ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September 3,
1992
JOSEPH B.
STRATTON and
)
PANELA
J.
STRATTON,
)
)
Complainants,
)
v.
)
PCB 90—108
)
(Enforcement)
CHARLES N. ROCK and
)
LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA,
)
)
Respondents.
ORDER OFTHE BOARD
(by J. Theodore Meyer):
This matter is before the Board on two motions.
On August
3,
1992,
respondent Little Caesars Pizza
(Little Caesars)
filed a
motion for summary judgment.
On August
4,
1992,
complainants
Joseph and Pamela Stratton filed a motion to withdraw their
complaint against Little Caesars.
On August 17,
1992, at the
request of the hearing officer,
the Strattons filed a corrected
motion to withdraw, clarifying that they also seek to withdraw
their complaint against Charles N. Rock.
Also on August
17,
Little Caesars filed an objection to the Strattons’ request to
withdraw their complaint.’
The Board grants the Strattons’ motion to withdraw their
complaint against both respondents.
The Board notes that Little
Caesars objects to granting the motion to withdraw, arguing that
the Strattons should not be allowed to avoid the effect
of prior
admissions, which Little Caesars contends entitle it to a
judgment as
a matter of law, by withdrawing the complaint.
However,
the Board does not find that the Strattons’ request to
withdraw their complaint is an attempt to avoid a ruling on the
motion for summary judgment.
The Strattons’ motion to withdraw
is dated July
29,
1992
(there is no separate proof
of service),
while the proof of service for Little Caesars’ motion for summary
judgment states that the motion was mailed on July 31,
1992.
The
Strattons have chosen to withdraw their complaint, and the Board
finds nothing improper about the request.
The motion to withdraw
the complaint is granted, and this case is dismissed.
Because the complaint has been withdrawn and the case
dismissed, Little Caesars’ motion for summary judgment is moot.
However,
the Board feels compelled to address several assertions
Little Caesars’ August
17 filing also included a motion to
continue the September 10 hearing scheduled in this case.
The
hearing officer granted that motion to continue on August
18.
O135-O~8I
2
in that motion.
Little Caesars’ motion is premised upon its
contention that the Strattons, by failing to respond to Little
Caesars’ request for admission of facts, have admitted facts
which entitle Little Caesars to summary judgment.
The motion
then goes on to state:
5.
LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA,
to avoid incurring
unnecessary costs, has taken st,~psto discontinue
preparations for the September 10,
1992 hearing, and to
release the witnesses that were to be called to provide
testimony at that time.
The undersigned counsel for
LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA has also taken vacation, beginning
August
1,
1992,
and for the ten
(10) days that follow.
6.
It will be a violation of LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA’S
due process rights, and a charge against the integrity
of the Pollution Control Board’s proceedings,
if
summary judgment is not, under the circumstances,
granted to the Respondents.
(Motion at 3.)
It is,
of course, within Little Caesars’ counsel’s
discretion to take the risk,
on July 31,
to discontinue
preparations for a September 10 hearing, based upon a motion for
summary judgment which had not yet been filed, much less ruled
upon.
However, any implication that a denial of summary judgment
would deny Little Caesars due process because of the
discontinuation of hearing preparations,
is erroneous.
If the
Board had reached the issue of summary judgment, its decision
would have been based on whether there was any genuine issue of
material fact entitling Little Caesars to judgment as a matter of
law, not based upon attacks on the integrity of Board
proceedings.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act
(Il1.Rev.Stat.
1991,
ch.
111½
,
par.
1041) provides for the
appeal of final Board orders.
The Rules of the Supreme Court of
Illinois establish filing requirements.
(But see also 35
Ill.Adm.Code 101.246 “Motions for Reconsideration” and Casteriada
v.
Illinois Human Rights Commission
(1989),
132 Ill.2d
304,
547
N.E.2d 437.)
O135-O~82
3
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby cert’fy that the above order was adopted on the
~
day of
______________,
1992, by a vote of
7-~
Dorothy N./Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
01 35-O~83