Judge Set Trial Date, But Court Clerk Has No Knowledge

[MidwestTech]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

The IL Dept. of Labor (IDOL) has filed a civil suit against my former employer in the Circuit Court of Cook County, IL, and I am a witness for the IDOL. On the date of trial, in June, the defendant did not show up. The judge awarded the plaintiff (the IDOL) a default judgement.

The defendant had 30 calendar days to file a motion to vacate the default judgement. Within 30 days, the defendant did file such a motion. The motion to vacate was granted, and a new trial date was set for mid-November 2009.

The hearing at which the motion to vacate was granted and the new trial date was set, was held in early August. It is now 3 weeks later, and the Cook County Circuit Court clerk's office has no record of the mid-November trial date. According to the clerk's office, the last court date in the case was the hearing in early August, and there is no mid-November court date.

I went to the courthouse and looked at the case file, and the only mention in the file of a mid-November court date is some handwritten note on some piece of paper.

All of this has made me wonder whether the judge's granting of the motion to vacate was official and whether the new trial date was official.

The Labor Dept. is being represented by the IL Attorney General (AG). I spoke to an attorney who is handling the case for the AG, and the attorney told me that the new trial date is official and that the court clerk simply does not have all of the information about all cases. However, I am still concerned.

So, if the court clerk does not know about the mid-November trial date, does that mean that the judge did not properly set the trial date?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Ronin]

...I spoke to an attorney who is handling the case for the AG, and the attorney told me that the new trial date is official and that the court clerk simply does not have all of the information about all cases. However, I am still concerned.

Concerned about what??

You have no understanding of rules of procedure, you base your questions only upon what you "feel" procedures should be, and you ask members of this forum to second guess the advice of an attorney who has more knowlege of the facts in your case than has been posted here. From your prior posts, although you feel your attorney is only a junior attorney, the A.G. Office does get to pick from the cream of the crop of graduating attorneys.

If the judge verbally ruled to grant the defendants motion and approved a new trial setting, then it is official. The attorney is correct that the Clerk does not have all of the information about all of the cases.

Consider purchasing and reading an annotated version of the Illinois Rules of Proocedure - Civil Trials to best answer the types of questions you have. They cover the topics you have questions on. The best ones are found at law school bookstores, and are often the ones you see attorneys carrying to court hearings.

 

[MidwestTech]

Concerned about what??


If the judge verbally ruled to grant the defendants motion and approved a new trial setting, then it is official. The attorney is correct that the Clerk does not have all of the information about all of the cases.

There is an old saying: Verbal agreements are not worth the paper they're written on.

Are you SURE that, if a judge ruled something verbally or orally, then that ruling is official? Isn't there some paperwork that has to be filed somewhere according to some procedure?


Also, this particular AG attorney has been wrong before. After we got a default judgement at the first trial, this particular attorney told me that, if the defendant filed a motion to vacate the judgement, the defendant would have an uphill battle. The defendant would have to have a very good excuse for not showing up for the trial.

However, after the motion to vacate was granted, people on this forum and on a different forum told me that judges almost always grant a motion to vacate a default judgement.


And why would a government office get the cream of the crop? Government jobs pay very little, compared to what private law firms pay. The best attorneys would go to the highest-paying jobs.


And what am I concerned about? I am concerned that, if the court clerk has no record of any court date, then there will be a situation where both sides will go to court and will be told that there will be no trial that day.

It's like a hotel reservation. What happens if you go to the front desk and there is no record of the reservation? You get no hotel room. I don't want to wait three months for a November trial, only to be told that there will be no trial on that date because the judge forgot to file the proper paperwork with the court clerk's office.