Martin v. Frank

259 Ill. App. 417, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 790
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 18, 1930
DocketGen. No. 8,153
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 259 Ill. App. 417 (Martin v. Frank) 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
Martin v. Frank, 259 Ill. App. 417, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 790 (Ill. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

Mr. Justjce Boggs

delivered the opinion of the court.

Defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as complainant, filed a hill in the circuit court of LaSalle county setting forth that plaintiffs in error Violet M. Frank and Charles A. Frank, her husband, hereinafter referred to as defendants, being indebted in the sum of $12,000, executed four promissory notes, two for $5,000 and two for $1,000 each, hearing interest from date at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, “payable to the order of said makers and by them indorsed in blank and delivered”; that to secure said notes said defendants conveyed to complainant as trustee some 140 acres of farm land in said county, subject to a trust deed dated July 8,1925, to the First Trust Company of Ottawa securing $12,500; that said trust deed provided, among other things, “that if default shall be made in the payment of said notes or either of them at maturity, or if there shall be a failure to comply with any and every condition of said mortgage deed, then the whole of the indebtedness secured thereby shall, at the option of the holder of said mortgage, become due and payable, and that in case of foreclosure your orator should be allowed all costs and expenses laid out at any time anterior to the entry of final decree in such suit.”

Said bill further alleges that the defendants defaulted in the payment of the interest of $720, falling due March 1, 1927, and that “the holders and owners of said interest or coupon notes have exercised their option, and have declared the whole indebtedness secured by said mortgage deed to become due and collectible at once by foreclosure. ’ ’

Said bill further alleges that said defendants defaulted in the payment of certain interest due the holder of said first mortgage, “and that said First Trust Company of Ottawa, Illinois, was about to file a bill to foreclose its said deed of trust, whereupon your orator, for and on behalf of the holders of the principal and interest or coupon notes secured by the mortgage deed to your orator, did thereupon pay to said First Trust Company of Ottawa, . . . the interest ... of $631.25; that the mortgage deed to your orator now stands as security for said sum of $631.25 so paid”; that there was due to the complainant an attorney’s fee of $699, being for 5 per cent on the amount due on principal and interest on said mortgage indebtedness, together with the amount paid as interest on said first mortgage, and the principal amount owing on said notes; that plaintiff in error, Thomas Coffey “is in possession under an alleged lease from Violet Mae Frank and Charles A. Frank, but that the interest of Coffey is subject to the lien of your orator; that defendants, Violet Mae Frank and Charles A. Frank are insolvent; that the premises in question are scant security for the indebtedness due your orator for and on behalf of the holders and owners of the notes secured by said mortgage”; prays for a foreclosure of said mortgage, the appointment of a receiver, etc.

The e defendants failed to answer said bill, were defaulted and a decree, pro confesso was entered against them. The court in its decree found substantially in accordance with the allegations of said bill as to the execution of said notes and trust deed, default in the payment of interest on the trust deed herein and on said first mortgage; the election of the holders and owners of the notes here involved to declare the whole sum due and payable and “that there is due to the complainant the total sum of $14,771.39”; that the defendants, Violet Mae Frank and Charles A. Frank, were each insolvent; that said premises were scant security for said indebtedness, and that a receiver should be appointed to take possession of said premises, etc.

■ On April 20, 1928, being one of the days of the March term, 1928, separate motions were entered by defendants Violet Mae Frank and by Thomas Coffey, to set aside said decree and for leave to answer. With said motions were presented the answers proposed to be filed by the respective defendants. On hearing, said motions were each denied. To reverse said decree, this writ of error is prosecuted.

One of the errors assigned raises the question as to whether the court erred in denying said motions. Said defendants were regularly served with process more than ten days prior to the first day of the January term, 1928, of said court. No showing was made by either of said defendants, excusing their failure to file answers. The court, therefore, did not err in said ruling.

The question is also raised as to whether the court erred in appointing said receiver. The lease under which Coffey claimed was executed subsequent to said trust deed. The bill charged that the makers of said notes were insolvent; that the security for said indebtedness was scant; that said trust deed was a second mortgage. While the lease under which Coffey was holding extended by its terms to March 1,1932, he took said lease subject to the rights of the beneficial owners of the indebtedness here sought to be collected by foreclosure. Upon a defeasance, the complainant as such trustee had the right, at the instance of the holders of said notes, to take possession of said premises and, on a bill to foreclose, the court was empowered to appoint a receiver, giving that receiver the right to take possession. Rohrer v. Deatherage, 336 Ill. 450-455. We, therefore, hold that the court did not err in appointing said receiver.

The most serious ground urged for a reversal of said decree is that the court erred in proceeding to a decree on a record which fails to disclose that all persons interested were made parties.

It is practically conceded that, unless it be held that complainant, prior to and at the time said bill was filed, was the beneficial owner of said notes, this point is well taken. Complainant insists that his ownership of said notes is shown by the evidence taken on the motion to set aside said decree and for leave to answer.

. The only testimony referring to said notes and their ownership is that of Eoscoe Lynn. On cross-examination, this witness testified:

“I am the cashier of the same bank that Mr. Martin was president of. Mr. Willis A. Martin owns the notes secured by this mortgage personally. He obtained them at least a year ago, some time before foreclosure proceedings were instituted. I do not know when it was that this party asked Mr. Martin to foreclose— before he got the notes or after.
“Q. Is it a fact that you or Mr. Martin, or anybody else in the bank, refused to make known who owned the notes 1
“A. No one ever asked me before who owned the notes.
“I was present when Mr. Martin bought the notes. I know he bought them, because there was money changed hands and he holds the notes in his possession. They were in his possession at least a year ago; maybe longer; maybe two years; at least that long, anyhow. I was in the bank at the time he purchased these notes from the former owner, I think there in the directors ’ room; something like that. I was in the bank and knew the deal was going on. I don’t know as I can say I participated in the transaction, but I knew it was going on — might have been in other apartment of the bank. I could hear the transaction. I could hear them talking in the other room.”

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Bluebook (online)
259 Ill. App. 417, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-frank-illappct-1930.