Shinn v. Shinn

15 Ill. App. 141, 1884 Ill. App. LEXIS 68
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided May 22, 1884·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Higbee, J.

This was a bill filed in. the Moultrie Circuit Court by Horace B. Shinn against Clement L. Shinn, William II. Shinn, Mary A. Kenney, Hezekiah M. Aslmiare, Jacob Zimmerman, administrator of H. J. Ashmore, and Albert C. Burnham, as trustee of Austin M. Ward, defendants, to foreclose a mortgage executed to the said Horace B. by Clement L. on January 6, 1865, to secure the sum of $5,000.

Prior to the execution of this mortgage the parties thereto, Horace B. and Clement L. Shinn, had been joint owners of the mortgaged premises, having purchased the same from one Ebenezer Hoyes on the 13th day of September, 1864, on which day they executed to him a mortgage on said premises to secure the purchase money amounting to $3,000, which was duly recorded on the day of its execution.

At the Hovember term, 1869, of the Moultrie Circuit Court, a decree of foreclosure was rendered on the Hoyes mortgage in favor of one Thomas B. Trower, who had purchased the same, against the mortgagors, Clement L. and Horace B. Shinn, both of whom were parties and had been served with process. A sale of the mortgaged premises was made under this decree by the master in chancery, and Trower became the purchaser, and subsequently sold and assigned his certificate of purchase to William H. Shinn and Mary A. Kenney, in consideration of $5,140.91, to him paid; and on the 25th day of March, 1871, the time of redemption having expired, they received a deed from the master therefor, which was recorded on the same day.

The bill in the case now under consideration seeks to subject the title of William H. Shinn and Mary A. Kenney thus acquired, to the payment of a mortgage debt due from Clement L. to Horace B. upon the ground, as alleged in the bill, that they purchased the same with full knowledge of the rights of the complainant, Horace B., and paid for it with the money of the said Clement L. Shinn.

Answers were filed to this bill by the defendants, except Burnham, who was defaulted. Clement L. Shinn also filed a cross-bill asking that an account be taken of certain partnership accounts alleged to exist between him and the said Horace B. Shinn, and that the amount found to be due him be applied in satisfaction of his mortgage debt to Horace.

It further appears that on June 25, 1872, while the title of record stood in the names of William II. Shinn and .Mary A. ICenney, they borrowed from one Austin M. Ward the sum of $5,000, giving their note payable in five years with interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum therefor, and to secure the same, executed to Albert C. Burnham a trust deed in the usual form upon the premises in controversy, which was then recorded.

On a former hearing of the cause the court found as to the rights of William H. Shinn, that the title conveyed to him was purchased and paid for with the money of Clement L. Shinn; that the conveyance was fraudulent as against the rights of complainant, and that he held the title by him so acquired in trust for Clement L., subject to his mortgage to Horace B., and as to such interest the mortgage was foreclosed by the decree. The cross-bill of Clement L. was dismissed; the court found that Mary A. Kenney was an innocent purchaser without notice; that her rights were superior to those of the complainant, and that as such purchaser she was entitled to 120 acres of the lands in controversy, and the said William H. Shinn to 280 acres, subject to the lien of complainant’s mortgage.

From this decree an appeal was prosecuted to the Supreme Court, where the same was reversed and the cause remanded at the January term, 1879, and reported as Shinn et al. v. Shinn et al., 91 Ill. 483.

That court held that the cross-bill of Clement L. was properly dismissed; that the decree of the trial court was erroneous and must be reversed for two reasons; First, because Austin M. Ward was not only a proper, but a necessary party to the bill. Second, because the conveyance to William H. Shinn and Mary A. Kenney, vested each with an undivided moiety of the whole, and not to separate and distinct interests in proportion to the money paid by them, and that the decree finding that Shinn owned and was entitled to 280 acres and Mrs. Kenney to onty 120, was not in accordance with the rights of the parties. In the opinion of the court, satisfaction was expressed with the finding of the trial court that Mrs. Kenney was a bona fide purchaser for a valuable consideration, and dissatisfaction with the finding that the money of Clement L. paid for the part of the premises conveyed to William EL. Shinn. It was said by the court that the. evidence did not sustain this conclusion. The decree was reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings jn consonance with the opinion.

On a second hearing the decree was the same as the first, except as to the interests of William H. Shinn and his sister, Mrs. Kenney, which were made to conform to the view’s of the Supreme Court, by giving to each a moiety, and from this decree the present writ of error is prosecuted to this court.

It is now contended by counsel for plaintiffs in error, that the Supreme Court having found, as stated in the opinion, that the evidence did not sustain the allegation that the conveyance from the master to William H. wras paid for by the money of his father, Clement L. Shinn, that question was res adjudicata, and the circuit court erred in not so treating it, and in receiving additional evidence on that subject.

This contention is not well founded. Under the Practice Act., the Supreme Court has the power in case of partial reversal to give such judgment or decree as the case may require or to remand the same for further proceedings, either with or without instructions, for the guidance of the trial court, which are obligatory on the inferior court and must be obeyed by it in all further proceedings had in the cause; but when, as here, the cause is remanded for a new trial in consonance with the opinion of the appellate court, without any specific directions, what was said by that court in reference to the weight of evidence must be understood as applying only to the facts as disclosed in the record then being considered, and only the legal principles announced are binding on the inferior court, and are to be observed in the future trial of the cause. It is the duty of the trial court, when justice demands it, to permit amendments to the pleadings and the taking of additional evidence, and the case should be tried upon all the proof in the record at the hearing, the new as well as the old. As vras said in Chickering v. Failes, 29 Ill. 302, it by no means follows that other facts may not be proved, within the principle announced, which will obviate the objections to granting the relief sought, or to the allowance of the defense interposed. As sustaining the views here expressed, see also Rising v. Carr, 70 Ill. 597; Hugh v. Harvey, 84 Ill. 310; Blatchford v. Newberry, 100 Ill. 484.

The additional evidence admitted by the court on the new trial of the cause, so far as the purchase of William H. Shinn was concerned, tended most strongly to sustain the charge in the bill that it was paid for by the money of his father, and it was properly admitted and considered by the court.

It is next insisted by plaintiffs in error, that William H. Shinn and Mrs.

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