Franklin Savings Bank v. Taylor

23 N.E. 397, 131 Ill. 376
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 21, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 23 N.E. 397 (Franklin Savings Bank v. Taylor) 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
Franklin Savings Bank v. Taylor, 23 N.E. 397, 131 Ill. 376 (Ill. 1890).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Scholfield

delivered the opinion of the Court:

First—The original deed of trust provides, in the second clause declaring the trusts, that “the said Ira Scott, or his successors in trust, shall bargain, sell or convey a portion of said, premises for the purpose of procuring funds to build upon and improve the remainder thereof during the joint lives of said. Frank C. and Maria Louise Taylor, upon their joint written-request, and sueh request shall be signified by their joining' with such trustee in the execution of the deed or deeds of conveyance. * * * And said Ira Scott, or his successors in trust,, shall at once, with the proceeds of such sale, erect on that portion of said premises remaining unsold, such buildings and improvements as said Frank C. Taylor and Maria Louise Taylor, jointly, shall direct.” The deed of Frank G. Taylor and Maria-Louise Taylor, executed at the same time that the deed was-executed by the trustee, to appellee, was a sufficient compliance with this provision, and hence we are of opinion, that, as respects appellee, the power of sale and conveyance was properly exercised. We do not think that the case is one wherein the purchaser is bound to see to the application of the purchase money, because that is always a question of intention, to be determined from a construction of the instrument; and where it appears that the donor of the power confided the application of the purchase money to the judgment and discretion of a particular person or persons designated, it is conclusive that it was not intended to burden the purchaser with it. 2 Perry on Trusts (3d ed.) sec. 794. Here, it has been seen, the sale is to be made upon the joint request of Frank C. Taylor and Maria Louise Taylor, and the trustee is to act, in erecting buildings and making improvements, as those persons “shall jointly direct. There is, therefore, no opportunity for supervision and control of the purchase money by the purchaser. In no view, however, are we of opinion that that question can be material here. There being power to sell and convey, the legal title unquestionably# passed; and whether it is still charged with a trust in favor of those named in the original trust deed, is, obviously, a question that concerns those, only, who shall come before the court asking to have that trust executed, and showing their right to call upon the court for that purpose.

Second—Appellee was not made a party to the petition for mechanics lien. No one assumed to answer for her. She denies that she ever authorized George Taylor, her husband, to appear for her or employ counsel to represent her in that proceeding,—or, indeed, that she ever knew of the pendency of that proceeding until since the deed sought to be set aside was executed; and there is no evidence in the record even tending to contradict her in this respect. There is no proof that George Taylor was the universal agent of appellee, with frill power to act, and bind her estate in all instances in which it was the subject of litigation, and proof that he acted with her approval in a few instances, manifestly is no evidence that she would approve his acts in all instances. It can not be claimed that appellee ratified the acts of George Taylor in personally defending against the petition for mechanic’s lien, for there can be no ratification without knowledge of the act ratified, and that is not only not proved here, but, as has been seen, it is expressly disproved. Proctor v. Tows et al. 115 Ill. 138.

Third—Appellee was not a purchaser -pendente lite, the petition for mechanic’s lien, and so she is not bound by the appearance of her grantors in that suit. She entered into possession of the property on the 11th of April, 1873, and she says she did so as owner. The deeds to her were executed on the 10th of November, 1873, and recorded on the 15th of that month. In consequence of the deaths of Frank C. Taylor and George Taylor, the proof is not very full as to when the consideration ■ for the deeds was paid, nor whether money actually belong- . ing to her was used in its payment. The preponderance of the evidence on the subject is, the payment was made at or before the execution of the deed; but whether George Taylor purchased the property with her money, or with his own money as a gift to her, can, in our opinion, concern no one in this proceeding. If George Taylor gave her the property, he had no more right to control it after the execution of the gift than he had to control any other property belonging to her. If he had been insolvent at the time, and his creditors were now properly before us complaining of the gift, a very different question than that which is before us would be presented. There was no service of summons, and no answer of Frank C. andMaria L. Taylor, or on behalf of their children, filed until the 21st of February, 1874, and the trustee’s answer was not filed until the 13th of July, 1874, so lis pendens did not begin, as to any of the parties, until more than three months after appellee’s title was vested in her. Grant v. Bennett, 96 Ill. 515; Bennitt v. Wilmington Star Mining Co. 119 id. 9.

Fourth—The proceeding on petition for mechanic’s lien is not one in rem, so as to bind others than parties and privies in the particular proceeding. (Dunphy v. Riddle, 86 Ill. 22; Kelly v. Chapman, 13 id. 530; Raymond v. Ewing, 26 id. 329.) It necessarily follows that the affirmance by this court of the decree in Taylor et al. v. Gilsdorff et al. 74 Ill. 354, did not affect the rights of appellee.

Fifth—We do not think the case is one wherein appellee should have filed a bill to redeem. In our opinion, she is under no obligation to redeem, because there was no mechanic’s lien against her property. Whatever rights appellant may have under the decree, it can have no greater rights than G-ilsdorff and others had. It is subrogated to their rights, under the decree, to the extent that it is entitled to enforce contribution against property owned by others, and burdened, as was its property, with the incumbrance of this mechanic’s lien. Sheldon on Subrogation, sees. 6, 154.

Taylor et al. v. Gilsdorff, supra, was decided on the restored record of the deed, which was not correct. In the first clause expressing the trusts, in the original deed, occurs this language : “It being, however, expressly provided and understood that the improvements now standing on said premises may be added to, altered or removed, and new buildings erected thereon: Provided, always, there shall be no lien, incumbrance or charge created thereby on said premises.” And again, in the second clause expressing the trusts in the original deed, immediately following the language before quoted in reference to the power to sell and rebuild on and improve the remaining property, occurs the following: “Provided, always, that no charge, lien or incumbrance on said premises, or any portion thereof, shall be thereby created by said Ira Scott or his successors in trust.” Neither of these clauses was in the record reproducing the deed of trust. Of course, Taylor et al. v. Gilsdorff et al. is res judicata as to the parties then before the court, but, as we have before herein held, it concludes no one else.

The lien, as is shown by Clark v. Moore, 64 Ill. 273, cited by counsel for appellant, attaches when the contract is made; and therefore, in order to determine the rights of Gilsdorff and the Baumans to enforce their lien, we must ascertain what were their rights, under their contracts, when they were made.

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Bluebook (online)
23 N.E. 397, 131 Ill. 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franklin-savings-bank-v-taylor-ill-1890.