Maywood Park Trotting Ass'n v. Illinois Harness Racing Commission

• Decision Date: 23 January 1959
• Docket Number: No. 34963,34963
• Citation: 15 Ill.2d 559,155 N.E.2d 626
• Parties: MAYWOOD PARK TROTTING ASSOCIATION, INC., Appellant, v. ILLINOIS HARNESS RACING COMMISSION et al., Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 626

155 N.E.2d 626

15 Ill.2d 559

MAYWOOD PARK TROTTING ASSOCIATION, INC., Appellant, v. ILLINOIS HARNESS RACING COMMISSION et al., Appellees.

No. 34963.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 23, 1959.

Arthur Morse, Stanford Clinton and Robert A. Sprecher, Chicago, for appellant.

Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., Nash, Ahern & McNally, Gregory & Hunter and Winston, Strawn, Smith & Patterson, Chicago (William C. Wines, Raymond S. Sarnow, A. Zola Groves, Edward M. White, Thomas D. Nash, Jr., Robert L. Hunter and Edward J. Wendrow, Chicago, of counsel), for appellees.

DAVIS, Justice.

This case involves the issuing of licenses and the allocation of racing dates by the Illinois Harness Racing Commission. After hearings, the Commission issued licenses and allocated racing dates to Maywood Park Trotting Association, Inc., plaintiff, (Maywood), Fox Valley Trotting Club, Inc. (Fox Valley), Chicago Downs Association, Inc. (Chicago Downs), and Suburban Downs Association, Inc. (Suburban Downs). Maywood and Fox Valley filed complaints for administrative review in the superior court of Cook County, which were consolidated. That court affirmed the order of the Commission, and only Maywood appealed directly to this court, attacking the constitutionality of certain sections of the Harness Racing Act. Ill.Rev.Stat.1957, chap. 8, pars. 37s-37s.34.

Under the Illinois Harness Racing Act, the racing season extends from March 1 through November 15. In 1958, applications were filed for the following dates: Maywood, April 28 through July 5; Suburban Downs, September 1 through October 18; Chicago Downs, July 4 through August 30; and Fox Valley, May 19 through July 3. Upon hearing, the Commission issued licenses to the four applicants, and allocated the following racing dates for the 1958 season: Maywood, April 3 through May 31 (59 days); Fox Valley, June 2 through July 5 (34 days); Chicago Downs, July 7 through August 30 (55 days); Suburban Downs, September 1 through October 15 (45 days). All the racing meets were held at two tracks in the Chicago area, Maywood Park and Sportsman's Park. Sportsman's is owned and operated by the National Jockey Club, while Maywood Park is owned and operated by Maywood on a long term lease. Maywood Park is used exclusively for harness racing, while the National Jockey Club conducts running races at Sportsman's, and leases to others for harness racing. Maywood has conducted its 13 meets on its own track; Fox Valley has also conducted 13 meets, six as a tenant at the Aurora Downs track, in Aurora, Illinois, four as a tenant of Maywood, and the last three as a subtenant of Chicago Downs at Sportsman's Park. Chicago Downs has leased Sportsman's Park from the National Jockey Club from May 15 to September 1 of each year since 1949, but such lease is inoperative during the period of any running-race meet for which the National Jockey Club may obtain dates. Chicago Downs in turn subleased to Fox Valley from 1956 through 1959, for 40 racing nights between May 15 and September 1, subject to the provision that any harness racing dates allotted Fox Valley do not conflict with dates which may be granted to the National Jockey Club for running races, or to Chicago Downs for harness races. Maywood has leased to Suburban Downs since 1954. For the 1958 season, 78 harness racing dates were allocated to tenants of Sportsman's and 31 running-race days for a total of 109 days.

Maywood complains of the allocation of dates on several grounds: (1) that the Harness Racing Act prohibits 'more than ninety ((90)) days of racing during any calendar year at any one track or enclosure' (Ill.Rev.Stat.1957, chap. 8, par. 37s.7(i),) which provision either applies to both harness and running racing, or is unconstitutional; (2) that the language of the act entitles Maywood to preferential treatment in dates because it is exclusively devoted to harness racing (Ill.Rev.Stat., 1957, chap. 8, par. 37s.7(h),); and (3) that the Commission has unconstitutionally permitted the limited lease arrangement between National Jockey Club and Chicago Downs to affect its allocation of dates.

After this appeal was filed, the Commission, Fox Valley and Chicago Downs, relying on our dismissal in National Jockey Club v. Illinois Racing Com., 364 Ill. 630, 5 N.E.2d 224, on the ground that the question was moot, moved to dismiss the appeal, since the 1958 racing dates had expired. We denied the motion because we were impressed by the continuing nature of the license granted for harness racing and the practical difficulty of resolving the legal rights of the parties before the expiration of the annual racing season, and we were not convinced that upon a full hearing, some relief could not be granted. We have...