Brinkerhoff v. Huntley

223 Ill. App. 580, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 289
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 2, 1921
DocketGen. No. 6,907
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 223 Ill. App. 580 (Brinkerhoff v. Huntley) 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
Brinkerhoff v. Huntley, 223 Ill. App. 580, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 289 (Ill. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Jones

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory order entered by the circuit court of McHenry county overruling a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction. The bill in this case was filed by Ellen E. Brinkerhoff et al. against the appellants, B. S'. Adams and The State Bank of Chicago, as executors and trustees under the last will of John Quincy Adams, and also against twenty-three other defendants. The material allegations of the bill so far as they affect the rights and interests of the appellees and appellants here are that Abram B. Brinkerhoff and John Quincy Adams were in their respective lifetimes engaged in a joint land venture in the State of South Dakota under a trading contract entered into between them on February 22, 1900. Under this contract Adams purchased extensive tracts of land in South Dakota with money advanced to him by Brinkerhoff. The title to the land was generally taken in Brinkerhoff’s name. Occasionally it was taken in the name of both Brinkerhoff and Adams. The lands were managed and disposed of under the contract by Adams and the profits were equally divided between the two parties. In addition to the lands they also acquired a large amount of property including horses and farm implements located in South Dakota, each having an undivided one-half interest therein. The said contract provided that nothing contained therein shall be deemed to create any relationship of partnership between the parties.

Brinkerhoff was a resident of Illinois and died seized and possessed of a large estate consisting of real estate in Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, S'outh Dakota and other States and also at least $200,000 in personal property. He died leaving a last will and testament in and bv which he devised and bequeathed all of his property to the Home Trust & Savings Bank of Elgin, Illinois, in trust, with directions to pay the entire net income therefrom to the' complainant herein, his widow, Ellen E. Brinkerhoff, during her lifetime and after her death to divide the estate among certain named beneficiaries. At the time of Brinkerhoff’s death in January, 1917, he had invested about $175,000 in the South Dakota property and Adams had invested about $45,000. The above-mentioned trading contract provided that Adams should have the right to sell any of the lands purchased under it after first giving Brinkerhoff an opportunity to buy. Subsequent to the death .of Brinkerhoff, Adams in November, 1917, acting under the provisions of said trading contract, offered to buy the entire interest of the Brinkerhoff estate in the South Dakota property, both real' and personal, for $200,000, or to sell his interest therein upon the same basis, taking into consideration the proportionate amounts of the investments of the respective parties. There were some infant devisees of Brinkerhoff but the offer of Adams to buy was accepted by the adult devisees including the complainant. A contract of sale was entered into between Adams and said adult devisees in and by which Adams agreed to purchase and the adult devisees agreed to sell to him all interest of the Brinkerhoff estate in said property in South Dakota for the sum of $200,000. Payment thereof was allowed to be made in first mortgage notes, of which $140,000 was to be secured by first mortgage on the lands covered by the contract and the' remaining $60,000 on other lands in South Dakota or elsewhere, as selected by Adams. These notes were to be delivered to the Mitchell Trust & Savings Bank of Mitchell, South Dakota, as ancillary administrator of the estate of Brinkerhoff, or to a trustee who might be appointed by some court in the State of South Dakota. Said notes were to be deposited on or before January 21, 1921.

The contract of sale further provided that Ellen E. Brinkerhoff should have the right to select mortgages to the amount of $26,666, which sum was the value fixed upon her interest in the property in South Dakota. The mortgages so to be selected by her were to be transferred to her free and clear of any trust or claim by any devisee under the Brinkerhoff will. It also provided that the Brinkerhoff heirs should procure without expense to Adams a decree of the probate court of Hanson county, South Dakota, approving the sale to Adams of the Brinkerhoff interests mentioned in the contract of sale. Various proceedings were afterwards had in the Hanson county court for the purpose of investing Adams with the legal title to all of said property. Under one of these proceedings the lands were struck off by the Mitchell Trust Company to Adams for $68,000; this bid was afterwards raised to $160,000. Upon the petition of the minors this sale was set aside and an appeal by Adams was taken, which appeal is now pending in the Hanson county circuit court. It is charged that in securing the decree of said court and in accepting said bid, Thomas S. Huntley, one of the principal beneficiaries under the will of Brinkerhoff, together with the Mitchell Trust Company and Herbert E. Hitchcock, its attorney, conspired and confederated together to defraud the complainant, but the bill expressly alleges that such conduct on their part was not with the knowledge or approval of Adams and was without his participation. Copies of various decretal orders and other proceedings in South Dakota are made a part of the complainant’s bill as exhibits. The bill further alleges that Adams then finding that he was not getting title to the said property through such court proceedings, • in Hanson county, filed a petition in the circuit court of Brule county, South Dakota, to quiet the title to the lands in question and alleges that the interests of Adams in the South Dakota lands at the time of the filing of his suit to quiet title is “the entire possession, ownership and control of said lands. ’ ’

The answer of Mrs. Brinkerhoff to this petition, as it is set out in the bill of complaint in this cause, admits, among other things, her willingness to have the contract of sale with Adams carried" put; that $200,000 fairly represents the value of the South Dakota property and that the sale should be carried out at that price in her own interests as well as that of her husband’s estate; but she asks that said contract be reformed as between herself and the other Brinkerhoff devisees so that her interest in the securities to be deposited by Adams shall be declared to be $100,000 instead of $26,666, and she also prays that the con- ■ tract he specifically enforced. The petition and answers filed in the South Dakota suit are made a part of the bill here and it appears that subsequent to the death of Brinkerhoff, his widow and Thomas S. Huntley, together with the other devisees under the Brinkerhoff will, agreed that Mrs. Brinkerhoff should accept the provisions made for her in her husband’s will and that her interest in the South Dakota property should be fixed at 4/30ths .thereof, or the said sum of $26,666; that afterwards she decided to renounce the provisions made for her in the last will of her husband and, by a subsequent agreement, the contract with Huntley and others, fixing her interest in said property, was canceled and rescinded. She thereafter claimed one-half of the purchase price of the property in South Dakota, or $100,000 instead of $26,666.

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Bluebook (online)
223 Ill. App. 580, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brinkerhoff-v-huntley-illappct-1921.