In 2015, plaintiff filed a two-count personal injury complaint against defendant for negligence and common law battery. Defendant failed to appear on the trial date. The court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for more than $6 million. The plaintiff then engaged in motion practice attempting to collect the judgment, including citations to discover assets and requesting the circuit court issue a rule to show cause against defendant for his failure to appear in response to the citations served on him. In response, defendant filed a petition pursuant to section 2-1401(f) of the Code of Civil Procedure arguing that the prove-up hearing was “void” because the trial court heard testimony on damages without a jury and defendant had never withdrawn his jury demand. The trial court denied the motion and defendant appealed. The appellate court first noted that a section 2-1401 petition is the initial pleading in a new proceeding but the parties committed the “common error” of treating it like a motion filed in the normal course of litigation. The court found this was not a fatal flaw to its analysis, considered the merits of the petition, and affirmed the trial court order finding that conducting a bench rather than a bench trial fell outside the scope of the relief a court can grant under section 2-1401. As a result, the trial court did not err when it dismissed the petition for being time-barred. (HOFFMAN and CONNORS, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Civil Procedure