Redfield v. Lorimer-Lundquist Co.

174 Ill. App. 547, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 341
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 29, 1912
DocketGen. No. 18,682
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 174 Ill. App. 547 (Redfield v. Lorimer-Lundquist 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
Redfield v. Lorimer-Lundquist Co., 174 Ill. App. 547, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 341 (Ill. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinions

Mr. Presiding Justice Gridley

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is the appeal of James D. Lynch, by virtue of section 123 of chapter 110 of the Revised Statutes of Illinois, from an interlocutory injunctional order of the Superior Court of Cook County, restraining him from prosecuting an action at law, brought by him as trustee, in the Municipal Court of Chicago against the Lorimer-Lundquist Company. The injunctional order was issued without bond, May 28, 1912, and is as follows :

“This cause coming on this day upon the reading of the petition of Casper L. Redfield, praying for an order restraining James D. Lynch from prosecuting a certain suit at law, instituted by him in the Municipal Court of Chicago, or from taking any step or proceeding therein until the further order of this court, and upon the reading of the original bill of complaint, the cross-bill of complaint of John J. Brownrigg, the cross-bill of complaint of the Lorimer-Lundquist Company, and all answers of James D. Lynch, Prank A. Lundquist, A. L. Craig, John E. Norling, the Globe Automatic Telephone Company of New Jersey, and the Globe Automatic Telephone Company of Illinois, to the said original bill and said two cross-bills, and to the said petition of the said Redfield, and the court having heard arguments of counsel and being fully advised in the premises, It is ordered that the said James D. Lynch, his attorneys, solicitors, agents and representatives, be restrained, and that he refrain from further prosecuting the said action at law now pending in the Municipal Court of Chicago, entitled James D. Lynch, trustee, vs. Lorimer-Lundquist Company, a corporation, No. 205676 upon the docket of said Municipal Court, until the further order of this court.”

It appears from the certificate of evidence, signed and sealed by the chancellor, that Redfield’s bill, his petition for an injunction, and the cross-bills of Brownrigg and of the Lorimer-Lundquist Company were sworn to; that the various answers of the defendants, mentioned in said injunctional order, to said bill and cross-bills were also sworn to, including the answer of Lynch to said petition of Redfield, with the exception of the answer of the Globe Automatic Telephone Company of Illinois to Redfield’s bill; and that all of said pleadings, together with a certain amendment to the cross-bill of the Lorimer-Lundquist Company and the disclaimer of John K. Norstrom “were all the matters read to or considered by the court and all the evidence introduced on the hearing of the motion for an injunction.”

The praecipe transcript of the record is very voluminous. There is an additional praecipe transcript consisting of the answer of the Continental & Commercial National Bank to Redfield’s bill, the formal replications of Redfield to the answers of Lynch, Lorimer-Lundquist Company, Craig, Norling and Lundquist to Redfield’s bill, and the answer of Brownrigg to the petition of one Walter H. Lee. Brownrigg’s answer to said petition is not sworn to and the petition of Lee is not in said transcript.

The appellant, Lynch, assigns as error that (1), the court erred in entering the interlocutory decree appealed from, and (2), the court erred in entering said order “without requiring from Casper L. Redfield any bond or security.” The same errors are assigned by Frank A. Lundquist. It is contended by counsel for Redfield that the order appealed from is not such an interlocutory order as is appealable under said section 123 of chapter 110, and that, therefore, the appeal should be dismissed. After careful consideration we are of the opinion that the order appealed from is within the purview of the statute and that the appeal is properly before us.

Some of the prominent facts of this case, as disclosed from the sworn pleadings, are: The Globe Automatic Telephone Company, of New Jersey (hereinafter called the Globe Co.) had dealings with the Lorimer-Lundquist Company (hereinafter called the Lorimer Co.), the result of which was that the Globe Co. transferred the major part of its assets, consisting of patent rights, to the Lorimer Co. in exchange for one-half of the issued stock of the Lorimer Co. The portion of stock to which the persons interested in the Globe Co. became entitled was put in the name of James D. Lynch, as trustee. Redfield claims a certain interest (more than one-fifth) in said stock so in the hands of Lynch. Lynch, Norling, Lundquist and Craig deny he has any interest. About May 20, 1911, the Lorimer Co. made an agreement with the Western Electric Company (hereinafter called the Electric Co.) by which it gave to the latter company an option to purchase the United States patent rights of the Lorimer Co. for $650,000. This option was consummated on September 2, 1911, and on that date the Electric Co. paid the Lorimer Co. the sum of $424,850, in cash, which was deposited in said Continental & Commercial National Bank to the credit of the Lorimer Co., and further agreed to pay the Lorimer Co. the sum of $125,000 on or about December 11, 1912, and $100,000 on or about December 11, 1913, provided certain terms and conditions were carried out by the Lorimer. Co., the said $225,000 being retained by the Electric Co. as security for the performance of the undertakings of the Lorimer Co. Prior to the payment of this large sum of money to the Lorimer Co., certain dissensions existing among the stockholders of the Lorimer Co. were settled, and Harrison B. Riley, president of the Chicago Title & Trust Co. was selected as one of the seven directors and as treasurer of the company, and, as the holder in trust of 2,000 shares of the 11,000 shares of issued stock, held the balance of the power between the contending factions. The other directors of the company were E. A. Shedd, N. D. Neill, and C. B. Shedd, representing the so-called “Lorimer” interests, and James D. Lynch, A. L. Craig and J. E. Nor-ling, representing the so-called “Globe” interests. James D. Lynch was president, E. A. Shedd, vice-president, and E. J. Shedd, secretary. Three days after said sum of $424,850 had been paid to the Lorimer Co., viz.: on December 5, 1911, all of the seven directors met at the company’s office in the Monadnock building, Chicago, and a dividend of thirty per cent, on the 11,000 issued shares was declared. It was required that checks be signed by Lynch as president and E. J. Shedd as secretary, and that they be counter-signed by Riley as treasurer. At the meeting several checks were drawn to pay certain debts of the company, and then the dividend checks were drawn, all bearing the required signatures, except one check amounting to $134,940, payable to Lynch as trustee, and being for the said dividend on 4498 shares of stock held by said Lynch as trustee. This check was signed by Lynch, as president, and also by Riley, but it was not signed by E. J. Shedd, as secretary, and this omission was, it is said, overlooked by Lynch and Riley at the time. It is alleged in Lynch’s sworn answer to Redfield’s bill that said check

“was purposely and intentionally not signed by E. J. Shedd, pursuant to a collusive and fraudulent conspiracy, * * * so that this defendant would not be able to collect said check, and in that way, E. J. Shedd, A. O. Wisner and Casper L.

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Bluebook (online)
174 Ill. App. 547, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/redfield-v-lorimer-lundquist-co-illappct-1912.