Zeh v. Wheeler

Plaintiff, Josephine Zeh, appealed from an order of the circuit court of Cook County dismissing with prejudice her amended complaint on the ground that the amendment did not relate back to the date of the filing of the original complaint and thus was barred by the statute of limitations. The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court (126 Ill. App.3d 1155) in a Rule 23 order (87 Ill.2d R. 23). We granted plaintiff's petition for leave to appeal (94 Ill.2d R. 315). The case is before us on the pleadings. On February 17, 1979, plaintiff allegedly sustained personal injury while descending a common stairway of an apartment building in Chicago. On February 2, 1981, 15 days before the running of the limitations period, plaintiff filed a one-count complaint in the circuit court of Cook County. The original complaint alleged that defendants, John B. Wheeler, John B. Wheeler Company, Claud Hess and Agnes Hess, owned, operated, managed, and controlled an apartment building located at 4400 South Wallace in the city of Chicago; that defendants negligently maintained a stairway in common use by the tenants of said premises, and negligently permitted said stairway to be in a defective and hazardous condition; that plaintiff was caused to fall by reason of certain unnatural accumulations of water and ice on such stairway; and that as a proximate result, plaintiff, due to the negligence of defendants, sustained personal injuries.