People Ex Rel. Gerber v. Central Casualty Co.

226 N.E.2d 862, 37 Ill. 2d 392, 1967 Ill. LEXIS 408
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedMay 18, 1967
Docket40216
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 226 N.E.2d 862 (People Ex Rel. Gerber v. Central Casualty Co.) 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
People Ex Rel. Gerber v. Central Casualty Co., 226 N.E.2d 862, 37 Ill. 2d 392, 1967 Ill. LEXIS 408 (Ill. 1967).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Schaefer

delivered the opinion of the court:

The issue in this case concerns the propriety of the exercise of summary jurisdiction by a court in which an insurance company is being liquidated pursuant to article XIII of the Insurance Code. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1961, chap. 73, pars. 799-833.) The Director of Insurance of the State of Illinois, as liquidator of Central Casualty Company, an Illinois insurance company, filed a petition in the liquidation proceeding, seeking a judgment in the sum of $28,-920.12 against The Exchange National Bank of Chicago. The Bank challenged the jurisdiction of the court and demanded a trial by jury. The cause was referred to a master in chancery, and after hearings before the master, a judgment was entered in the amount requested, together with master’s fees and costs, in favor of the Director and against the Bank. The Bank has appealed directly to this court, urging questions arising under the State and Federal constitutions.

In April, i960, Charles W. Bray and his wife borrowed $200,000 from the Bank in order to purchase common stock of Central Casualty Company. Bray was president of the Central Casualty Company at that time. The Bank, as a condition for making the loan, required collateral which included two surety bonds guaranteeing its payment. One bond, in the sum of $100,000 was executed by United Benefit Fire Insurance Company, and the other, also in the amount of $100,000, was executed by Central Casualty Company (hereafter Central). The proceeds of the loan were credited to Central’s account at the Bank. At the end of i960 the Brays ceased making payments on their loan, and on January 7, 1962, the Bank demanded the unpaid balance of the loan ($37,691.60) from the Brays and from Central as surety. At that time, Central had $28,920.12 on deposit with the Bank.

On February 1, 1962, the Director of Insurance of the State of Illinois was ordered by the circuit court of Cook County to take possession of the property and affairs of Central. On March 1, 1962, an order of liquidation was entered. On March 15, 1962, the Bank made bookkeeping entries applying the sum of $23,981,90 and $36.93 in the casualty company’s bank account to the unpaid balance on the Bray loan. Subsequently $4,901.29 was also applied. On March 15, the attorney for the Director of Insurance wrote to the Bank complaining of the Bank’s action and on June 12, 1962, the Director filed his petition against the Bank in the liquidation proceeding. On September 29, 1962, the Bank filed a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, which was denied, as was its demand for a jury trial.

The Bank contends that its liability to the Director should not have been determined in Central’s liquidation proceeding, that no statute authorizes such a summary proceeding, and that it was entitled to a jury trial, which it demanded, on the - question of its liability to the Director.

The Director offers a number of grounds to support the liquidation court’s summary jurisdiction over the claim against the Bank. He urges that a court “which is given jurisdiction to supervise the liquidation of Insurance Companies has the power to do everything necessary to bring about the liquidation.” He also urges that the Bank’s appropriation of Central’s deposits was a preferential and voidable transfer and that summary jurisdiction to recover assets so transferred is to be implied from the fact that section 204 of the Insurance Code states that “The Director * * * may avoid any transfer of or lien upon the property of a company which any creditor, stockholder or member of such company might have avoided and may recover the property so transferred or its value from the person to whom it was transferred * * *.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1963, chap. 73, par. 816.) Section 189 of the- Insurance Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1963, chap. 73, par. 801), which authorizes injunctions in aid of the Director’s actions, is also advanced in support of the liquidation court’s summary jurisdiction.

Cases interpreting the Insurance Code cannot be said to support the argument that the court’s jurisdiction to supervise liquidations implies the power to exercise summary jurisdiction in the present case. In People ex rel. Lowe v. Marquette National Fire Ins. Co., (1933) 351 Ill. 516, the court held that the liquidator of an insurance company could employ counsel and pay him out of the assets of the company. The conclusion was based upon the fact that “The liquidator must close up the business and must use legal services in so doing. The necessities of the case demand it.” (351 Ill. at 535.) There is no similar necessity requiring that the liquidation court assert summary jurisdiction over the claim in the present case, for such claims can be adjudicated in plenary proceedings.

Upon the assumption that the Bank’s appropriation of deposits constituted a voidable preference, the Director argues that because section 204 specifically authorizes him to void certain preferences, he may do so within the liquidation proceedings. A similar argument was made - and rejected in Taubel-Scott-Kitzmiller Co. v. Fox, (1924) 264 U.S. 426, 435, 68 L. Ed. 770, a case arising under the Federal bankruptcy law. There the trustee in bankruptcy sought to have a lien upon the debtor’s property declared void in a summary proceeding in the bankruptcy court. The property was held adversely by the sheriff after a creditor had levied upon it. The Supreme Court stated: “The argument is that, since the bankruptcy court is expressly empowered to order that a lien, void as against the trustee, shall be preserved for the benefit of the estate, it was given, by implication, jurisdiction to determine whether the lien is void. The argument proceeds upon a misapprehension of the nature and purpose of the clause in question. It does not confer jurisdiction. It confers substantive and adjective rights.” The court held that a plenary proceeding was required to adjudicate the trustee’s claim against the sheriff. Section 204 states that the Director may avoid certain transfers and recover the property involved, but it does not authorize him to do so in a summary proceeding.

The Director also argues that section 189 of the Insurance Code, which authorizes injunctions in aid of the Director’s actions, supports the exercise of summary jurisdiction in this case. Section 189 states: “The court shall have jurisdiction, upon, or at any time after the filing of the complaint to issue an injunction restraining such company and its officers, agents, directors, employees and all other persons from transacting any company business or disposing of its property until the further order of the court. The court may issue such other injunctions or enter such other orders as may be deemed necessary to prevent interference with the proceedings, or with the Director’s possession and control or title, rights or interests as herein provided or to prevent interference with the conduct of the business by the Director, and may issue such other injunctions or enter such other orders as may be deemed necessary to prevent waste of .assets or the obtaining of preferences, judgments, attachments or other like liens or the making of any levy against such company or its property and assets while in the possession and control of the Director. * * *” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1963, chap. 73, par. 801.

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Bluebook (online)
226 N.E.2d 862, 37 Ill. 2d 392, 1967 Ill. LEXIS 408, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-gerber-v-central-casualty-co-ill-1967.