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13 Ill. 667

Shaffer v. Currier

Illinois Supreme Court

Decided June 15, 1852

Illinois Supreme Court · decided 1852-06-15

Daniel Currier sued Shaffer before a justice of the peace. On the trial before the justice, Shaffer recovered a judgment against the plaintiff Currier, for the sum of thirty dollars. Currier took an appeal from the decision of the justice, to the Circuit Court of Ogle county.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1852-06-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently May 1932

4 state decisions

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Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Treat, C. J.

¶1Currier, to the use of Marshall, brought an action against Shaffer before a justice of the peace, which resulted in a judgment in favor of the latter for $30. Currier prosecuted an appeal to the Circuit Court, where the cause was tried, and a verdict returned in favor of Shaffer for five cents. A new trial was granted on his application. The Court then sustained a motion made by Currier, to dismiss the suit at the costs of Shaffer. The judgment for costs against Shaffer was clearly erroneous. Currier being the plaintiff", had an undoubted right to dismiss the suit, but it should have been done at his costs. If a plaintiff voluntarily abandons his case, he must be adjudged to pay the costs. He is not entitled to a judgment for costs against the defendant, until he has successfully prosecuted the action to final judgment against him. The judgment before the justice was opened by the appeal, and, as a matter of course, fell with the dismissal of the case.

¶2The judgment for costs must be reversed, and the cause be remanded to the Circuit Court, with directions to enter a judgment against Currier for the costs of the case.

¶3Judgment reversed.

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