Crowley v. McCambridge

154 Ill. App. 135, 1910 Ill. App. LEXIS 630
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 11, 1910
DocketGen. No. 5137
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 154 Ill. App. 135 (Crowley v. McCambridge) 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
Crowley v. McCambridge, 154 Ill. App. 135, 1910 Ill. App. LEXIS 630 (Ill. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Thompson

delivered the opinion of the court.

Patrick Lamb made a contract in writing in duplicate under seal on July 9,1902, to sell to John H. Kane the land for the partition of which the original bill in equity in this case was filed. Mary Lamb, wife of Patrick Lamb, executed the contract with her husband. At the time the contract was made Kane paid $1,000 to Lamb on the contract, and agreed by the contract to pay $19,000, the balance of the purchase m'oney, on March 1, 1903, when the deed from Lamb was to be delivered to Kane. The $19,000 balance of the purchase money was to he paid by the purchaser assuming the payment of a $5,000 mortgage and a $1,000- mortgage with interest thereon from March 1, 1903, by giving to Lamb a mortgage for $4,000 which was to be a lien subject to the other mortgages, and by paying the remaining $9,000 in cash. On October 18, 1902, Kane sold to Patrick McCambridge his equity in the contract for $1,800 and made an assignment of his copy of the contract by an endorsement on the back of it which he signed, but the assignment is not under seal. McCambridge paid $450 to Kane on October 18, and paid the further sum of $550 on December 15, 1902, making up the $1,000 that Kane had paid on the contract, and was to pay the remaining $800 due Kane, being his profit in the deal, on March 1, 1903. The sale by Kane of his equity in the contract was made with the knowledge and consent of Lamb, who recognized the assignment as valid but would not release Kane from his liability. In .October, on the same day that Kane assigned his equity in the land to McCambridge, Patrick Lamb and his wife executed a warranty deed to McCambridge of the land described in the contract, subject to the two mortgages then on the land which the grantee in the deed assumed and agreed to pay as part of the $20,000 consideration named in the deed. The evidence shows that át that time, in the presence of witnesses, Lamb delivered this deed to Kane and directed him to collect the unpaid purchase money on the contract and to then deliver the deed to McCambridge. When the deed was executed Lamb handed it to Kane, and some person suggested that it be placed in the safe of M. J. McGrevy, and Mrs. Lamb said she could take care of it as well as McGrevy. Kane put the deed in an envelope, sealed it, wrote something on the back of the envelope, and handed it to Mrs. ■ Lamb, who put it in a bureau drawer in Lamb’s house where Lamb, his wife, McGrevy and Kane then were. When Lamb handed the deed to Kane he said to him, “You take care of that, and if I am not here when this is to be delivered, if I am dead and gone, you receive the money and pay it out as'I have told you and turn the deed over to McCambridge. ’ ’

Kane testified that at that time Lamb said he wanted to settle all his matters and had arranged how the money was to be paid, and asked him (Kane) to see that his plan was carried out; that Lamb told him how the money was to be disposed of, and Kane asked him to put it in writing, and Lamb said he would later. A witness, McGrevy, was present when the deed was delivered to Kane and heard Lamb tell Kane to settle his accounts, but did not hear how the surplus was to be disposed of. Later, in February, 1903, Lamb sent for McGrevy and had him reduce the instructions to writing, which were signed by Lamb and witnessed by McGrevy. This paper was given to Mrs. Lamb, who placed it in the drawer in which was the deed; after Lamb’s death, Kane, when he got the envelope with-the deed from Mrs. Lamb, also got the written instructions. This paper appears to have been lost, but Mc-Grevy and others testify to its contents. It was in the form of a will. Kichard F. Lamb testified it was in substance “To my son Kichard F. Lamb I give and bequeath $2,400 and $500 additional for horses left upon the homestead by him when going west, total amount he is to receive $2,900. To my son M. H. Lamb $2,000. Dick, you know you had $1,000. Mike, you know you had $1,000. To my nieces Florence and Loretta Issler, I bequeath the sum of $500. To my niece Marcella Crowley I bequeath the sum of $1,000 to be paid after mother’s death. There are $4,000 to remain in the land, notes of Patrick McCambridge drawing five per cent interest, and secured by mortgage on thé land, to do with as she pleases. * * *” The oral instructions to Kane were in substance like those in writing, except that by the writing the Isslers and Mrs. Crowley are to be given something.

Patrick Lamb died on February 10, 1903. Kane on March 1, 1903, collected from McCambridge the remaining $800 that was to be paid to him for his equity, and does not appear to have done anything further in the matter, except he states that a day or two after Patrick Lamb’s funeral he delivered the deed and the written instructions to Bichard F. Lamb, a son of Patrick Lamb, who lived at Slayton, Minnesota, to carry out Patrick Lamb’s instructions. Bichard F. Lamb on March 3, 1903, delivered the deed to McCambridge after McCambridge had presented certain claims he held against Patrick Lamb, assumed the .mortgages agreed to be assumed in the contract and paid to Bichard F. Lamb the balance due on the' contract by executing a note and mortgage for $4,000 to Mary Lamb, the widow of Patrick Lamb, and paying the remainder in cash.

In the settlement with McCambridge at the time the deed was delivered to him by Bichard F. Lamb, Me- ' Cambridge was allowed credit for $2,427.60 -on six notes and interest thereon which he held against Patrick Lamb, two of these notes being executed by B. F. Lamb .and Mary E. Issler, and these being the notes secured by the $1,000 mortgage mentioned in the contract.

Patrick Lamb was also indebted to other parties on notes or accounts which were paid by Bichard F. Lamb out of the money received by him from McCambridge. These debts, with the expenses of the last illness and funeral expenses and the purchase of a tombstone, amounting in all to $2,404.25, were paid out of the purchase money by B. F. Lamb. The Circuit Court allowed of these items $2,353.29. A deduction of $50.96, of which appellant complains, was made from the total, either because of an error in adding or for some reason which may be explained by the evidence, but which is not pointed out by either side. The following are the items from which the $2,353.29 was allowed:

“ Claims and Expenses of Patrick Lamb paid by Bichard F. Lamb ont of moneys received from McCambridge.
Taxes...................................$ 88.40
Funeral expenses......................... 235.00
Note to Beal and Benne signed by Patrick
and Mary Lamb....................... 750.00
Interest on same.......................... 17.95
Note to W. S. Pierce..................... 36.00
Note of Patrick and Mary Lamb to Mrs.
Kaylor............................... 300.00
Interest on same......................... 17.00
Paid milkman............................ 6.00
Expenses in clearing title.:............... 27.00
Fee paid W. J. Weldron...................' 20.00

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Bluebook (online)
154 Ill. App. 135, 1910 Ill. App. LEXIS 630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crowley-v-mccambridge-illappct-1910.