Court Opinion

ID: 9724918
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:20:17.560635+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:07.852446
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE STEIGMANN, dissenting: This is a difficult case, both factually and legally. The majority does a good job of trying to resolve these difficult issues, and in most instances, I would agree with the majority’s decision. However, I do not agree with it in this case because the decision is premised on an argument that plaintiff-appellant has never made, either at the trial level or to this court. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent. The majority decision rests upon an analysis of article 2 of the Commercial Code. 329 Ill. App. 3d at 315. However, as plaintiff (with commendable candor) conceded at oral argument, plaintiff never argued at the trial level the application of the Commercial Code to the facts of this case. In addition, on appeal to this court, plaintiff never argued for the application of the Commercial Code. In plaintiffs initial brief to this court, plaintiff articulated the issues presented for review as follows: “I. Did the trial court err in finding the contract ambiguous? II. Did the trial court err when it found that the plaintiff had repudiated the contract?” Nowhere in plaintiffs initial brief does plaintiff mention or cite the Commercial Code. In plaintiffs reply brief, plaintiff for the first time mentions the Commercial Code in support of plaintiffs claim that it never breached the contract. However, Supreme Court Rule 341(g) does not permit parties to raise new arguments or theories in reply briefs. Official Reports Advance Sheet No. 21 (October 17, 2001), R. 341(g), eff. October 1, 2001 (“The reply brief *** shall be confined strictly to replying to arguments presented in the brief of the appellee ***”). Obviously, without such a rule, appellees would be deprived of the opportunity to respond to appellants’ arguments. In Rodriguez, 131 Ill. 2d at 276, 545 N.E.2d at 732, the primary question presented on appeal was whether the mother in a child custody dispute had standing to execute on a penal bond that the father posted to secure his visitation rights. The trial court entered an order permitting the mother to do so, but the appellate court reversed, holding that the mother did not have standing to execute on the bond because she was not named in the document. Rodriguez, 131 Ill. 2d at 278, 545 N.E.2d at 733. The supreme court reversed the appellate court, affirmed the circuit court’s judgment, and held as follows: “We note initially that the record in this case reveals that no one at the trial level raised the issue of whether the mother had standing to execute on the bond. The general rule is that questions not raised in the trial court are deemed waived and cannot be argued for the first time on appeal. [Citations.] An exception to this waiver rule is found when an issue of public importance, decided by the appellate court but not by the trial court, is presented. Under these circumstances, this court may consider the issue. [Citation.] The appellate court in the case before us applied another exception to the waiver rule: when ignoring it will achieve a just result. [Citations.] The waiver rule should not be ignored, however, if the opposing party could have introduced evidence to contest or refute the assertions made on appeal, had he an opportunity to do so in the trial court.” Rodriguez, 131 Ill. 2d at 279, 545 N.E.2d at 733. In this case, we do not know what additional evidence or argument defendant might have presented at trial had plaintiff indicated that it was basing its claim upon the Commercial Code. Normally, a defendant in a civil action should be required to respond only to the evidence and arguments the plaintiff presents at the trial level. The majority’s decision in this case essentially deprives defendant of its opportunity for a fair trial on the issues that this court has deemed dis-positive, and that decision is therefore contrary to Rodriguez. The position of the appellant in Rodriguez was actually much stronger than the position of the appellant in the present case. At least the appellant in Rodriguez determined the correct issue to raise before taking its case to the appellate court. However, as earlier stated, plaintiff in this case not only failed to cite the Commercial Code to the trial court, but it also failed to cite it on appeal — at least until the reply brief. It should also be noted that the first time the trial court will have called to its attention its supposed failure to properly apply provisions of the Commercial Code (even though none of those provisions were argued to that court) is when it receives this court’s judgment. There are very few circumstances in which this court should ever countenance such a result, and this case is certainly not one of them. See In re Marriage of Harper, 191 Ill. App. 3d 245, 246, 547 N.E.2d 574, 575 (1989). The majority mischaracterizes this dissent. My concern is not that plaintiff failed to cite the appropriate section of the Commercial Code, but that plaintiff failed to cite any section of the Commercial Code either at trial or on appeal. The majority rules in plaintiffs favor only after applying the Commercial Code to the facts of this case, something plaintiff has yet to do. The trial court’s musings about repudiation as it delivered its lengthy ruling can hardly overcome plaintiffs failure to present to the court the claim that the Commercial Code applies to the facts of this case. We should decide the cases as they come to us and address only those claims appellants raised below and in this court. The parties deserve no more and no less. That the facts before us might have supported a better claim (in our judgment) is beside the point. Because plaintiff should lose this appeal based on the only claims properly before us, I respectfully dissent.