Heller Financial, Inc. v. Johns-Byrne Co

In Heller Financial, Inc. v. Johns-Byrne Co., 264 Ill. App. 3d 681, 637 N.E.2d 1085, 202 Ill. Dec. 349 (1994), defendant stated in its notice of appeal that it was seeking review of the circuit court's denial of its motion to reconsider judgment entered in favor of plaintiff, but did not explicitly request a review of the underlying judgment itself. Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 687, 637 N.E.2d at 1090. Before the Court, plaintiff argued that the Court could not consider the propriety of the judgment because the notice did not cite the judgment order. Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 687, 637 N.E.2d at 1090. The Court disagreed, holding that the order denying defendant's motion to reconsider "subsumed" the earlier judgment order in favor of plaintiff. Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 689, N.E.2d at 1091. In doing so, this court noted that the purpose of the notice "is to inform the party who prevailed in the circuit court as to which aspect of the judgment appealed from will be reviewed" and therefore the notice "is to be liberally construed when determining what matters were properly raised in the notice." Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 689, 637 N.E.2d at 1091. The Court observed that defendant sought review in the notice of the circuit court's refusal to reconsider its judgment, a ruling that required the court to contemplate once again all of the orders "which comprised its ultimate judgment in the case." Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 689, 637 N.E.2d at 1092. Thus, liberally construing the notice, the Court concluded that defendant sufficiently raised issue with the propriety of the judgment on appeal. Heller Financial, Inc., 264 Ill. App. 3d at 689-90, 637 N.E.2d at 1091-92.