Chonowski v. Bonucci

267 N.E.2d 671, 47 Ill. 2d 519, 1971 Ill. LEXIS 458
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1971
Docket42504
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 267 N.E.2d 671 (Chonowski v. Bonucci) 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
Chonowski v. Bonucci, 267 N.E.2d 671, 47 Ill. 2d 519, 1971 Ill. LEXIS 458 (Ill. 1971).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Schaefer

delivered the opinion of the court:

On February 28, 1968, the appellants, Donald Chonowski, Helen Chonowski, and Joseph Mertel, filed a petition in the circuit court of La Salle County, seeking to vacate an execution sale of real estate made on March 6, 1967, to the appellee, Herman L. Bonucci. The Chonowskis are judgment creditors of Midway La Salle Building Corporation (hereinafter “Midway”), the former owner of the property in question, and certain items in the record indicate that Donald Chonowski was also the president of Midway at some point. Mertel is the assignee of a portion of the Chonowskis’ claim. The circuit court granted the appellee’s motion to dismiss the petition, and the appellants appeal directly to this court on the ground that the appellee’s failure to give them notice by mail in advance of the sale deprived them of due process of law.

An understanding of the issue presented by this appeal requires a narration of various proceedings which antedated the sale. During the period from i960 to 1963 a number of Midway’s creditors, including appellants, secured judgments by confession against it in an aggregate amount of approximately $163,000. The judgments in favor of appellants were entered on April 30, 1962, and totaled some $71,000. On May 1, 1962, another creditor of Midway, who held a mortgage secured by the real estate involved in the present proceeding, obtained a decree of foreclosure pursuant to which the property was sold. Some of Midway’s judgment creditors, not including appellants however, were made parties to that action. The proceeds of the mortgage foreclosure sale, amounting to $54,700, were sufficient only to pay off the mortgagee, and the judgments of all the other creditors remained unsatisfied.

On June 24, 1963, Paul and Marion Schweickert, who held a judgment against Midway, effected a redemption, and on August 13 they brought an action in the circuit court to foreclose the equitable liens arising out of their redemption and their unsatisfied judgment. Appellants and all other judgment creditors of Midway were made parties to this action. After it was commenced, the appellee acquired the interests of the Schweickerts and of another creditor, and he was added as a party plaintiff.

On November 15, 1965, a decree was entered finding that the appellee was entitled to the principal sum of $80,-505, together with interest, and directing a sale of the property unless this sum was paid. The decree further provided that if the property was sold, the claims of all defendants should be “forever barred and foreclosed from all claim and equity of redemption” in the property unless it should be redeemed within 12 months from the date of sale. No appeal was taken from this decree by any party. Payment of the sum adjudged due was not made, and the property was sold on December 13, 1965. It was purchased by the appellee for $92,000.

On December 13, 1966, George Perry, a judgment creditor of Midway, redeemed the property from appellee. The record does not contain Perry’s certificate of redemption disclosing the amount paid, but under the statutory formula it would have been in the neighborhood of $97,520. On January 26, 1967, the property was again sold on execution. Perry bid $155,376 at the sale, and, as the best and highest bidder, became the purchaser. No objection is made by the appellants to any of the proceedings which took place up to this point.

Following the entry of the decree in the Schweickert action, the appellee had acquired the interests of two additional judgment creditors, and on the same date as the sale to Perry the appellee redeemed the property from Perry for $155,402. A certificate of redemption was duly filed and recorded in the office of the county recorder on January 31, 1967, pursuant to section 19 of the Act in regard to judgments and decrees. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 77, par. 19.) Thereafter, on March 6, 1967, the property was once more offered for sale, and was purchased by the appellee at a price of $176,639. The appellee received a certificate of purchase, which was duly filed and recorded on the same date pursuant to section 16 of the Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 77, par. 16.) Since no other judgment creditor redeemed the property from the appellee during the succeeding 60 days, the appellee received a sheriff’s deed to the property on May 11, as provided by sections 22 and 23 of the Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 77, pars. 22, 23.) The deed was recorded on the same day. It is this final sale which the appellants seek to set aside.

The record does not disclose any attempt by the appellants to recover on their own judgments against Midway or to take any steps toward redeeming the property until December 26, 1967, on which date they sued out a writ of execution. Their petition, however, asks that if the sale to the appellee be vacated, they be given the right to redeem the property within 90 days upon payment to the appellee of the amount for which the property was sold to Perry.

Section 14 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 77, par. 14), which governs the conduct of execution sales, requires that such a sale be preceded by notice thereof published for three consecutive weeks in a public newspaper printed in the county where the sale is to take place, and by posting notices in at least three public places in the county. It is not contended that these requirements were not observed here. The appellants maintain, however, that because of the earlier action brought by the Schweickerts to which the appellants and appellee were parties, the appellee was obligated to give the appellants written notice by mail in advance of the sale.

The appellants base this claim on a line of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States beginning with Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. (1950), 339 U.S. 306, 94 L. Ed. 865, 70 S. Ct. 652. That case involved a judicial proceeding for approval of an account submitted by the trustee of a common trust, a judgment in which proceeding would have the effect of precluding beneficiaries from thereafter challenging the propriety of the trustee’s actions. The Supreme Court held that, with respect to those beneficiaries whose names and addresses were known to the trustee, notice by newspaper publication was insufficient, and that due process required that individual notices be mailed to such beneficiaries. The principle of the Mullane decision has subsequently been applied in a variety of situations. In Walker v. City of Hutchinson (1956), 352 U.S. 112, 1 L. Ed. 2d 178, 77 S. Ct. 200, the court invalidated a condemnation proceeding in which the only notice to the condemnee was by newspaper publication because his name and address were contained in official records maintained by the condemnor. A like result was reached in Schroeder v. City of New York (1962), 371 U.S. 208, 9 L. Ed. 2d 255, 83 S. Ct. 279, which involved a proceeding to divert a stream. In that case notice was given by posting as well as by newspaper publication, but the court held such notice ineffective as against an affected property owner who had not in fact seen the posted notices, and whose name and address were readily available to the city. Armstrong v.

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Bluebook (online)
267 N.E.2d 671, 47 Ill. 2d 519, 1971 Ill. LEXIS 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chonowski-v-bonucci-ill-1971.