Hogg v. Eckhardt

267 Ill. App. 506, 1932 Ill. App. LEXIS 360
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 4, 1932
DocketGen. No. 35,804
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 267 Ill. App. 506 (Hogg v. Eckhardt) 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
Hogg v. Eckhardt, 267 Ill. App. 506, 1932 Ill. App. LEXIS 360 (Ill. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Gridley

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from an order of the superior court of Cook county, entered October 30, 1931, denying complainant’s motion, supported by her sworn petition and certain affidavits and exhibits, for leave to file a bill of review on the ground of newly discovered evidence to review a final decree of the court, entered March 26, 1931, in accordance with the final decision and mandate of the Supreme Court. (Hogg v. Eckhardt, 343 Ill. 246.)

The litigation has been pending for more than 10 years. On August 4, 1921, Lloyd W. Hogg died intestate. On August 30, 1921, complainant (his widow), individually and as administratrix of his estate, and George W. Hogg, a son (who subsequently died), filed their verified bill against Robert Eckhardt for the recovery of certain shares of stock alleged to have been owned by Lloyd W. Hogg in his lifetime, and also alleged to have been assigned and transferred by him to Eckhardt on or about April 6, 1921, without any consideration and at a time when Hogg was mentally incompetent or when a fiduciary relation existed between him and Eckhardt. Subsequently an amended verified bill was filed, and, after Eckhardt and the corporations which had issued the stock had filed their answers, the cause was referred to a master in chancery before whom a mass of oral and documentary evidence was introduced. The stocks sought to be recovered consist of 1320 shares of the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation; 2486 shares of the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation; 593 shares of the American Steel Foundries; 100 shares of the Stewart-Warner Corporation; and 63 shares of the Middle West Utilities Company. In Eckhardt’s answer he denied that Hogg ever owned the stocks or that Hogg had assigned and transferred them to him on April 6, 1921, or at any time when Hogg was incompetent, and alleged that he (Eckhardt) was “at all times” the owner of the stock. He further alleged that long prior to April 6, 1921, Hogg assigned all of the shares and delivered them to him. He further denied that Hogg was mentally incompetent or that a fiduciary relation existed between Hogg and him, but admitted that they had been very warm and close friends for many years. He further denied that the assignments of the stocks by Hogg to him were without consideration or that complainant or Hogg’s heirs were entitled to any of the stocks. On January 10, 1927, the master made a lengthy report (filed April 19, 1927), recommending that complainant’s bills be dismissed for want of equity. After all the evidence had been taken and after the master’s report had been filed, complainant filed an amendment to the 6th paragraph of her bill, to which amended paragraph Eckhardt filed an answer. On the hearing before the chancellor exceptions to the master’s report were sustained in part and overruled in part, and, on July 14, 1927, a decree was entered finding that Eckhardt was the owner of the Carbide stock, but that complainant was entitled to all the other stocks in controversy. Thereafter both parties per-footed appeals to the Appellate Court, and on June 19, 1928, this division of the court, for reasons stated in its opinion, reversed the decree of the superior court “so far as it awards to Eckhardt the Carbide stock and requires complainant to pay a portion of the costs,” and adjudged that in other respects the decree be affirmed and that the cause be remanded to the superior court “for entry of a decree in conformity with this opinion.” (Hogg v. Eckhardt, 249 Ill. App. 346, 367.) Subsequently, on certificate of importance being granted, appeals were perfected in the Supreme Court, and on February 18, 1931, the Supreme Court rendered its final decision wherein it was adjudged that “the judgment of the Appellate Court is reversed and the decree of the superior court of Cook county is affirmed in part and reversed in part and the cause is remanded to the superior court, with directions to enter a decree awarding all the stock in controversy to appellant (Eckhardt), except the 100 shares of Stewart-Warner stock, which will be awarded to appellee.” (343 Ill. 246, 268, 269.) On March 26, 1931, the final decree of the superior court, in accordance with said decision and the mandate of the Supreme Court, was entered.

In complainant’s petition, sworn to on June 25,1931, and presented to the court on July' 11, 1931, for leave to file her bill of review, after outlining the prior proceedings, she alleges that since the rendition of the first decree of the superior court of July 14,1927, “and shortly after October 30, 1930,” she discovered “new matters of consequence” in the cause. Then follow numerous paragraphs stating in detail the claimed newly discovered evidence. The substance of the petition is that through the efforts of one Nathanial Hawkins, an accountant, and others, an old bank account of Hogg with the Union Trust Company (a Chicago Bank) from October 11, 1909, down to September 5, 1918, and contained in so-called “Boston ledgers” of the bank, had been discovered, and that with the aid of the account she would now be able to prove, if given the opportunity, that Hogg had himself paid for some of the stocks in controversy (i. e., the Carbide stock) long before the issuance of the so-called “Grasmere” checks (mentioned in the final decision of the Supreme Court as the likely medium through which Eckhardt had paid Hogg for the stocks) — thus controverting Eckhardt’s claim, as pleaded in his answer, that he was “at all times” the owner of the stocks. The petition alleges that said ledgers “extend to and no further than September 5, 1918”; that all deposit slips, showing the deposits in all accounts in the bank including the account of Hogg prior to June, 1919, have been destroyed; and that “there are no records whatsoever in the bank by which the account of Hogg with the bank, for the period from September 5, 1918, to the closing out of said account on July 21, 1920, may be reconstructed or determined.” The petition further alleges:

13. That petitioner did not know, “and could not by reasonable diligence have known, ’ ’ of said new matters, “so as to make use thereof in said cause previous to and at the time of said hearings before the master and chancellor and at the date of the original decree herein” (July 14, 1927); that she first learned thereof from Nathanial Hawkins “at the time aforesaid” (after October 30, 1930); that shortly after Hogg’s death she requested of Eckhardt, “who had been in a fiduciary capacity to Hogg from at least September 23, 1920, to and until the death of Hogg on August 4,1921, and who during said period was thoroughly acquainted with the business affairs and dealings of Hogg,” information regarding Hogg’s business affairs, and particularly regarding said shares of stock; that Eckhardt neglected and refused to furnish such information; that petitioner’s solicitors advised her that after thorough inquiry they had been unable to obtain evidence as to where Hogg had obtained the money which went to purchase the stocks mentioned in her amended bill and that they had learned from employees of the Union Trust Company that the records of Hogg’s account with that bank, for the period prior to July 22, 1920, had been lost and were not available; that she caused J. C. L. Haas and Clarence T.

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271 Ill. App. 312 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
267 Ill. App. 506, 1932 Ill. App. LEXIS 360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hogg-v-eckhardt-illappct-1932.