Klose v. Mende

              No. 3–06–0249
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Filed January 28, 2008
IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
THIRD DISTRICT
A.D., 2008
JEROME B. KLOSE and RUTH C. KLOSE, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) for the 13th Judicial Circuit,
) LaSalle County, Illinois
)
v. ) No. 00–MR–123
)
FREDERICK E. MENDE, COMMISSIONER ) Honorable
OF HIGHWAYS, MERIDEN TOWNSHIP, ) Eugene P. Daugherity
LASALLE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, ) Judge, Presiding
Defendant-Appellee. )
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JUSTICE O’BRIEN delivered the opinion of the court:
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Defendant Frederick Mende, as commissioner of highways of Meriden Township (hereinafter
township), brought this motion to reopen proofs pursuant to section 2-1401 of the Code of Civil
Procedure in a declaratory action filed by plaintiffs Jerome and Ruth Klose. 735 ILCS 5/2-1401
(West 2002). The trial court granted Mende’s motion and the Kloses appealed. We affirm.
FACTS
This action began in 2000 when the township sent notice to the Kloses that it intended to
improve North 4550th Road by blacktopping it eastward from East 10th Road a distance of 3,000 feet,
requiring the 66 feet of right-of-way to be available. The Kloses’ land is bounded on the north and
west sides, respectively, by the roads. According to commissioner Mende, the township had acquired
a right to a 66-foot-wide right-of-way by statutory dedication in 1856. As proof of the right, Mende
sent the Kloses certain pages of the township ledger kept by the Meriden township clerk which