Home Mutual Fire Insurance v. Ronan

Citations

• 51 Ill. 517

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice—waiting for counsel to appear to try a cause. The matter of delaying the trial of a cause for counsel to appear, is analogous to an application to set aside a default, and in such cases it is not the practice of appellate courts to interfere, except where the court below is chargeable with an abuse of its discretion.</p> <p>2. In this case, one of defendant’s attorneys was in court waiting the call of the case, and shortly before it was reached, went out to notify one of Ms co-partners, who expected to take charge of the trial. The case was reached sooner than the counsel expected, and the court, having been notified by the counsel who had been in attendance that he was going for Ms associate, waited from fifteen to twenty minutes after calling the case for counsel to appear. No one appearing for the defendant, the court caused a jury to be impannelled, and the plaintiff made Ms proof and obtained a verdict. Immediately after the verdict was returned and judgment entered, the defendant’s counsel entered the court room, and asked to have the proceedings set aside. This was refused, and counsel then made a formal motion to that effect, stating that the defendant had a good defense, but the motion was overruled. After the senior counsel had been notified by his associate that the case was about to be called, he waited ten or fifteen minutes in his office, not supposing that the call was so near at hand. The refusal of the court below to open the case, under the circumstances, was not such an abuse of discretion as to call for a reversal.</p>