Bonhiver v. State Bank of Clearing

331 N.E.2d 390, 29 Ill. App. 3d 794, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2507
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 5, 1975
Docket55884
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 331 N.E.2d 390 (Bonhiver v. State Bank of Clearing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonhiver v. State Bank of Clearing, 331 N.E.2d 390, 29 Ill. App. 3d 794, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2507 (Ill. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE MEJDA

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Homer A. Bonhiver (Bonhiver), as the Minnesota court receiver of American Allied Insurance Company, a Minnesota corporation (American Allied), filed a fourth amended complaint which sought to impress a constructive trust as to a certain Time Certificate of Deposit No. 2170 [TCD 2170], issued by defendant State Bank of Clearing, an Illinois banking corporation [State Bank], to “Phillip Kitzer and his nominee or nominees,” or to the proceeds of TCD 2170. State Bank filed an answer and counterclaim which alleged that it rightfully applied the proceeds of TCD 2170 against an outstanding loan due from Phillip Kitzer, Sr. (Kitzer, Sr.). James Baylor (Baylor), as Director of Insurance of the State of Illinois and liquidator for Bell Mutual Casualty Company (Bell Mutual) and Bell Casualty Company (Bell Casualty), both Illinois corporations, was granted leave to intervene, and counterclaimed against plaintiff and all other parties, alleging ownership of TCD 2170 and its proceeds as an asset of Bell Mutual and Bell Casualty. At the conclusion of the evidence presented by all parties the trial judge sitting in chancery entered judgment that Bonhiver is entitled to TCD 2170; that the evidence does not support the claim of Baylor; and that Bonhiver have judgment against State Bank for $100,000 with interest to July 26, 1965, as specified in TCD 2170 and thereafter at the rate provided by law. State Bank and Baylor have filed separate appeals from the judgment entered.

Numerous pleadings were filed by all parties and extensive testimony taken at trial. On the whole, the facts relied upon by each party to support its claim to the proceeds are not disputed. Those facts are as follows:

I. The Kitzer Empire. During the time in question Kitzer, Sr. was president and director of four corporations: Bell Mutual, Bell Casualty, American Allied, and the Plymouth Insurance Agency, Inc. (Plymouth), an Illinois corporation. American Allied owned all the stock of Allied Realty of St, Paul, Inc., a Minnesota corporation, which was the sole stockholder of Bell Casualty. American Allied also owned all of the guaranty fund certificates of Bell Mutual. Prior to February 1, 1965, all of the American Allied stock was owned by Kitzer, Sr., and his son Phillip Kitzer, Jr., in joint tenancy. After- February 1, 1965, Kitzer, Sr., was the sole stockholder.

In addition, Kitzer, Sr., was president and sole stockholder of United States Mutual Insurance Company of Minnesota, Bell Premium Finance Company of Illinois, Exchange Reinsurance Company of London, England, and of Bell Mutual. He had founded Plymouth which was used as a vehicle for directing insurance business to his other companies. Plymouth was owned by Kitzer, Sr., and Kitzer, Jr., who deposited their personal assets in this agency “to produce money for these companies to operate.” Kitzer, Sr., testified that the funds on deposit with the agency were used to incorporate the various other companies that the Kitzers owned and to provide capital to Kitzer, Sr., so that he could secure loans from various banking institutions. He then took the proceeds of these loans, or collateral purchased therewith, and from time to time deposited them with his other companies when they were under investigation by various State departments of insurance.

Kitzer, Sr., testified that brokers’ deposits from all the companies were deposited to a Transamerican Agency premium trust account, then transferred to the individual companies. His testimony shows that it was his usual practice to put personal funds into the Plymouth account and withdraw funds from both Plymouth and Transamerican and use those funds alone, or after borrowing additional funds, deposit them with his insurance companies to reflect solvency on the books of those companies to satisfy Minnesota and Illinois Departments of Insurance audits. The procedure was quite simple. Kitzer, Sr., would direct funds from solvent companies into one or the other of the agencies, draw a check on that agency and use it as collateral for a larger loan. The proceeds were sometimes converted into negotiable or nonnegotiable collateral. Nevertheless, the collateral obtained would be transfered to a company which was facing a department of insurance audit and which was either insolvent or close to so being. It was the common practice of Kitzer, Sr., to transfer collateral, however obtained, among his companies whose books evidenced an understatement of capital.

II. The Transaction. Some time prior to January of 1965, several checking accounts were maintained at State Bank — one in the name of Phillip Kitzer, Sr., one in the name of Bell Mutual, another in the name of Bell Casualty, and the last one in the name of Bell Premium Finance Company. For some years prior to the time Kitzer, Sr., deposited with and borrowed from the State Bank large sums of money in both his own name and for those companies which had accounts with State Bank. Since 1962 the bank had made various loans to Kitzer which exceeded $4 million and consisted of secured as well as unsecured loans.

On January 25, 1965, Kitzer, Sr., discussed with Paul Bere, vice-president of State Bank, the possibility of making a $300,000 deposit. Bere had had previous dealings with Kitzer since 1962 when the above four accounts were opened. It appears that Kitzer, Sr., was the only person who represented the four companies in the discussions with Bere. At the meeting on January 25, Kitzer, Sr., sought to have State Bank issue three time certificates of deposit each in the amount of $100,000, in his name. He offered to deposit $150,000 into his personal checking account, and sought to borrow the remaining $150,000 from the bank. Bere agreed to the proposal and Kitzer, Sr., deposited to his account at the bank a check of Plymouth Insurance Agency made payable to State Bank. Bere knew that Kitzer was president of Plymouth. The $150,000 loaned to Kitzer, Sr., was evidenced by an unsecured installment note. Both the loan proceeds and the Plymouth check for $150,000 were deposited to Kitzer’s personal checking account. Immediately, $300,000 was withdrawn from the account and applied to time deposits evidenced by three time certificates of deposit, each for $100,000, bearing numbers 2170, 2171 and 2172. Each of the TCDs matured in 6 months from the date of issuance, on July 25, 1965, and each certificate stated on the reverse side that it was nonnegotiable. Kitzer, Sr., asked Bere to designate the owner of each certificate as “Phillip Kitzer and his nominee or nominees,” and they were so issued. At trial, Kitzer, Sr., testified that the purpose of obtaining the certificates was to enable his Illinois corporations to show larger account balances in an effort to avoid liquidation upon examination by the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Bere testified that although he had met Phillip Kitzer, Jr., he had dealt almost exclusively with Kitzer, Sr. He further stated that Phillip Kitzer, Sr., was designated on the bank records as either Phillip Kitzer or Phillip Kitzer, Sr.

III. Claim of Homer Bonhiver. In the fall of 1964 the Minnesota Department of Insurance commenced an examination of the financial affairs of American Allied to ascertain the financial status of the company as of December 31, 1964.

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Bluebook (online)
331 N.E.2d 390, 29 Ill. App. 3d 794, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonhiver-v-state-bank-of-clearing-illappct-1975.