Court & Hearings

Note: This video is only available in English. 

A video for attorneys by the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. In this video, you will learn about the issues you might have to overcome if you voluntarily dismiss a case. 

Additional context:

• The term "before trial When the issues of a case are heard in court and decided by a judge or jury " is used in the presentation but isn’t clearly defined. The Illinois Supreme Court in Kahle v. John Deere Company, 104 Ill. 2d 302 (1984), clarified that a trial has not begun if the jury has not been selected or sworn in and no opening statements have been made. Pre-trial hearings, such as those addressing procedural motions, occur before the trial officially begins.
• Under current Illinois law, once arbitration When parties present their case to a third person instead of going to court. The arbitrator’s decision is binding. This means it becomes part of the final judgment even if the parties don’t agree with it. is over, the plaintiff A person or party that starts a lawsuit still has the right to reject the award and then dismiss the case. In Perez v. Leibowitz, 215 Ill. App. 3d 900, 159 Ill. Dec. 487, 576 N.E.2d 156 (1991), the court held that arbitration is a substitute for a court proceeding but is not considered a trial or hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer under § 2-1009. However, to preserve the right to dismiss, the plaintiff or defendant The person or organization being sued in a lawsuit must reject the arbitration award within 30 days, as required by Illinois Supreme Court Rule 93(a). George v. Ospalik, 299 Ill. App. 3d 888, 702 N.E.2d 982 (1998).