Anderson v. Kohler

              No. 2--05--1212 Filed: 10-4-07
______________________________________________________________________________
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT
______________________________________________________________________________
RICHARD A. ANDERSON and ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
SANDRA P. ANDERSON, ) of De Kalb County.
)
Plaintiffs-Appellants, ))
v. ) No. 00--CH--16
)
DONALD J. KOHLER, BETTY J. )
KOHLER, and ARROWHEAD ) Honorable
DEVELOPMENT GROUP, ) Douglas R. Engel and
) Richard J. Larson,
Defendants-Appellees. ) Judges, Presiding.
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JUSTICE O'MALLEY delivered the opinion of the court:
Plaintiffs, Richard A. Anderson and Sandra P. Anderson, appeal the judgment of the trial
court in favor of defendants, Donald J. Kohler, Betty J. Kohler, and Arrowhead Development Group,
following a bench trial on plaintiffs' complaint. We agree with plaintiffs that the trial court violated
their due process rights when, over their objection, the court relied on a transcript of their case-in-chief
from a prior trial on their complaint rather than let them present their case-in-chief anew before
the court. We reverse and remand.
The background of this matter is set forth in our prior decision, Anderson v. Kohler, No. 2--
02--1274 (2003) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23), and we recapitulate only what
is necessary to explain our decision here. Plaintiffs sued defendants on an alleged oral contract for
the sale of the Kohlers' land to plaintiffs. The complaint proceeded to a bench trial before Judge