Essington v. Estate of Wylie

273 Ill. App. 272, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 901
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 19, 1934
DocketGen. No. 8,731
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 273 Ill. App. 272 (Essington v. Estate of Wylie) 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
Essington v. Estate of Wylie, 273 Ill. App. 272, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 901 (Ill. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Wolfe

delivered the opinion of the court.

J. Weston Essington, receiver of the Utica State Bank of Utica, Illinois, filed a claim in the sum of $3,000 against the estate of William Wylie, deceased, in the probate court of La Salle county. The claim was disallowed by the coprt. On appeal to the circuit court a jury was waived and the case tried before the court. The order of the probate court disallowing the claim was reversed and judgment entered against the estate for the sum of $3,000 and costs, payable in due course of administration. From this judgment the administrator has taken an appeal to this court.

The Utica State Bank was examined by the auditor of public accounts of Illinois, on or about June 1, 1931. The examination revealed that securities of the bank, aggregating $31,177.85, had depreciated in value. On June 11, 1931, the cashier and three of the seven directors of the bank met with the auditor at his office in Geneva. The auditor was represented by Mr. Wylder, chief bank examiner of Northern Illinois. The decedent, William Wylie, was not present. At this meeting there was a discussion concerning the removal of these securities from the bank. At the conclusion of the discussion, the auditor recommended that the directors' charge off the depreciation on the questionable securities from the surplus account of the bank, or remove them from the assets of the bank and replace them with cash. At the time of this meeting the bank was solvent and its capital was not impaired, and the surplus account was of sufficient size to have permitted all of the depreciation on the securities in question to have been charged against it and still leave a balance of $2,000.

On the following day six of the directors, one of whom was William Wylie, now deceased, at a special meeting, adopted the following resolution:

“Be it resolved that Surplus Account be charged with $10,000.00 and Undivided Profits Account be charged with $177.85, and the following items be charged from Assets of the Bank:

Hotel Graemere..................$ 1,000.00

120 West Lake St. Garage........ 2,000.00

Brewerton Coal Corp............. 1,250.00

Inland States Service Co.......... 1,000.00

Geo. W. Hartenbower............ 3,800.00

Other Beal Estate — Joe Kinzer... 1,127.85

$10,177.85

“Be it further resolved that the seven directors furnish $2,850.00 each, making a total of $19,950.00 and E. E. Childers furnish $1,050.00, and the following securities be taken from the Assets of the Bank and Trusteed for the benefit of the seven directors and E. E. Childers, each to benefit pro rata in the liquidation of the Trusteed Assets.

Seaboard Air Line R. R...........$ 2,872.00

Cornell at 54th Apts...............1,000.00

Engineering Bldg................. 1,500.00

Park Central Hotel Annex........ 1,649.00

Book Washington Bldg........... 2,917.50

Jeffry Cyrl Apts................. 485.00

Narragansett Apts................ 3,000.00

Missouri Valley Public Service Co. 2,842.50

Joe Kinzer Mortgage............ 3,734.00

Hotel Graemere.................. 1,000.00

$21,000.00”

On the same day the cashier and the same six directors sent the following letter to the auditor of public accounts:

“June 12th, 1931.

“Mr. Oscar Nelson,

Auditor of Public Accounts,

Geneva, Illinois.

“Dear Sir:

“At a Special Meeting of the Directors of this Bank held Friday, June 12,1931, at four o ’clock, a resolution was passed calling for each of the seven directors to furnish $3,000.00, making a total of $21,000.00, and that Surplus Account be reduced $10,000.00 and Undivided Profits Account be reduced $177.85, and the following assets amounting to $31,177.85 be taken from the Assets of the Bank and $21,000.00 of the assets be Trusteed for the benefit of each of the seven directors, each to benefit pro rata in the liquidation of the Trusteed Assets:

Seaboard Air Line...............$ 2,872.00

Cornell at 54th.................. 1,000.00

Park Central.................... 1,649.00

Hotel Graemere.................. 2,000.00

120 West Lake................... 2,000.00

Book Washington................ 2,917.50

Narragansetts................... 3,000.00

Missouri Valley Public Service.... 2,842.50

Brewerton Coal (Stock).......... 1,250.00

Inland States Service............ 1,000.00

George W. Hartenbower.......... 3,800.00

Joseph Kinzer, Other Real Estate.. 4,861.85

$31,177.85

“We, the Directors, would appreciate having from fifteen to thirty days in which to raise above amount. Mr. Hornung is sick in bed and unable to attend this . meeting.”

J. J. Hornung, one of the directors of the bank, was not present when the resolution was adopted and the letter written, and did not participate in any manner in the plan as set forth in the resolution. E. E. Childers was the cashier of the bank, but not a director.

After the adoption of the resolution and writing the letter, no further action was taken by board of directors, or any of individual directors to carry out the schemes set forth either in the resolution or in the letter. The securities enumerated in the resolution were never removed, and were the property of the bank at the time it suspended the transaction of business, and are now in the possession of the receiver. William Wylie died on June 26, 1931, and- the bank suspended the transaction of business on October 2, 1931. No tender of these assets, or any part thereof, or interest thereon, was ever made to the decedent or to the administrator of his estate.

Before the hearing of the case in the circuit court, the defendant estate presented a written motion to dismiss the claim for the reason that it did not state a cause of action. The motion was overruled. At the conclusion of claimant’s case, and again at the conclusion of all the evidence, the defendant estate also presented written motions to exclude the evidence and find for the defendant. These motions were also overruled.

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