Reisman v. Central Manufacturing District Bank

45 N.E.2d 90, 316 Ill. App. 371, 1942 Ill. App. LEXIS 748
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 17, 1942
DocketGen. No. 42,260
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 45 N.E.2d 90 (Reisman v. Central Manufacturing District Bank) 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
Reisman v. Central Manufacturing District Bank, 45 N.E.2d 90, 316 Ill. App. 371, 1942 Ill. App. LEXIS 748 (Ill. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Friend

delivered the opinion of the court.

Central Manufacturing District Bank closed its doors and went into liquidation June 24, 1932. Thereafter a representative Suit was filed in the circuit court to enforce the constitutional liability of its stockholders. The second amended and supplemental complaint alleged that Charles C. Wright was the. owner of 13 shares of the capital stock of the par value of $100 each. Appropriate allegations were made as to the insolvency of the bank, its liabilities and assets, and other facts necessary to support the suit. Howard K. Hurwith was appointed receiver. February 18, 1933, one Charles C. Wright was served with summons at his residence in Oak Park, Illinois, but failed to appear or answer. November 7, 1935, a decree was entered finding that Charles C. Wright was one of the stockholders of the bank, fixing his liability at $1,300, reciting that summons had been served upon him and default entered, and directing him to pay $1,300 and costs as the owner of 13 shares of stock. Execution was issued against him, but not served.

Some five years later, in 1940, plaintiffs’ counsel discovered that the wrong Charles C. Wright had been served with summons and that the Charles C. Wright who was a stockholder of the bank, resided at 6945 S. Dante avenue, Chicago. Accordingly, December 6, 1940, an alias summons was duly served on the Charles C. Wright who resided at the latter address, whereupon he appeared before Judge Dunne of the circuit court March 11, 1941, and procured an order quashing the summons. Thereafter, April 4, 1941, plaintiffs, Howard K. Hurwith, the receiver, and the Charles C. Wright who resided.in Oak Park, entered into a stipulation to vacate and set aside the decree of November 7,1935 in so far as it affected Wright, and an order was entered accordingly which also provided that as to all other defendants named in the decree, except Charles C. Wright, and as to all other matters contained therein, the decree remain in full force and effect. The order directed that pluries summons issue against the Charles C. Wright who was a stockholder of the bank residing at 6945 S. Dante avenue, which was issued June 12,1941, and served personally on him by the sheriff of Cook county June 16, 1941. He appeared in court July 3, 1941, and moved to quash the writ of summons and to dismiss the suit as to him, under section 48 of the Civil Practice Act. December 16,1941, his motion to quash summons was allowed, an order dismissing the suit as to him was entered, and this appeal followed.

Wright, the appellee, takes the position that the court having entered final judgment against the Charles C. Wright who resided in Oak Park, pursuant to the service of process and default, and the term having passed, no authority existed to issue a summons in that cause against any other party, and consequently the summons and service thereon were a nullity; that there was no complaint on file and no suit pending against him; that on a previous hearing Judge Dunne had adjudicated that there was no suit and no complaint on file and that the court had lost jurisdiction, and no appeal having been taken from that order, it was therefore res adjudicatei.

Wright relies largely on the authority of Trupp v. First Englewood State Bank of Chicago, 307 Ill. App. 258, decided by this division of the Appellate Court in November 1940. In that case plaintiffs filed a creditors ’ representative suit in equity to settle and determine in one action the constitutional liability of all stockholders to all creditors of the First Englewood State Bank of Chicago, which had been closed by the auditor of public accounts in June 1932. The National Republic Bancorporation was named defendant along with numerous individual shareholders. Pursuant to hearings had before the master several decrees were entered, one of which fixed the liability of Bancorporation as owner of 1,890 shares at $189,000. Some 18 months prior to the entry of that decree an involuntary petition in bankruptcy had been filed against Bancorporation, with its consequent adjudication of bankruptcy. Long after the decree of December 28, 1934, fixing the liability of Bancorporation as a shareholder, plaintiffs in that proceeding sought to amend the complaint to charge the individual stockholders of Bancorporation with liability, on the ground that certain new facts had come to light which were previously unknown to plaintiffs prior to the entry of the decree. By these facts plaintiffs sought to open the proceeding and show not only the pending bankruptcy proceedings against Ban-corporation, but also to establish the alleged illegality of its incorporation for the purpose of operating a general banking system. Plaintiffs there relied on section 46 of the Civil Practice Act (par. 170, ch. 110, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939 [Jones Ill. Stats. Ann. 104.046]) permitting amendments of pleadings to conform to proof at any time “before or after judgment.” We held, however, that sec. 46 did not purport to enlarge jurisdiction of courts to reopen a case long after final decree had been entered therein, and that the inability of a court to reopen a case after final decree had been entered and the term had expired rested upon a want of jurisdiction, and was not a question of practice or procedure. The Trupp case can readily be distinguished from the circumstances of this proceeding in the following respects: the stockholders of Bancorporation were never made parties to the Trupp suit, and plaintiffs in that proceeding sought two years after they had procured a decree finding Bancorporation to be the owner of 1,890 shares of the capital stock of the bank, to reopen the proceeding and fix liability against the individual stockholders of Bancorporation, who were never made parties to the suit; whereas in the case at bar this particular defendant, Charles C. Wright, was a party to the original suit, but the wrong Charles C. Wright was served with summons. Furthermore, in the Trupp suit no complaint was brought against the stockholders of Bancorporation, whereas in this proceeding a cause of action was stated in the original complaint against this particular Charles C. Wright.' Lastly, in the Trupp case there was no stipulation to vacate the decree by any of the- parties, as there was in the case at bar, and consequently the court had no jurisdiction after two years to do so. Our conclusion in the Trupp case is not at variance with the proposition that a decree or judgment may be vacated or set aside by the stipulation of the parties at any time. In Humphreyville v. Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., 73 Ill. 485, it was held as early as 1874 that although a court cannot set aside its own judgment at a subsequent term without consent, yet with the consent of all the parties it may do so. In Steinhagen v. Trull, 320 Ill. 382, the court, following the earlier cases, held that as a general rule a court has no jurisdiction to set aside, modify or change its judgment or decree after expiration of the term at which it was rendered, but that this may be done at a subsequent term with the consent of all the parties, and in Miller v. Miller, 332 Ill. 177, it was held that although the decree was entered at a former term, the only parties interested in the suit could agree to dismiss it upon stipulation entered into pending confirmation of the sale by the master.

However, Wright’s counsel advance the ingenious argument that plaintiffs sued the wrong Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
45 N.E.2d 90, 316 Ill. App. 371, 1942 Ill. App. LEXIS 748, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reisman-v-central-manufacturing-district-bank-illappct-1942.