Cain v. Barsaloux

132 N.E. 575, 299 Ill. 371
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1921
DocketNo. 14079
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 132 N.E. 575 (Cain v. Barsaloux) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cain v. Barsaloux, 132 N.E. 575, 299 Ill. 371 (Ill. 1921).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Carter

delivered the opinion of the court:

The bill in this case was filed by appellant on January 25, 1921, in the superior court of Cook county, praying that a quit-claim deed from appellant to Paul K. Barsaloux be set aside, that an accounting be had and appellant allowed to redeem the premises mentioned in the deed from a master’s sale had under certain foreclosure proceedings. A demurrer was filed to the bill, which was sustained by the trial court and an order entered dismissing the bill for want of equity, and this appeal has been prayed to review the proceedings.

Appellant became the owner of a lot and the improvements thereon at 1535-1537 East Sixty-first street, in Chicago, in 1917. The premises at that time appear to have been encumbered by two trust deeds. Appellant entered the United States military service April 26, 1918, and remained in that service until his honorable discharge, June 25, 1919. During that time foreclosure proceedings were instituted by Plarry Phillips to foreclose the second trust deed on the premises. From the allegations of the bill in this case Phillips appears to have died, and his executor, the State Bank of Chicago, was substituted as complainant, and thereafter, by an amendment to the bill for foreclosure, Paul K. Barsaloux was named as complainant and the proceedings were prosecuted in his name. The bill in this case represents that an affidavit of non-residence as to appellant was filed in the course of the foreclosure proceedings and that James G. Barsaloux was appointed receiver, and on November 25, 1919, a default order was entered, in which it was declared that “Henry N. Cain” was in default after service of process, and that a decree of foreclosure was entered for the sum of $6085.09, which included $400 as solicitor’s fees, in default of payment of which said premises were decreed to be sold, and that they were sold on December 17, 1919, to Paul K. Barsaloux for $3500. August 28, 1920, appellant gave a quit-claim deed of his interest in the premises to Barsaloux, and subsequently a new trust deed was given by Barsaloux to the Chicago Trust Company, which was made a party to this proceeding.

The bill alleges that no notice, either personal or by publication, was ever served upon appellant; that appellant had no knowledge of the proceedings to foreclose the trust deed until he was so informed by James G. Barsaloux, who told him that the first trust deed had been foreclosed for the sum of $15,000 and that appellant would be liable for a large deficiency, and that the property was being run at a loss by him as receiver. The bill further alleges that both the receiver, James G. Barsaloux, and appellee Paul K. Barsaloux, knew the correct address of appellant, and that the same was Indianapolis, Indiana, and not Gary, Indiana, as stated in the affidavit of non-residence, upon which the jurisdiction over appellant was supposed to be based. The bill further alleges that the second trust deed on the property was the one which was the subject of the foreclosure proceedings and that the first trust deed had not been foreclosed, and that the statement of James G. Barsaloux to appellant that the first trust deed had been foreclosed was false; that thereafter the solicitor representing Paul K. Barsaloux in the foreclosure proceedings offered to pay appellant something for a release of his interest in the property, and as the result of this information and a talk with the solicitor, $900 was paid by the solicitor for Paul K. Barsaloux to appellant and a quit-claim deed was executed by him of his interest in the property and the deed thereafter recorded; that appellant executed this quit-claim deed in reliance upon the truthfulness of James G. Barsaloux’s statements regarding the supposed foreclosure of the first trust deed and appellant’s liability for a large deficiency thereunder; that as a matter of fact the premises were reasonably worth $35,000; that $1000 had been paid on the first trust deed. The bill asks for an accounting as to the moneys received and paid out by the receiver and offers to re-pay the $900 given to him for executing the quit-claim deed for his interest in the property.

It is evident that even though the decree and sale in the original foreclosure proceedings were set aside, if the quit-claim deed is valid it would convey whatever interest or equity of redemption appellant might have in the premises, and therefore it would be of no avail for him to attack the foreclosure proceedings alone, but under the averments of this bill, admitted as true for the purposes of this case by the demurrer, the quit-claim deed was given as a result of fraudulent representations made to the appellant by Paul K. Barsaloux and others for him, and therefore might, if the testimony taken in the trial court should warrant, be set aside by that court. In that case the question as to the affidavit of non-residence, and other matters set out in the bill as nullifying the decree and sale in the foreclosure proceedings would become important.

When the deed was delivered conveying the premises in question to appellant he was charged with knowledge of the encumbrances if the deed was made subject to them. Appellant well knew that he would have to pay the interest on the notes secured by the trust deeds and that the principal thereof would have to be paid when due, but he insists here in his bill that he was misled by the statements made by Barsaloux when he (the appellant) returned from military service, and being a resident of another State he was unfamiliar with legal process and proceedings in this State. Of course, his lack of knowledge of court procedure here would be no legal excuse for his failure to protect his interests in the property in which he had an equity. The bill charges that the claimant, Paul K. Barsaloux, knew that appellant’s residence was Indianapolis, and not Gary, Indiana, as given in the affidavit of non-residence. While the original bill was filed in the foreclosure proceedings by Phillips and Paul K. Barsaloux was afterwards made party complainant, the bill in this proceeding does not clearly set out the time when the affidavit as to the non-residence of appellant was filed in the original foreclosure proceedings. The bill here is somewhat loosely drawn, but, fairly construed, we think it must be held that it charges that the affidavit of non-residence was made by Paul K. Barsaloux, or some one for him, after he became complainant; that both he and the receiver, James G. Barsaloux, knew that the residence of appellant was Indianapolis, and that the affidavit of non-residence, upon which the order of default was based, fixes his residence at Gary instead of Indianapolis. The general demurrer to the bill, which was sustained, admits the misrepresentation by the affidavit as to the place where appellant resided and amounts to an admission of fraud, according to the legal effect of a demurrer, in obtaining jurisdiction of appellant. While the bill is not very accurately drawn in this case, we think it sets up sufficient ground for equitable relief for appellant as to the lack of notice of service by publication upon him. If sufficient ground is stated in a bill for equitable relief, a demurrer to it should be overruled, however imperfect the manner of the statement of the cause of action may be. 21 Corpus Juris, 440; Wormley v. Wormley, 207 Ill. 411; Cohen v. Segal, 253 id. 34; Seymour v. Woodstock Traction Co. 281 id. 84.

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Related

Chicago Title and Trust Co. v. Glos
158 N.E. 722 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1927)
Farmers Bank v. Ryan
223 Ill. App. 491 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
132 N.E. 575, 299 Ill. 371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cain-v-barsaloux-ill-1921.