The Illinois Supreme Court has decided a number of cases in recent years involving choices between form and substance or strict and substantial compliance. In most (but not all) cases, a majority of the Justices have sided with substantial compliance and proceeded to the merits. The Court took one more such case as the March term wound down. Huber v. American Accounting Association, a decision from the Fourth District, poses a question of considerable interest to appellate lawyers: what proof of timely filing is required when a notice of appeal is mailed before the due date, but not received by the clerk until after?

The defendant association incorporated in 1935. In 1996, the State dissolved the Association for failure to file an annual report. Six years later, the Association incorporated again, but the new entity appears to have been a shell; the Association deposited all dues paid by members into the 1935 Association’s account, and no assets were merged. In June 2011, the Association sought to voluntarily dissolve the 2002 entity and reinstate the 1935 entity. Both requests were granted.

Two months later, the plaintiff petitioned to dissolve the 1935 entity and vacate the dissolution of the 2002 entity, and then to judicially dissolve the 2002 Association for misconduct. The Association moved to dismiss, arguing (1) that there was no jurisdiction over the long-dissolved 2002 entity; (2) the plaintiff had no standing, having never been a member of the 2002 Association; (3) plaintiff was not entitled to any relief against the 1935 Association, having alleged no misconduct by the earlier entity; and (4) plaintiff failed to make the necessary showings for a preliminary injunction. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss.

The plaintiff appealed, but the defendant raised a preliminary issue: whether the plaintiff had timely filed a Notice of Appeal sufficient to give the Appellate Court jurisdiction over the appeal.

The judgment in Huber was filed on March 6. Rule 303(a) provides that a notice of appeal has to be filed within 30 days of the entry of the judgment or final order appealed from.

But Illinois also has a mailbox rule of sorts. According to Rule 373:

If received after the due date, the time of mailing, or the time of delivery to a third-party commercial carrier for delivery to the clerk within three business days, shall be deemed the time of filing. Proof of mailing or delivery to a third-party commercial carrier shall be as provided in Rule 12(b)(3).

Rule 12(b)(3) provides that proof of service consists of a “certificate of the attorney, or affidavit of a person other than the attorney, who deposited the document in the mail or delivered the document to a third-party commercial carrier, stating the time and place of mailing or delivery, the complete address which appeared on the envelope or package, and the fact that proper postage or the delivery charge was prepaid.”

The clerk received the plaintiff’s Notice of Appeal on April 9, thirty-four days after judgment. The envelope in which the NOA arrived clearly showed a postmark date of April 3 – twenty-seven days after entry of judgment, three days before the deadline.

What the NOA didn’t have, however, was either of the required proofs from Rule 12(b)(3) – an attorney’s certificate or a non-attorney affidavit.

So: is a NOA clearly mailed before the deadline nevertheless untimely because it didn’t prove mailing in the proper way?

The Appellate Court districts are split on the issue. The Second District held in People v. Hansen that a clearly legible postmark was good enough, notwithstanding the lack of an appropriate proof of service. The First (People v. Tlatenchi) and Fourth (People v. Smith and People v. Blalock)Districts have held that an attorney certificate or affidavit is necessary in every case.

The Huber Court sided with the Fourth District, following Blalock. Because the plaintiff didn’t comply with Rule 12(b)(3), the limited mailbox rule in Rule 373 didn’t apply. “[P]roof of a postmarked envelope contained within the record does not correct this defect,” the Court wrote, “nor does it serve as a substitute for the omitted affidavit.” The plaintiff’s notice of appeal was accordingly untimely, and the appeal was dismissed.

We expect a decision in Huber in eight to twelve months.

Image courtesy of Flickr by WallyGrom (no changes).