People v. Stefanski

              No. 2--06--1176 Filed: 11-26-07
______________________________________________________________________________
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT
______________________________________________________________________________
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
OF ILLINOIS, ) of McHenry County.
)
Plaintiff-Appellant, ))
v. ) No. 05--TR--20381
)
DANIEL STEFANSKI, ) Honorable
) Gordon E. Graham,
Defendant-Appellee. ) Judge, Presiding.
______________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE CALLUM delivered the opinion of the court:
The State appeals the trial court's award of sanctions to the defendant, Daniel Stefanski, under
Supreme Court Rule 137 (155 Ill. 2d R. 137), after the State filed two notices of motion that violated
local court rules and one that was not properly placed on the court call. We determine that the trial
court erred when it determined that sanctions were appropriate for a "needless increase in the cost
of litigation" (155 Ill. 2d R. 137) in the absence of evidence of bad faith on the part of the State.
However, we affirm because the notices were also not well-grounded in law.
I. BACKGROUND
On April 15, 2005, Stefanski was arrested for driving under the influence (625 ILCS 5/11--
501(a)(2) (West 2004)). Stefanski refused a Breathalyzer test, resulting in the summary suspension
of his driver's license (625 ILCS 5/2--118.1(b)(3) (West 2004)). On April 21, 2005, he filed a
petition to rescind the summary suspension.