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Alton Evening Telegraph v. Doak

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District
May 16, 1973
11 Ill. App. 3d 381 (Ill. App. Ct. 1973)

Summary

In Alton Evening Telegraph, there were no facts before the court that identified the newspaper as an entity capable of suing.

Summary of this case from Santiago v. E.W. Bliss Co.

Opinion

No. 72-239 Order affirmed.

May 16, 1973.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Madison County; the Hon. ROY W. STRAWN, Judge, presiding.

Cohn, Carr, Korein, Kunin Brennan, of East St. Louis, (Joel A. Kunin, of counsel,) for appellant.

John A. Farrell, of Alton, for the appellee.


The plaintiff appeals from an order entered in the Circuit Court of Madison County on June 15, 1972, which granted the defendant's motion to vacate a default judgment which had been rendered on February 17, 1972.

• 1 The only question on appeal is whether the trial court erred in granting the motion on the ground that the plaintiff named in the default judgment lacked the legal capacity to sue.

• 2 In In re Annexation of Certain Territory, 37 Ill. App.2d 255 at 263, the court stated:

"The Civil Practice Act requires that a party shall set forth in the body of his pleading the names of all parties for whom relief is thereby sought. Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 110, § 21(4) (1961). There must be a party possessed of legal entity as a natural, artificial or quasi-artificial person. See Vukovich v. Custer, 347 Ill. App. 547."

• 3 The present judgment was rendered in the name of the "Alton Evening Telegraph", which is not the name of a natural or artificial person having the capacity to sue. There are no facts, properly before this court, that identify an entity capable of suing. The legal entity, Alton Telegraph Printing Co., cannot properly be made a party to the suit merely because its name appears in an exhibit attached to the complaint. ( Fetherston v. National Republic Bancorp, 280 Ill. App. 151.) A lawyer should know his client when he files his suit. ( In re Annexation of Certain Territory, 37 Ill. App.2d 255.) A suit brought in a name which is not that of a natural person, a corporation or of a partnership is a mere nullity; and, in such a case, it has been held that the whole action fails. 67 CJS, par. 4; 59 Am.Jur.2d, par. 21; Godair v. Case, 220 Ill. App. 348.

Affirmed.

EBERSPACHER, P.J., and JONES, J., concur.


Summaries of

Alton Evening Telegraph v. Doak

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District
May 16, 1973
11 Ill. App. 3d 381 (Ill. App. Ct. 1973)

In Alton Evening Telegraph, there were no facts before the court that identified the newspaper as an entity capable of suing.

Summary of this case from Santiago v. E.W. Bliss Co.

In Alton, the attorney for the plaintiff brought suit in the name of “Alton Evening Telegraph,” which was not an entity capable of suing.

Summary of this case from Santiago v. E.W. Bliss Co.
Case details for

Alton Evening Telegraph v. Doak

Case Details

Full title:ALTON EVENING TELEGRAPH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PAUL DOAK, d/b/a DOAK…

Court:Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District

Date published: May 16, 1973

Citations

11 Ill. App. 3d 381 (Ill. App. Ct. 1973)
296 N.E.2d 605

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