are all eventually performed. In fact, the court expressed the opposite view and reaffirmed the requirement that proof of payment must be shown to the clerk before the writ may be issued. In Bemis Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 97 Ill. 2d 237 (1983), another decision that the majority chooses to disregard, this court again considered a succession of events similar to the chronology here and again rejected the theory, embraced by the majority here, that the sequence in which the jurisdiction-conferring steps are performed is irrelevant. In that case, the Industrial Commission confirmed an award entered by the arbitrator in favor of the claimant, an employee’s widow. The circuit court confirmed the Commission’s determination, and the employer appealed to this court. On appeal, the claimant argued that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction because the writ of certiorari was improperly issued. In that case, the employer’s counsel sent a check to the Commission on February 3, 1982, to pay for the probable costs of preparing the record. On February 5, counsel called the Commission and learned that the check had been received and that a receipt had been issued and would be mailed that day. On February 8, the 19th day of the 20-day period for commencing a review proceeding, the employer’s counsel filed with the circuit court a praecipe for a writ of certiorari. At the time, counsel told the deputy clerk of the steps he had taken and mentioned that he had not yet received the Commission’s receipt for payment. The writ of certiorari was issued that day, February 8. The deputy clerk indicated, on a note attached to the writ, that the Commission’s issuance of the receipt was confirmed in a telephone call made by the deputy on February 9; the receipt was filed with the clerk on February 10. If the majority’s interpretation of the case law were correct, then the Bemis court would have found jurisdiction proper, for the clerk of the court received by telephone confirmation of payment of the costs before the 20-day period expired. It will be recalled that Berry approved this mode of verification. The Bemis court found Berry distinguishable, however, and concluded that jurisdiction was lacking in the circuit court. The court explained: “Here the only assurance that the Commission had received payment before the writ was issued came from the statements made by the attorney filing the praecipe to the clerk. The deputy clerk’s subsequent telephone call a day after the writ was issued does not remedy the situation. Had the clerk called and verified the issuance of the receipt prior to the issuance of the writ of certiorari, we would be looking at a much more persuasive case where the clerk of the circuit court had also been assured that the Commission had received payment. Because that verification came after the issuance of the writ of certiorari, it came too late.” Bemis Co., 97 Ill. 2d at 240-41. Again, it should be noted that in Bemis the deputy clerk’s call to the Commission verifying issuance of the receipt occurred on the last day of the 20-day period. Although the legislature later amended the statute to permit proof of payment of costs by attorney affidavit, the legislature has not altered the requirement that proof of payment must precede issuance of the summons. As the preceding cases illustrate, a summons issued prior to the clerk’s receipt of proof of payment of costs is without effect. Here, the claimant failed to satisfy the condition precedents for review. Nonetheless, the majority goes to great lengths to save an appeal for the claimant, whose claim was denied by the Industrial Commission for failure to provide notice of the injury to his employer. In doing so, the majority reverses the judgments of the two courts below, ignoring in the process both the legislative mandate and longstanding precedent of this court. I would affirm the judgments of the courts below, which concluded that jurisdiction over the present case was lacking. CHIEF JUSTICE FREEMAN and JUSTICE RATHJE join in this dissent.