Background
5425 Cicero LLC filed a commercial-eviction action against Robert Didiana, Lisa Didiana, and Kim Graffe, seeking possession and $55,000 for unpaid rent or damages. A special process server claimed to have personally served Lisa at a Darien, Illinois home through a security camera and to have completed substitute service on Robert and Kim.
Robert appeared at two status hearings but did not have an appearance formally on file. His attorney had attempted to e-file a pro se appearance before trial, but the statewide system rejected it and neither Robert nor counsel noticed. When Robert appeared in person for trial with the appearance in hand, the circuit court barred him from participating and entered judgment for $55,000 plus costs. The court later found service defective for all defendants and vacated the judgment against Lisa and Kim, but left Robert’s judgment intact because he had “participated” in the case.
The Court’s Holding
The appellate court vacated the judgment against Robert and remanded. It held that the circuit court lacked personal jurisdiction because plaintiff did not properly serve Robert. Lisa’s unrebutted evidence showed she was in Florida when the server purported to serve her in Illinois, and the claimed substitute service on Robert failed because no summons was left with a qualifying person at his abode.
Robert did not waive the service and jurisdiction objections merely by attending status hearings. Under Illinois’s current section 2-301, waiver turns on filing a responsive pleading or motion before raising the jurisdictional objection, not on informal participation. Robert filed no pleading before judgment, and his postjudgment motion to vacate under section 2-1301 did not waive the objection. In any event, a later waiver could not retroactively validate a judgment entered without personal jurisdiction.
Key Takeaways
- Attendance at status hearings alone does not waive a personal-jurisdiction objection under current Illinois law.
- Service through a security camera on a person outside Illinois is not personal service.
- A judgment entered without personal jurisdiction is void and cannot be retroactively validated by a later submission to the court’s jurisdiction.
Why It Matters
The decision rejects reliance on older Illinois “general appearance” concepts to treat informal participation as a waiver of defective service. Litigants and trial courts must apply section 2-301’s pleading- and motion-based waiver rules.
It also underscores that an eviction judgment entered after a defendant is excluded for a filing mishap remains vulnerable where proper service was never accomplished.