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City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.11/18/2004
e not exacting, failed to hold the plaintiffs to the fact-pleading standard that this court has repeatedly stated is applicable to civil cases in Illinois. See, e.g., Weiss v. Waterhouse Securities, Inc., 208 Ill. 2d 439, 451 (2004) (noting that this court has stated "time and again" that Illinois is a fact-pleading jurisdiction). Specifically, these defendants claim that the only factual allegation made regarding their conduct is that they lawfully sell firearms to licensed distributors. In addition, they assert that the complaint offers no facts to support its conclusory allegations regarding their knowledge and intent. They contend that the complaint fails to plead factual allegations sufficient to state a claim as to any of the individual manufacturer defendants. In their reply brief, the distributor defendants adopt these arguments.
Further, these defendants suggest that the appellate court improperly relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio in City of Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 95 Ohio St. 3d 416, 768 N.E.2d 1136 (2002), when it found the Ohio court's decision to be "an analogous and instructive case that permits this type of lawsuit to go beyond the pleading stage." 337 Ill. App. 3d at 16. Ohio is a notice-pleading state and, under the notice-pleading standard, a plaintiff is not required to plead operative facts with particularity. City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 423-24, 768 N.E.2d at 1146. Rather, the complaint need only contain a short and plain statement of the claim which shows that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. If there is any set of facts consistent with the plaintiff's complaint that would allow recovery, the court in a notice-pleading jurisdiction may not grant a defendant's motion to dismiss on the pleadings. City of Cincinnati, 95 Ohio St. 3d at 424, 768 N.E.2d at 1146.
When looking to cases from other jurisdictions to determine whether the complaint should be dismissed on the pleadings, a court must keep in mind that pleading standards vary. Fact pleading imposes a heavier burden on the plaintiff, so that a complaint that would survive a motion to dismiss in a notice-pleading jurisdiction might not do so in a fact-pleading jurisdiction. See, e.g., People ex rel. Madigan v. Tang, 346 Ill. App. 3d 277, 286 (2004) (noting that in action to hold corporate officer personally liable for public nuisance, the burden of pleading facts may be "heavier" than the burden on the plaintiffs in the cited cases from other jurisdictions).
Under our fact-pleading standard, the plaintiff must allege facts sufficient to bring a claim within a legally recognized cause of action. Vernon v. Schuster, 179 Ill. 2d 338, 344 (1997). " he requirement that a complaint set forth facts necessary for recovery under the theory asserted is not satisfied, in the absence of the necessary allegations, by the general policy favoring the liberal construction of pleadings." Teter v. Clemens, 112 Ill. 2d 252, 256-57 (1986). Thus, in considering a motion to dismiss, a court must disregard the conclusions that are pleaded and look only to well-pleaded facts to determine whether they are sufficient to state a cause of action against the defendant. If not, the motion must be granted, "regardless of how many conclusions the count may contain and regardless of whether or not they inform the defendant in a general way of the nature of the claim against him." Knox College v. Celotex Corp., 88 Ill. 2d 407, 426 (1981).
However, despite the requirement that the complaint must contain allegations of fact bringing the case within the cause of action, "the plaintiff is not required to set out evidence; only the ultimate facts to be proved should be alleged, not the evidenti
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