{
  "id": 1585424,
  "name": "Chester Sturgeon, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul Powell, Secretary of State, Defendant-Appellant",
  "name_abbreviation": "Sturgeon v. Powell",
  "decision_date": "1969-12-31",
  "docket_number": "Gen. No. 53,595",
  "first_page": "382",
  "last_page": "386",
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      "cite": "118 Ill. App. 2d 382"
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    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
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    "name_long": "Illinois",
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    {
      "cite": "206 NE2d 500",
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    {
      "cite": "57 Ill App2d 1",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T22:40:02.100969+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Chester Sturgeon, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul Powell, Secretary of State, Defendant-Appellant."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "MR. JUSTICE ENGLISH\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nThis appeal has been taken by the defendant Secretary of State from an administrative review judgment of the Circuit Court which reversed the action of defendant in revoking plaintiff\u2019s automobile operator\u2019s license and driving privileges.\nDefendant filed his appellant\u2019s brief, and plaintiff has now presented to this court a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground of mootness. Plaintiff\u2019s contention in this regard is based on the fact that, after he had filed his complaint for administrative review in the Circuit Court, he received a letter from the office of defendant which we quote in full:\n\u201cOFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE\nSpringfield, Illinois 62706\n\u201cJune 14,1968\n\u201cRe: Section 6-206\n\u201cAce. #123168 (1965)\n\u201cFile #8362-1002-5326\n\u201cMr. Chester Sturgeon\n\u201c10601 South 81st Court\n\u201cPolos Hills, Illinois\n\u201cDear Mr. Sturgeon:\n\u201cThis office has been notified by the Driver Control Section that the Order entered October 25, 1967 revoking your license to drive and driving privileges has been rescinded. Our file in that case against you has been closed.\n\u201cYou remain in full compliance with the law in connection with Accident Case #123168.\n\u201cSincerely yours,\n\u201c/S/B.T. Donne\n\u201cDrivers License Division B. T. Donne\n\u201cSafety Responsibility Section Supervisor\n\u201cBTD: JV :ilh\u201d\nDefendant opposes the motion to dismiss by referring to a June 5, 1968 order of the Circuit Court which stayed the revocation of plaintiff\u2019s license and restored his driving privileges subject to further order of court. By the same order, the administrative review proceedings were set for hearing on August 26, 1968. Defendant urges upon us the proposition that defendant\u2019s letter, quoted above, was merely his compliance with this order and that it had granted only temporary driving privileges pending final judgment by the Circuit Court. In support of his position, defendant attaches to his answer an affidavit of one William F. Dart, chief hearing officer for defendant, which says that the letter of June 14 was issued on the basis of the June 5 order.\nPlaintiff responds to defendant\u2019s contention by directing our attention to an earlier document dated June 12, 1968, which he had received from the same source, and which he suggests was clearly defendant\u2019s response to the stay order. That document reads in full as follows:\n\u201cRESCINDING ORDER\n\u201cChester Sturgeon Date: June 12,1968\n\u201c10601 South 81st Court\n\u201cPolos Hills, Illinois License No.: S362-1002-5326\n\u201cYOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that the Order of Revocation, entered by the Drivers License Division, effective October 25, 1967, is RESCINDED.\n\u201cThis action is based on reports from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, that the Order of Revocation entered on October 25, 1967, is hereby Stayed. By further order of the court, your driving privileges and drivers license will be restored, and the case has been reset for trial on August 26, 1968.\n\u201cEnclosed please find a Temporary Operator\u2019s Permit to be used while your license is in the process of being issued.\n\u201cB. T. Donne\n\u201cSupervisor\n\u201cDriver License Division\n\u201cDriver Control Section\n\u201cBTD:WFL:er\u201d\nOne cannot examine this \u201cRescinding Order\u201d without seeing that plaintiff is correct in his interpretation that it was issued as a direct result of the court order staying the revocation, etc. It specifically so states, and it was employed as a covering letter to forward to plaintiff a \u201cTemporary Operator\u2019s Permit.\u201d\nOn the other hand, the letter of June 14, which defendant would have us construe as saying the same thing, in fact, says nothing of the kind. It states flatly, \u201cOur file in that case against you has been closed.\u201d There is nothing ambiguous in these words, and we deem it significant that, neither by affidavit nor otherwise, has defendant contended that this letter was written by mistake or without proper authority. Under these circumstances we, too, must consider that the file has been closed so as to justify plaintiff\u2019s argument that the case has become moot. For all that appears from the record, this could have been the basis for the Circuit Court\u2019s judgment, since that court, as well as this, must refrain from making decisions upon moot questions which do not involve actual controversies. Harney v. Cahill, 57 Ill App2d 1, 9-10, 206 NE2d 500; People ex rel. Cairo Turf Club v. Taylor, 2 Ill2d 160, 116 NE2d 880.\nSince the letter of June 14, 1968, was never withdrawn or explained away, it still stands so far as concerns the record in this case. And we do not understand that a case, once closed in that fashion, can be reopened on the kind of showing which has been made in response to this motion, or by the simple expedient of filing a brief in this court, as though the letter in question had never been written. Nor do the facts of this case present a question of public policy or public interest which might fall within the recognized exception to the doctrine of mootness. Daley v. License Appeal Commission, 55 Ill App2d 474, 476-477, 205 NE2d 269.\nAccordingly, plaintiff\u2019s motion is allowed and the appeal is dismissed.\nAppeal dismissed.\nDRUCKER, P. J. and STAMOS, J., concur.\nThat file number concerned a \u201cSafety Responsibility Suspension\u201d which had been cleared through the filing with the Secretary of State of an insurance policy certificate by plaintiff\u2019s insurance company, as proof of financial responsibility.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "MR. JUSTICE ENGLISH"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "William J. Scott, Attorney General of State of Illinois, of Chicago (Francis T. Crowe and Herman R. Tavins, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel), for appellant.",
      "Edward M. Platt, of Chicago, for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Chester Sturgeon, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Paul Powell, Secretary of State, Defendant-Appellant.\nGen. No. 53,595.\nFirst District, Fourth Division.\nDecember 31, 1969.\nWilliam J. Scott, Attorney General of State of Illinois, of Chicago (Francis T. Crowe and Herman R. Tavins, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel), for appellant.\nEdward M. Platt, of Chicago, for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0382-01",
  "first_page_order": 388,
  "last_page_order": 392
}