Cohen v. Schlossberg

150 N.E.2d 218, 17 Ill. App. 2d 320
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 28, 1958
DocketGen. 47,194
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 150 N.E.2d 218 (Cohen v. Schlossberg) 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
Cohen v. Schlossberg, 150 N.E.2d 218, 17 Ill. App. 2d 320 (Ill. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE SCHWARTZ

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from an order sustaining a motion to strike the complaint and dismissing the suit on the ground that it was harred hy prior adjudication. The controversy is over the ownership of 33% shares of stock in the Lincoln Park West Corporation (corporation), being one-third of the total stock issued. Defendant Norman Schlossberg (Schlossberg) holds a certificate for this one-third. The remaining two-thirds is owned by plaintiffs Joseph and Meyer Cohen (Cohens), who also claim to be the equitable owners of the one-third held by Schlossberg. In the instant suit the Cohens seek to establish their equitable title.

In the prior case (Schlossberg v. Lincoln Park West Corp., 10 Ill.App.2d 318, 134 N.E.2d 661), Schlossberg was successful in maintaining a suit for mandamus to compel the Lincoln Park West Corporation to issue a certificate in his name for 33% shares. His petition in that case simply alleged that he acquired the stock from one Sherow and that, the same having been properly assigned, he was entitled to have the stock issued in his name. The only defendant was the Lincoln Park West Corporation. The amended answer filed by the corporation denied the assignment by Sherow; alleged that the certificate was never delivered to Schlossberg; that there was no valuable consideration passing from Schlossberg to Sherow; that the Cohens were the legal and equitable owners of the stock; that the stock certificate in question had been issued originally to one Amelita G-riebel and later to Sherow, as nominee for Henry Beutel, one of the defendants in the instant case; that it was so issued to secure loans made to the Cohens by Schlossberg, Beutel, and a bank with which Beutel was connected; that these loans had been paid and in accordance with an oral agreement between the Cohens and Beutel, the stock now belongs to the Cohens. The reply by Schlossberg was a denial of the substantial facts alleged and a reiteration of Ms legal position that these defenses eonld not be made in a suit for mandamus to compel the corporation to transfer the stock.

This presented to the court in the mandamus suit a legal issue and an issue of fact. The case was tried on these issues and at its conclusion the court made no specific findings but found the issues for Schlossherg and ordered a writ of mandamus to issue. That judgment was affirmed in Schlossberg v. Lincoln Park West Corp., 10 Ill.App.2d 318. We will later consider the scope and effect of those decisions.

Schlossberg’s defense in the instant case is made byway of a motion supported hy affidavit, in accordance with Section 48 of the Civil Practice Act. The motion states that “the cause of action is barred hy a prior judgment . . .” That could be either res judicata or estoppel hy verdict, sometimes characterized as “collateral estoppel hy judgment.” We will use the latter term, which appears to us to he more apt and has now been adopted hy the Restatement of the Law, under the title, “Judgments,” Sec. 68, Comment a (1942). See also Scott “Collateral Estoppel hy Judgment,” 56 Harv. L. Rev. 1 (1942); Cleary “Res Judicata Reexamined,” 57 Yale L. J. 339 (1948); Polasky “Collateral Estoppel—Effects of Prior Litigation,” 39 Iowa L. Rev. 217 (1954).

The doctrine of res judicata rests on the principle that questions directly in issue or those which might have been submitted to a court of competent jurisdiction in a particular controversy ought not to be relitigated in a future controversy arising out of the same cause of action between the same parties or their successors in interest, either in the same court or any other court of concurrent jurisdiction. Grillies v. Little Vermilion Drain. Dist., 401 Ill. 344, 349 (1949); Leitch v. Hine, 393 Ill. 211, 220 (1946). This not only protects the parties hut serves the public interest in the termination of litigation. In res judicata, as distinguished from collateral estoppel, the cause of action must be the same in both suits. In such a case the judgment in the prior suit concludes not only those issues which were actually litigated, but all those which might have been presented to support or defeat the claim. But where the second action between the parties or their privies is based on a different claim or demand, the judgment in the prior action operates as a bar only to those matters in issue or points controverted upon the determination of which the finding or verdict was rendered. City of Elmhurst v. Kegerreis, 392 Ill. 195, 201, 202 (1946); Normal State Bank v. Killian, 386 Ill. 449, 456 (1944); Barry v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 374 Ill. 473, 478 (1940); Wright v. Griffey, 147 Ill. 496, 498 (1893).

Schlossberg in his brief contends that the doctrine of res judicata is applicable. We must therefore consider whether the cause of action and the parties are the same or are in privity. We will first consider whether the cause of action is the same. In the prior suit the remedy Schlossberg sought was to have the corporation honor the assignment of the certificate of stock he had acquired from Sherow and to issue a certificate in his name. This would have given him two things — additional proof of the ownership of the stock and the right to receive dividends declared thereon. The statute (Ch. 32, Sec. 416, et seq., Ill. Rev. Stat. 1955), known as the Uniform Stock Transfer Act, provides for the circumstances under which the assignee of a certificate of stock is regarded as the owner thereof for the purpose of having the certificate transferred to his name. It further provides the specific grounds upon which the certificate may be reclaimed if it has not been transferred to a purchaser for value in good faith without notice.

Mandamus is the proper remedy to compel a corporation to issue a new certificate, and the defenses to such an action would be those grounds enumerated in the statute as the basis for reclaiming the certificate. These are as follows: If the endorsement or delivery of a certificate (a) was procured by fraud or duress, or (b)' was made under such mistake as to make the endorsement or delivery inequitable; or, if the delivery of a certificate was made, (c) without authority from the owner, or (d) after the owner’s death or legal incapacity, the possession of the certificate may be reclaimed and the transfer thereof rescinded, unless (1) the certificate has been transferred to a purchaser for value in good faith without notice of any facts making the transfer wrongful, or (2) the injured person has elected to waive the injury, or has been guilty of laches in endeavoring* to enforce his rights. It will be noted that these defenses relate to matters affecting the transfer of the certificate. In such a suit title to the stock, as distinguished from title to the certificate, is not in issue. (“The Transfer of Stock,” Christy & McLean, 2d Ed. p. 128, 1954 supplement.)

Courts have agreed that title is not involved in a mandamus suit, but there has been disagreement as to whether a corporation has the right to refuse to issue a new certificate on the ground that there was a controversy over ownership of the stock between the holder of the old certificate and a third person. In Leff v. N. Kaufman’s, Inc., 342 Pa. 342, 20 A.2d 786, the right of the plaintiff Leff to a writ of mandamus was questioned by Ray and Kaufman, who claimed to be the owners of the stock represented by the certificate. The court said:

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Bluebook (online)
150 N.E.2d 218, 17 Ill. App. 2d 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-schlossberg-illappct-1958.