Nelson v. Colegrove

272 Ill. App. 258, 1933 Ill. App. LEXIS 127
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 13, 1933
DocketGen. No. 8,775
StatusPublished

This text of 272 Ill. App. 258 (Nelson v. Colegrove) 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
Nelson v. Colegrove, 272 Ill. App. 258, 1933 Ill. App. LEXIS 127 (Ill. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Davis

delivered the opinion of the court. On October 11, 1929, Oscar Nelson, auditor of public accounts by virtue of the authority conferred upon him by the statute, closed the John B. Colegrove & Co. State Bank, and took possession of its assets and appointed Robert Gr. Earley receiver, whose appointment was confirmed by the circuit court of Christian county. He subsequently resigned as such receiver, and H. Digby Large, appellee, was appointed receiver in his stead.

Prior to its suspension said bank borrowed from appellant the sum of $35,000, and executed and delivered its note for the same, and secured said note by pledging with appellant a large number of its customers’ notes as collateral security of the aggregate face value of $101,505. .

On July 5, 1930, appellant filed with the receiver of the John B. Colegrove & Co. State Bank proof of its original claim in the sum of $13,364.33, prior to which time and subsequent to the suspension of said bank it had sold and liquidated all of the collateral security held by it. Appellant, by leave of court, filed its amended claim in the sum of $35,000 on January 12, 1933, and attached to said claim a memorandum stating that the claim was based upon the amount due claimant from the John B. Colegrove & Co. State Bank, at the time of the suspension of the State Bank, evidenced by the promissory note of $35,000 dated July 15,1929, due October 15,. 1929; that no part of the principal had been paid prior to the suspension of said bank, and no part thereof had since been paid by said bank or by the receiver thereof; that the note was secured by the pledging by said bank of certain of its customers’ notes as collateral security, and out of the collection and sale of said collateral notes claimant received a total of $21,862.67, leaving a balance then due of $13,137.33; that notwithstanding the receipt by claimant of said payments from the collateral notes held by it, it is entitled to have its claim allowed in the full amount due at the time of the suspension of said bank, to wit, in the sum of $35,000.

The proof shows that at the time the bank closed its • doors there was due appellant on said note the sum of $35,000, and that between that time and July 5, 1930, the date upon which it filed its original proof of claim, it had received by the collection and sale of the collateral securities the sum of $21,862.67, o and appellee contends that said sum should be deducted from the total amount of the claim before its allowance, and that the claim should be allowed in the sum of $13,137,33.

The circuit court entered a decree in which it found that the claimant, the Bank of the Commerce Liquidating Co., should be allowed a general claim in the amount of $13,137.33 against said John B. Colegrove & Co. State Bank, and that claimant was not entitled to the allowance of a claim in the sum of $35,000, and ordered that claimant be allowed a general claim against said bank in the sum of $13,137.33, to be paid in the due course in the general liquidation of said bank.

. The only question to be determined is whether appellant shall participate in dividends upon the basis of the amount due at the time of the suspension of the bank, to wit, the sum of $35,000, or upon the basis of the amount due after the liquidation of the collateral held by it to secure said note, to wit, the sum of $13,137.33.

This exact question seems never to have been determined in this State in so far as it applies to claims against insolvent banks, and while similar questions have been determined in cases growing out of the administration of estates, proceedings in bankruptcy and assignment for the benefit of creditors, it is claimed that such decisions were more or less based upon statutory enactments and not controlling as to the question here involved. The question is as to whether the reasoning and principles laid down in the determination of those cases should be applied here, or were such decisions so far influenced by legislative enactments as to be of so little value that the question here involved should be treated as one of first impression in this State. While there are very few cases that have been considered by our Supreme Court where the questions determined were in any way analogous to the one here involved, yet in each instance the court has consistently adhered to the rule first announced.

Our attention is first called to the case of In re Bates, 118 Ill. 524. In that case Sower Bros, on July 2, 1883, made a trust deed upon certain real. estate to secure three notes to Anna G. Paddock; on April 26, 1884, they made an assignment for the benefit of their creditors; Anna G. Paddock, appellee, filed her claim with the assignee for the full amount thereof. The assignee filed his report in the county court, showing that the total claims filed, including the claim of appellee, amounted to $14,423.58, and that the total amount in his hands subject to distribution was $5,162.65; that appellee’s claim amounted to $1,043.33, and that the property described in the trust deed was worth only $765.75. The county court ordered the assignee to pay her dividends only on the excess of her claim over the $765.75 until her rights in the mortgaged property should be determined and realized upon. On appeal to the circuit court this order was affirmed. The Appellate Court reversed the decision of the circuit court, and directed that an order of distribution be entered giving appellee a dividend upon the full amount of her claim, and the Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Court and held that in the settlement of an insolvent estate the creditor has a right to prove his claim for the full amount due and to receive dividends thereon even though his claim is a secured one. In this case, however, nothing had been collected upon the collateral security prior to the presentation of the claim.

In the case of Furness v. Union Nat. Bank, 147 Ill. 570, the bank filed a claim in the probate court of Cook county against the estate of the deceased, which was secured by certain collateral notes that had not been realized upon. The claim was tried by the probate court and taken under advisement, and while so under advisement the bank disposed of the collateral and realized an amount equal to about one-third of the claim. The allowance made by the probate court was for the balance of the claim as filed and proved upon the hearing, after deducting the net amount realized from the collateral.

When the case reached the Supreme Court it was held that when a creditor, holding a claim secured by a collateral against an insolvent estate of a deceased person, filed and proved his claim for the full amount, and after it had been filed and proved realizes from his collateral a sum which is less than the whole amount of his claim, is entitled to a dividend upon the whole amount of his claim as proven:

The court further held that the right to sue on the debt and the right to enforce the security are concurrent rights, and proceedings to enforce both of them may be prosecuted until they are paid in full. It was, however, said: “Of course, this right is subject to the condition that the whole amount of his claim is due to him when he files and proves it.

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Related

In re Bates
9 N.E. 257 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1886)
Furness v. Union National Bank
35 N.E. 624 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1893)
Levy v. Chicago National Bank
30 L.R.A. 380 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1895)

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Bluebook (online)
272 Ill. App. 258, 1933 Ill. App. LEXIS 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-colegrove-illappct-1933.