Illinois Appellate Lawyer Blog
This case involved John Crane, Inc.’s claim for insurance coverage, and the insurers’ counterclaim against Crane. The insurers persuaded the trial court to dismiss Crane’s complaint. Two days later, Crane appealed the dismissal.
Then CNA, one of the insurers, asked the trial court to vacate or modify the dismissal order and for leave to amend its counterclaim against Crane. The trial court ruled (1) against CNA and would not allow the judgment to be vacated or modified, (2) for CNA and allowed amendment of the counterclaim against Crane.
Two weeks later, the trial court entered a final judgment on all of the remaining claims except CNA’s counterclaim.
About two weeks after that, the appellate court dismissed Crane’s appeal for want of prosecution because the company did not file the record on appeal within the time allowed by the rules. Rather than file a petition for rehearing of the dismissal of the appeal, Crane filed a whole new appeal. Crane’s second appeal asked for the same relief as the first one.
Allianz Underwriters, another of Crane’s insurers, asked the appellate court to dismiss the second appeal. Allianz argued the appellate court had jurisdiction when it dismissed the first appeal; because Crane did not ask for a rehearing, that dismissal ended the proceeding. Crane argued the second appeal was proper because CNA’s motion to modify the judgment meant the “first appeal never became effective,” and there never was appellate jurisdiction over that appeal.
The First District Illinois Appellate Court agreed with Allianz. Crane’s first appeal became effective, the appellate court said, after the trial court ruled against CNA’s request to modify the judgment. Then the dismissal of the first appeal rendered the appellate court without jurisdiction to consider Crane’s second appeal. Here is how the appellate court explained the ruling:
John Crane’s first appeal was the effective appeal from both the November 13, 2009 [final judgment], and the March 10, 2009 [dismissal of Crane’s complaint] … and this court had jurisdiction when we dismissed its [Crane’s] first appeal … for want of prosecution … John Crane did not file a petition for rehearing within 21 days. When an appeal of a final order is dismissed for want to prosecution and no petition for rehearing is filed within 21 days, the dismissal becomes final and the appellate court loses jurisdiction to consider additional arguments stemming from the initial order.
The whole opinion, John Crane, Inc. v. Admiral Insurance, 2011 IL App (1st) 093240 (August 30, 2011), is available by clicking here.