Harrison v. Woyahn, 12383.
| Decision Date | 11 December 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 12383.,12383. |
| Parties | Traverse HARRISON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jerry WOYAHN, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Charles D. Snewind, John G. Phillips, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Oswell G. Treadway, Chicago, Ill. (Joseph H. Hinshaw, John M. Moelmann, Chicago, Ill., on the brief), for appellee.
Before FINNEGAN, HASTINGS and PARKINSON, Circuit Judges.
Illinois statutory provisions governing limitations form the hard core of this appeal: "The following actions can only be commenced within the periods hereinafter prescribed, except when a different limitation is prescribed by statute." Ill. Rev.Stat.1957, c. 83, par. 13 § 12; S.H. A. ch. 83, § 13." "Actions for damages for an injury to the person * * * shall be commenced within two years next after the cause of action accrued."1 Ill.Rev.Stat.1957, c. 83, par. 15, § 14; S.H.A. ch. 83 § 15. "In any of the actions specified in any of the sections of this act, if judgment shall be given for the plaintiff, and the same be reversed by writ of error, or upon appeal; or if a verdict pass for the plaintiff, and, upon matter alleged in arrest of judgment, the judgment be given against the plaintiff; or, if the plaintiff be nonsuited, then, if the time limited for bringing such action shall have expired during the pendency of such suit, the said plaintiff, his or her heirs, executors, or administrators, as the case shall require, may commence a new action within one year after such judgment reversed or given against the plaintiff, and not after." Ill.Rev.Stat., 1957, c. 83, par. 24a, § 24; S.H.A. ch. 83, § 24a.
Plaintiff, Traverse Harrison, has been repeatedly suing Jerry Woyahn, defendant, for personal injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident which occurred June 15, 1953 in Will County, Illinois and the following chronology of that litigation constitutes the undisputed facts to which the statutory sections, already mentioned, must be applied.
Date Cause No. Explanation
Oct. 8, 1954 No. 56536 Plaintiff commenced suit against
defendant in Circuit Court, Will
County, Ill
Oct. 25, 1955 No. 56536 Involuntary non-suit against plaintiff
Nov. 4, 1955 No. 57539 Plaintiff again commenced suit
against defendant
Dec. 10, 1957 No. 57539 Dismissed for want of prosecution
Dec. 18, 1957 No. 57C2084 Suit commenced in U. S. District
Court, below, by plaintiff against
defendant
May 6, 1958 No. 57C2084 District Judge dismissed action.
When sustaining defendant's motion to dismiss No. 57C2084, the Judge below, after noting the absence of Illinois decisions on point, crystallized the key question in this fashion: "* * * Whether * * * the statute, extending the period of the original statute of limitations, authorizes a plaintiff to bring another action within a year after his first action under the * * * statute fails for a reason within the statutory provision." Resolving that issue against plaintiff's...
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Flesner v. Youngs Development Co.
...Ill.Dec. 432, 513 N.E.2d 1041; Walicek v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. (1987), 155 Ill.App.3d 667, 108 Ill.Dec. 85, 508 N.E.2d 246; Harrison v. Woyahn (7th Cir.1958), 261 F.2d 412; and Smith v. Chicago Transit Authority (1978), 67 Ill.App.3d 385, 385 N.E.2d 62. We will point out that all of the above c......
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Flesner v. Youngs Development Co.
...their beginnings in two other opinions, one from the Federal court and one from the Illinois appellate court. The first, Harrison v. Woyahn (7th Cir.1958), 261 F.2d 412, dealt with an action for personal injuries in which, according to the court, the plaintiff repeatedly sued the defendant.......
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Gendek v. Jehangir
...does not have the right to file multiple new actions more than one year after the original action had been dismissed. In Harrison v. Woyahn (7th Cir.1958), 261 F.2d 412, the court "Section 24[ ] mentions only 'a new action' not multiple new actions and significantly reads in terms of relief......
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Bernstein v. Gottlieb Memorial Hosp., s. 88-1129
...section 24 of the Limitations Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1967, ch. 83, sec. 24a) (section 24), to mean one refiling only. (See Harrison v. Woyahn (7th Cir.1958), 261 F.2d 412, 413; Smith v. Chicago Transit Authority (1978), 67 Ill.App.3d 385, 387-88, 24 Ill.Dec. 295, 385 N.E.2d 62.) Furthermore, Wal......