{
  "id": 5208933,
  "name": "Benjamin John Lesniak, Appellant, v. Department of Registration and Education of the State of Illinois, Administration Agency, Vera M. Binks, Director of Said Department, G. Nyle Huffman, Horace V. Clark, Harlan A. Williamson, Oliver V. Melvin and John P. Kringas, Members of the Funeral Directing and Embalming Committee Thereof and also F. B. Selecke, Superintendent of Registration of Said Department, Appellees",
  "name_abbreviation": "Lesniak v. Department of Registration & Education",
  "decision_date": "1960-02-01",
  "docket_number": "Gen. No. 47,739",
  "first_page": "153",
  "last_page": "157",
  "citations": [
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      "cite": "24 Ill. App. 2d 153"
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  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
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    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
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      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "N.E.2d",
      "opinion_index": 0
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    {
      "cite": "7 Ill.App.2d 147",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d",
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        "/ill-app-2d/7/0147-01"
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:35:04.233078+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "SCHWARTZ and McCORMICK, JJ., concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "Benjamin John Lesniak, Appellant, v. Department of Registration and Education of the State of Illinois, Administration Agency, Vera M. Binks, Director of Said Department, G. Nyle Huffman, Horace V. Clark, Harlan A. Williamson, Oliver V. Melvin and John P. Kringas, Members of the Funeral Directing and Embalming Committee Thereof and also F. B. Selecke, Superintendent of Registration of Said Department, Appellees."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "PRESIDING JUSTICE DEMPSEY\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nThis is an appeal from an order of the Superior Court, in an administrative review proceeding, affirming a decision of the Department of Registration and Education.\nThe department had issued a funeral director\u2019s certificate to the plaintiff in 1954. This was revoked in 1956, after a hearing before the department\u2019s Funeral Directing and Embalming Committee, upon the finding that Lesniak had falsely sworn in his 1954 application that he was an Illinois citizen and a permanent resident of Chicago.\nLesniak had conducted a funeral home in Indiana for several years. The evidence revealed that at the time he filed his Illinois application he was purchasing another such establishment in Illinois, about four miles away from his Indiana place of business. His wife and children continued to live in Indiana and, he said, his wife was to operate that business. He voted in Indiana in 1954, prior to his Illinois application, and voted there again in 1955 subsequent to receiving his certificate. His automobile was registered in Indiana and his 1956 application for an Indiana auto license stated he was a resident of that state. Lesniak\u2019s testimony, in the main, consisted of a twofold defense: an explanation of the evidence against him, such as his reason for voting in Indiana, and assertions that it was his intention, at the time he made his application for the license, to become a citizen of this state.\nIn a case of this kind a reviewing court must determine whether the finding is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Nolting v. Civil Service Commission of Chicago, 7 Ill.App.2d 147, 129 N.E.2d 236; Logan v. Civil Service Commission, 3 Ill.2d 81, 119 N.E.2d 754. Prom the facts related, it is readily apparent that the committee\u2019s finding was supported by substantial evidence and the order of the court sustaining the department was correct.\nThe plaintiff\u2019s brief raises an additional issue not disclosed by the record to have been presented to the trial court. The plaintiff\u2019s attorney did not appear for the oral argument; the defendant\u2019s attorney, who was present, had not represented the defendant before the trial court, therefore we were unable to learn from them if the issue had been properly raised. Because of our uncertainty we will consider the point.\nThe plaintiff\u2019s certificate was obtained under the provisions of the statute concerning funeral directors who are licensed in another state. He contends the statute contained no requirement of Illinois residence and therefore the questions on this subject were immaterial and his answers inconsequential.\nWhile the statute upon which the plaintiff relies, \u00a7 73.9, ch. 111%, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1953, said nothing about an applicant being a citizen of or having a permanent residence in Illinois, it did say: \u201cAn applicant who is a funeral director registered or licensed under the laws of another state . . . may be granted a certificate ... by the Department, in its discretion, without examination . . .\u201d This section makes it clear that it is not mandatory that a license be issued to every applicant who meets the conditions enumerated.\nBefore it would exercise its discretion and waive an examination the department required an applicant to fill out a form which asked for information on many subjects. Several of these subjects pertained to qualifications not mentioned in \u00a7 73.9. Apparently the department proceeded under the concept that an applicant under this section had to have the same basic qualifications as those required of an applicant for a funeral director under \u00a7 73.4, ch. 111\u00bd, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1953. These were that he be 21 years of age, a citizen of Illinois, of good moral character, of temperate habits, a registered embalmer licensed by the department and that he pass an examination to determine his fitness.\nThe department interpreted the two sections as differing mainly in the need for taking an examination. Whether this was the correct interpretation is not important under the facts of this case. It might be otherwise if the plaintiff were suing to compel the issuance of a license improperly withheld from him because of the exaction of standards in excess of statutory requirements, or if a license were refused him because of an arbitrary abuse of discretion. What is important here is the effect of the information, given in an application under \u00a7 73.9, upon the exercise of the department\u2019s discretion in issuing a certificate without an examination.\nThe department predicated the revocation of Lesniak\u2019s certificate upon \u00a7 73.10 and 10(a) of ch. 111%, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1953. These are as follows:\n\u201cSec. 10. The Department may either refuse to issue ... or may revoke any certificate of registration for anyone ... of the following causes: (a) The obtaining of ... a certificate of registration by fraudulent misrepresentation.\u201d\nThe conclusion reached in its decision was that Lesniak had \u201cknowingly falsely stated himself to be\u201d a resident of Chicago and a citizen of Illinois, \u201cin order to procure his license . . . and the same was obtained by him by fraudulent misrepresentations. . . .\u201d\nIt is manifest from this decision that Lesniak\u2019s false answers did influence the department and that a certificate would not have been granted him if he had truthfully answered that his permanent address was in Indiana and that he was a citizen of that state.\nJudgment affirmed.\nAffirmed.\nSCHWARTZ and McCORMICK, JJ., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "PRESIDING JUSTICE DEMPSEY"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Edward W. So win, of Chicago, for appellant.",
      "Grenville Beardsley, Attorney General of the State of Illinois (William C. Wines and Theodore G. Maheras, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel) for appellees."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Benjamin John Lesniak, Appellant, v. Department of Registration and Education of the State of Illinois, Administration Agency, Vera M. Binks, Director of Said Department, G. Nyle Huffman, Horace V. Clark, Harlan A. Williamson, Oliver V. Melvin and John P. Kringas, Members of the Funeral Directing and Embalming Committee Thereof and also F. B. Selecke, Superintendent of Registration of Said Department, Appellees.\nGen. No. 47,739.\nFirst District, First Division.\nFebruary 1, 1960.\nReleased for publication February 24, 1960.\nEdward W. So win, of Chicago, for appellant.\nGrenville Beardsley, Attorney General of the State of Illinois (William C. Wines and Theodore G. Maheras, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel) for appellees."
  },
  "file_name": "0153-01",
  "first_page_order": 163,
  "last_page_order": 167
}