Fisher v. Michigan Square Building Corp.

66 N.E.2d 179, 328 Ill. App. 323, 1946 Ill. App. LEXIS 263
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Fisher v. Michigan Square Building Corp.. Read the opinion of the Court — 328 Ill. App. 143
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided February 28, 1946·No. Gen. No. 43,594·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Scanlan

delivered the opinion of the court.

An appeal from an order discharging certain respondents appellees from a rule to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court for alleged violation of a permanent injunction.

We have this day filed an opinion in the case of Thomas R. Fisher and Chester Bowles, Administrator, Office of Price Administration, Intervenor, v. Michigan Square Building Corporation, an Illinois corporation, 328 Ill. App. 143, in which proceeding Fisher filed a complaint seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction to recover possession of certain space in the Michigan Square Building from which he had been evicted on August 11, 1945, by the defendant, Michigan Square Building Corporation, the owner of the property. On September 14,1945, the chancellor, after a hearing, entered a permanent injunction order ordering defendant to restore possession of the premises to Fisher and permanently enjoining defendant, its agents, servants, etc., from directly or indirectly evicting, threatening or attempting to evict by exclusion from possession, elimination or decrease of essential services, or otherwise, Fisher from said premises. The defendant perfected an appeal from that order. While the appeal was pending Fisher filed in the original proceeding a verified petition, in which he alleged that while he was in possession of the premises on September 19,1945, the respondent Michigan Square Building Corporation and its agents, in order to bar him from continuing to exercise his possession of the premises, committed certain acts that violated the permanent injunction entered on September 14, 1945, and he prayed that the respondents be ruled to appear and show cause why they should not be adjudged guilty of contempt for violation of the permanent injunction. After the Building Corporation and certain other respondents had answered, there was a hearing before Judge Feinberg, who entered the original order, and an order was entered on, September 27, 1945, purging all of the respondents of the alleged contempt and discharging the rule as to each of them. Fisher, alone, appeals from that order. Chester Bowles, Administrator, Office of Price Administration, who intervened in the original proceeding, refused to take any part in the contempt proceeding and he has not appealed from the instant order. The following is the decision rendered by Judge Feinberg in the contempt proceeding :

“The Court: This hearing is upon a rule to show cause why certain respondents named here should not be held in contempt and punished accordingly, for allegedly violating the injunction issued by this Court.
“The decree entered in this case found that the co-complainant Fisher was illegally evicted from the housing accommodations used by him on the tenth floor of this building in question. There was a controversy between the tenant and the landlord and the tenant saw fit to submit that controversy to a court of competent jurisdiction for adjudication.
“Having submitted the matter to the Court, it must be assumed that he wants to abide by all the orderly processes of the court, the same as he expects of the defendant. It would be anomalous to ask a court of equity to assist him in his controversy and then refuse to follow the orderly processes of the court, having obtained his relief.
“The Court granted him an injunction, a mandatory injunction, that directed the defendant to restore him to possession. And it is admitted by the complainant Fisher that an appeal from that portion of the injunction or an appeal from that decree and a bond filed acts as a supersedeas and stays the mandatory portion of the injunction. That was clearly admitted and is admitted here today.
“On the application for the rule to show cause the Court heard arguments, and it was clearly the position of the complainant Fisher, coincided in by this Court, that if he obtains possession legally of the space in question after the issuance of the injunction, then the prohibitory portion of the injunction could be enforced, notwithstanding the appeal. And that is the law.
“The facts clearly here disclose, both by the evidence of the plaintiff Fisher and the other witnesses. so far heard, that he obtained access to the space on the 19th of September, after the injunction had been issued, by a trick or device and subterfuge. It is as patent as it can be, that plaintiff Fisher in his own way decided to enforce the injunction — I mean the mandatory part of the injunction, a subject clearly for the Court and not for the plaintiff.
“And he can’t do indirectly what the law would prohibit him from doing directly, by trying to enforce that mandatory provision of the injunction to restore him to possession during the appeal by getting possession by any trick or device or subterfuge. And it is asking this Court, a court of equity and a court of conscience, to assist him in carrying out the device or trick or subterfuge by which he again gained access to the space in question.
“He asked to be permitted to go into this space on the 19th of September. It was arranged so that he might remove articles in the space, left there since the 11th of August, and to make a list of what was in there. Having obtained permission upon that limited request, having succeeded in luring the defendant to admit him to the space, and upon pretense of taking a list, there followed him into the space two high sounding titled gentlemen, each calling themselves a custodian of a court. They had not acted under any process of any court, they have no legal or official standing, and by the pretended use of a star which was exhibited and the euphonious title of custodian of a court, they confronted the manager of the building with the asserted right to stay there.
“That purpose was never revealed to the respondents here when permission was asked to go in there to remove such articles as he cared to belonging to him or for the purpose of making a list. It was clear deception, as clear as can be, as clear as crystal. And if the plaintiff Fisher seeks to pursue his rights in that fashion, by deception, trick or device, this Court can not be used by him to aid him, by means of contempt proceedings or punishment for contempt for alleged violation of this injunction.
“Had they been willing to give him possession and once having obtained possession the prohibitory part of the injunction could be enforced here, notwithstanding the appeal, but they at no time consented to give him possession, never intended to give it to him, and clearly throughout, their attitude and actions have indicated they have no desire to let him into possession there. That they were imposed upon is clearly shown here by the evidence and is as obvious as it can be, and no court of equity is going to be used, at least not this Court, in helping to carry out such deception.
“The dignity of the Court is to be maintained at all costs, and it is a matter clearly addressed to this Court and to its sound discretion as to whether these circumstances shown in this case are such as to affront the dignity of the Court.

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Fisher v. Michigan Square Building Corp., 66 N.E.2d 179, 328 Ill. App. 323, 1946 Ill. App. LEXIS 263 (Ill. Ct. App. 1946).

66 N.E.2d 179 (Fisher v. Michigan Square Building Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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