Diets v. Hagler

141 N.E. 194, 309 Ill. 381
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided October 20, 1923·No. No. 15475·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Dunn

delivered the opinion of the court:

A judgment recovered in 1904 in the circuit court of McLean county by A. W. Stephens & Son for $2768.89 against H. T. Hagler was revived by scire facias in 1911, and execution issued on the revived judgment was levied in 1912 on thirty-nine acres of land in Macoupin county belonging to the defendant. The land was sold under a venditioni exponas on July 28, 1917, to S. J. Diets for $2000. It is situated in the west half of the northwest quarter of section 21, and was described as the north half of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and nine acres off the south end of the west half of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter. It was occupied by the judgment debtor as a homestead, the dwelling house being on the ten-acre tract. The tracts were not offered separately but the whole body was sold without subdivision, and no attempt was made to set off the homestead. The bill in this case was filed in the circuit court of Macoupin county by the purchaser, Diets, against H. T. Hagler and his wife, Minerva, to whom he had conveyed the property after the sale, and prayed for the assignment of the homestead, or if it could not be assigned, for a decree authorizing the complainant to pay, and requiring the defendants to accept, $1000 in satisfaction of their homestead right, for the cancellation of a decree obtained by Minerva Hagler against the complainant, and for the quieting of his title. The defendants answered, the cause after a reference to the master was heard upon his report and exceptions thereto, and a decree was rendered which directed that if the defendants should within sixty days pay to the complainant $2000, with five per cent interest from July 28, 1917, to the date of payment, together with the costs, the bill should be dismissed, and unless the'defendants should file with the clerk their election to take $1000 in full of their homestead estate the sheriff of Macoupin county should summon three householders to set off the homestead, and if they did so set off the homestead it should be released from all claim of the complainant and the title to the remainder of the property should be vested in him in fee simple, but if the commissioners found that the premises could not be divided and the homestead assigned, the complainant should pay $1000 to the clerk of the court and the defendants should then surrender the possession of all the land to the complainant. The defendants appealed from this decree.

After the sale on execution and the conveyance of the land to her, Mrs. -Hagler filed a bill against Diets in the circuit court of Macoupin county in which she sought to have the sale set aside and her title quieted, and such a decree was rendered by default. The bill in the present case asks that the decree on Mrs. Hagler’s bill be set aside on the ground that the court did not acquire jurisdiction of the defendant in that case. The decree in this case found that the court was without jurisdiction and ignored the decree rendered on Mrs. Hagler’s bill. The appellants have acquiesced in so much of the decree and have made no argument against it. They say in their statement and argument that just one question was before the circuit court in this case, and that was whether the sale of these three tracts of land was valid, and their claim is that no title passed by the sale and the complainant shows no right to equitable relief.

Two reasons are urged for the invalidity of the sale. They are, the failure to have the homestead assigned, and the sale of the whole body of land together without offering the different tracts separately.

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Diets v. Hagler, 141 N.E. 194, 309 Ill. 381 (Ill. 1923).

141 N.E. 194 (Diets v. Hagler) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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