Court Opinion

ID: 9579033
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:50:50.919195+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:34:12.635429
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
On motion for rehearing, appellant contends that we placed a duty on it to respond to appellee’s counterclaim and motion for summary judgment, contrary to the Civil Practice Act. Under the Consumer Leasing Act, a defendant can avoid liability by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that its failure to make certain disclosures was not intentional and was the result of bona fide error. Appellant contends that the allegations of nondisclosure, in appellee’s counterclaim, necessarily included the allegation that appellant’s nondisclosures were intentional and not the result of bona fide error. We disagree. The defense, that the nondisclosures were not intentional is an affirmative defense, which appellant must raise and prove at trial. While a party has no duty to respond to a counterclaim or a motion for summary judgment, where none of the pleadings raised an issue of fact as to the intentional, or unintentional, nature of the non-disclosures, summary judgment was properly granted to appellee.

Motion for rehearing denied.