Coryell v. Klehm

41 N.E. 864, 157 Ill. 462
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 11, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 41 N.E. 864 (Coryell v. Klehm) 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
Coryell v. Klehm, 41 N.E. 864, 157 Ill. 462 (Ill. 1895).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Baker

delivered the opinion of the court:

In Webber v. Clark, 136 Ill. 256, the controversy was in regard to another portion of the tract of land known as lot 3, containing three hundred and ten acres, in LaFrambois’ Reserve. The conclusion there was, that Beecher held the property in trust for Sayles and Walker; that Hancock, the assignee in bankruptcy of Beecher, took subject to their equitable interests, and that Grant, the purchaser at the assignee’s sale, took with notice of and subject to their equities. In this case, the equities in favor of Mary E. Coryell, the appellant, are, or at all events at one time were, in one respect stronger than were the equities of the complainant and appellant in that case. There, some of the defendants claimed an interest or title existing prior to the sale made by the assignee, and sought to impeach the validity of the burnt record proceeding for fraud,- while here the titles and claims of the defendants are based on the conveyance made by the assignee, and on that alone. But, on the other hand, the right of the now appellant to enforce her equities at this time and in this suit is beset by complications that were not found in the other litigation, and that afford ground for grave consideration.

Some of the defendants to the bill are in possession of the twenty acres of land in controversy, but since the principal objects of the bill are to establish a trust in Harms and Klehm and secure conveyances from them, and to obtain a deed from Chambers, the trustee in the trust deed, on the theory that appellant, cestui que trust under said trust deed, is now the owner of the equity of redemption, there can be no doubt of the jurisdiction of a>court of chancery to entertain the bill. Indeed, the legal title to the premises being vested in certain of the defendants, it is manifest that appellant has no remedy at law, by action of ejectment or otherwise.

It is claimed that the laches of appellant has barred her from seeking relief in equity. Whatever may be the rule in other jurisdictions, it has long been the general rule in this State that a defendant, in order to avail himself of the defense of laches, must set up such defense by plea or answer, so as to afford the complainant opportunity to amend the bill by inserting allegations accounting for the delay. (School Trustees v. Wright, 12 Ill. 432; Zeigler v. Hughes, 55 id. 288; O’Halloran v. Fitzgerald, 71 id. 53; Darst v. Murphy, 119 id. 343; Dawson v. Vickery, 150 id. 398.) In Hall v. Fullerton, 69 Ill. 448, it is held that this rule will not be extended to a case where the bill undertakes to account for the delay in bringing suit, and the proofs do not support the grounds of excuse that are alleged. It is there said that the reason of the rule does not apply to such a case. And Williams v. Rhodes, 81 Ill. 571, and Simpson v. McPhail, 17 Ill. App. 499, are of like tenor. It is to be remarked that all of the cases we have thuá far mentioned are cases in which there were answers to the bills, and the question of a defense growing out of the delay of the complainant arose at the hearing.

We find no case in which it has been directly held in this State that the defense of laches cannot be availed of by a demurrer when the laches to bar the suit appears in the bill itself. In Beach v. Shaw, 57 Ill. 17, the defendant did not rely, in his answer, on laches, and the court followed the general rule above stated, but took occasion to say that it was not altogether satisfied with such rule when applied to cases in which the laches appears upon the face of the bill. And in Harris v. Cornell, 80 Ill. 54, the circuit court had dismissed the bill on demurrer, and in the argument in this court it was claimed the complainants had been guilty of laches, and this court, though it said “that question is usually presented by answer,” yet proceeded to show that the defense of laches was not applicable to the case, and reversed the decree and remanded the cause.

Upon consideration of all the cases in this State, this much is clear: That while the general rule is that the defense of laches must be made by plea or answer, yet such rule does not apply when the bill already states the causes of and excuses for delay. In the case at bar, as in Hall v. Fullerton, supra, and in Williams v. Rhodes, supra, the complainant undertakes to account for her delay in bringing suit, and makes in that behalf numerous allegations, and there is, therefore, no occasion for either plea or answer setting up laches. The truth of these matters of excuse is admitted by the demurrer. Why, then, any necessity for the delay, trouble and expense of proving such matters by testimony? Why may not the insufficiency of the excuses for delay be urged on demurrer? Here, the whole issue as to laches turns upon the legal sufficiency, from the standpoint of a court of equity, of these matters pleaded by way of excuse for delay. It is said in Hall v. Fullerton that the general rule above stated is one not to be extended to a case where the reason for the rule does not apply, and the reason for the rule has no more application in this case than in that.

The doctrine in equity in regard to the statutes of limitation is, that such statutes may be taken advantage of by demurrer where the bar appears on the face of the bill, unless equitable grounds in avoidance of the bar are alleged. (Henry County v. Winnebago Swamp Drainage Co. 52 Ill. 299; Ilett v. Collins, 103 id. 74; Bell v. Johnson, 111 id. 374; Bonney v. Stoughton, 18 Ill. App. 562.) And the course we have indicated is in analogy to that doctrine, but necessarily modified so as to conform to the rule in respect to the defense of laches, as announced in former decisions.

At the time appellant loaned her money and took the mortgage security, in March, 1875, the abstract of title was examined by her attorneys, and it showed that Sayles was the owner of the premises. On April 24, 1876, Hancock, the assignee in bankruptcy of Beecher, deeded to Grant, but she did not learn of the bankruptcy of Beecher and the proceedings that resulted in said deed until after October 25, 1880. Said deed was not in the chain of title upon which the trust deed to Chambers, her trustee, was based, Beecher having made a deed to Sayles and Walker on January 12, 1875. When she learned of the bankruptcy proceedings and the deed to Grant, she applied to Grant to have him release to her the part of the premises in which she was interested, and proposed to pay him his expenses and proper charges in the matter, and for some time expected him to accept her proposition, and was prepared to arrange the matter with him accordingly. Grant afterwards advised her that he was under some obligations to other parties, as attorney, trustee or otherwise. From the time she first had notice of the bankruptcy of Beecher and the deed to Grant, until February 11, 1885, — a little more than a year before the filing of her bill, — she was not the owner of the equitable title that had been vested in Sayles and Walker, but that title belonged to Henry H. Brown, to whom it had been conveyed by Jenkins, assignee in bankruptcy of Sayles. That equitable title and interest, however, were under mortgage to Chambers, as trustee, to secure the 83000 that she had loaned to Sayles. She filed her bill on March 26, 1886, having then recently learned that Grant had, by a quit-claim deed, conveyed the premises to Klehm on January 26,1883.

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41 N.E. 864, 157 Ill. 462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coryell-v-klehm-ill-1895.