Background
Willow Bridge Property Company obtained a default eviction order against tenant Joshua Rogers, alleging that he violated his apartment lease by allowing short-term rentals. The company served a 10-day notice by leaving it with a person over age 13 at the apartment and by posting it at Rogers’s California residence. Rogers did not appear at the prove-up hearing.
Rogers timely moved to vacate the default, but the trial court did not rule on that motion. After the sheriff executed the eviction order two months later, Rogers filed a renewed motion to vacate and an emergency motion to quash the eviction. The trial court denied both motions as moot and for other reasons stated in court.
The Court’s Holding
The appellate court affirmed. It held that Rogers abandoned his initial motion to vacate by failing to bring it back to the trial court’s attention or obtain a ruling during the two months before the eviction. The court also rejected his challenge to service because the record included an affidavit showing that the 10-day notice was left with a person over 13 residing at the premises, as permitted by section 9-211 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Although possession had already returned to Willow Bridge and the eviction dispute was therefore moot, the court considered whether possible collateral consequences of an eviction record could permit review. Even assuming that exception applied, Rogers did not provide a transcript or acceptable substitute for the hearing on his renewed motion. Because the trial court also relied on unspecified “other reasons,” the incomplete record required the appellate court to presume the ruling had an adequate factual and legal basis.
Key Takeaways
- A party must pursue a pending motion and obtain a ruling; an unresolved motion is ordinarily presumed abandoned.
- Leaving an eviction notice with a person at least 13 years old who resides at the premises satisfies Illinois’s statutory service rule.
- An appellant challenging a discretionary ruling must supply a sufficient record of the hearing, or the reviewing court will presume the trial court acted correctly.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates the procedural hurdles to overturning a default eviction judgment after possession has been restored to the landlord. Potential screening or credit consequences may preserve a basis for appellate review, but they do not relieve an appellant of the duty to provide a complete record and develop the claimed error.