Marks v. Knofsky Co.

233 Ill. App. 293, 1924 Ill. App. LEXIS 189
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 11, 1924
DocketGen. No. 28,491
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 233 Ill. App. 293 (Marks v. Knofsky Co.) 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
Marks v. Knofsky Co., 233 Ill. App. 293, 1924 Ill. App. LEXIS 189 (Ill. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Thomson

delivered the opinion of the court.

By this appeal, the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company seeks to reverse a judgment for $833.08, recovered against it in the municipal court of Chicago, by Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, doing business as Henry Marks ’ Sons. The Insurance Company was held liable on a recognizance entered into by it and the original defendant, The Knofsky Company, the latter being the principal in the recognizance.

The original suit was started as “Henry Marks and Benjamin Marks, co-partners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons v. The Knofsky Company,” to recover the price of certain materials the plaintiffs alleged they had sold to the defendant, amounting to $788.61. At the time this suit was started, the plaintiffs instituted attachment proceedings in aid, on the ground that the defendant corporation was located without the State of Illinois, namely, in the State of Ohio. In connection with the attachment proceedings in aid, certain garnishees were served and brought into the case as garnishee defendants.

On December 20, 1920, The Knofsky Company, together with the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, as surety, entered into a recognizance in open court, whereby they acknowledged themselves to be indebted to the plaintiffs in the sum of $1,000.00. The order of the court entered on that day, recited that the condition of their obligation under said recognizance was, that if the defendant, The Knofsky Company, paid the plaintiffs the amount of whatever judgment might be rendered therein against said defendant upon a trial of the issues involved, together with all costs and charges, within ninety days after the rendition thereof, then the recognizance was to be void, but otherwise it was to remain in full force and effect. The court, by the order then entered, further provided for the dissolution of the attachment writ in aid, which had been issued and the discharge of the garnishees and the release of any and all property taken by virtue of the attachment writ.

On the same day and apparently at the same time the draft order was signed by the court concerning the recognizance entered into by the defendant, as principal, and the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, as surety, the terms of which have just been referred to, the court further ordered, “that leave be and hereby is granted plaintiff to amend name of plaintiff to read ‘Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, co-partners doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons. ’ ” Thereafter, all papers filed and all orders entered in the case bore title accordingly.

On trial of the issues in due time, before a jury, the plaintiffs recovered a verdict for $747.25 and costs and judgment for that amount was entered against The Knofsky Company, in favor of Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, copartners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons. No appeal was prosecuted from that judgment.

About six months thereafter, the judgment not having been paid, the court entered an order forfeiting the recognizance of the defendant, The Knofsky Company, and directing that a writ of scire facias issue against the surety, Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, to show cause why the forfeiture should not be made absolute and an execution issue against it. The writ of scire facias was issued in due course and the surety, Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, filed verified pleas and answers. In substance, these pleas and answers set up that the writ of scire facias which had been served upon it, recited that a judgment had been recovered against The Knofsky Company, the principal in the recognizance, “in favor of Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, co-partners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons”; that the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company had never entered into a recognizance, as surety, in which Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, co-partners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons, appeared as obligees; that the only recognizance entered into by it, in the cause referred to, was one in which the obligees were named as Henry Marks and Benjamin Marks, copartners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons; that no judgment was obtained in that cause by those parties, being the parties plaintiff therein at the time the recognizance was entered into. It was contended that a writ of scire facias could properly issue in said cause, only in favor of Henry Marks and Benjamin Marks jointly, provided they had obtained a judgment against the defendant, which did not appear, wherefore the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company was not obligated to pay the judgment referred to in the writ of scire facias, as having been recovered by Isaac Marks and Benjamin Marks, copartners, doing business as Henry Marks’ Sons.

A hearing was duly had before the court without a jury, on the issues as thus made up, and an order was entered by the court, making the forfeiture of the recognizance absolute against the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, as surety therein, and it was further ordered that the plaintiff have and recover from said Company their damages, amounting to $833.08 with costs. From that judgment the Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company, the surety in the open court recognizance duly entered into in the principal case, has perfected this appeal.

The plaintiffs contend that this court is not in a position to review the issues of law presented by the appeal, by reason of the fact that no propositions of law were submitted by the defendant surety, to be held by the court. The decisions are to the contrary. Pittsburgh, C., C. & St. L. Ry. Co. v. Chicago City Ry. Co., 300 Ill. 162; Rothwell v. Taylor, 303 Ill. 230; Saltzmann v. Lewis Mfg. Co., 232 Ill. App. 620; French et al. v. Brown, 234 Ill. App.

In support of the appeal, it is contended that a contract of a surety may not be extended by implication beyond the precise terms of the undertaking and that where the parties plaintiff, in a case in which an obligation such as the one involved here is entered into, are changed on their motion, without the consent of the 'surety, the latter is thereby released from liability. The weight of modern authority makes a distinction between the rights and liabilities of a voluntary surety or one who becomes a surety for mere accommodation, and the rights and liabilities of sureties who become such for hire, it being held that, whereas, a voluntary surety for accommodation will be discharged from obligation whether actually damnified or not, if the creditor, by binding agreement, without the consent of the surety, gives further time for payment to the principal, corporations doing a surety business for profit, are of comparatively recent origin and their contracts have come to be treated as contracts of indemnity or insurance and as to such sureties, it is now generally held that they will not be relieved from obligation except where it is shown there was a material departure from the contract resulting in some injury to the surety. In further announcing the general rule, the Supreme Court has stated that in the case of a surety company acting for compensation, the contract will be construed most strongly against the surety and in favor of the indemnity which the obligee has reasonable grounds to expect — that the courts will regard the contract more in the nature of an insurance contract, and, by analogy, apply the rules governing liability applicable in that class of contracts. Gunsul v. American Surety Co., 308 Ill. 312.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kesner v. Faroll
268 Ill. App. 531 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1932)
Parisian Novelty Co. v. Advertisers Manufacturing Co.
248 Ill. App. 162 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1928)
Bright v. Riedy
243 Ill. App. 314 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1927)
McGowan v. London & Lancashire Indemnity Co. of America
237 Ill. App. 561 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
233 Ill. App. 293, 1924 Ill. App. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marks-v-knofsky-co-illappct-1924.