Stansbury v. Home State Bank

355 N.E.2d 613, 42 Ill. App. 3d 58, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3080
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 28, 1976
DocketNo. 75-421
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 355 N.E.2d 613 (Stansbury v. Home State 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
Stansbury v. Home State Bank, 355 N.E.2d 613, 42 Ill. App. 3d 58, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3080 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE RECHENMACHER

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Elsie Stevens Stansbury (Elsie), sought in Count I of her second amended complaint (Complaint) to establish a constructive trust as to the Delmar Stock Farm in Crystal Lake as well as to 2440 shares of Hart, Schaffner & Marx preferred stock all of which was conveyed and transferred by her sister-in-law, Marjorie Stevens (Marjorie), prior to her death to the defendant, Home State Bank of Crystal Lake, as trustee (Home Bank). In Count II of the Complaint Elsie aUeged breach of an oral contract to make a will leaving the farm and stock to her or her children, and asked that defendant Home Bank be ordered to transfer those assets to Elsie. The circuit court of McHenry County granted the motion of Lenora B. Stuck, administrator of the estate of Charles J. Stuck, deceased, to dismiss Count I under section 48 of the Civil Practice Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 110, par. 48), on the ground that the cause of action was barred by laches and the statute of limitations, and to dismiss Count II under section 45 of the Civil Practice Act (111. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 110, par. 45) on the ground that it failed to state a cause of action, in that it did not allege sufficient facts “to show clearly and unequivocally a contract between Elsie and Marjorie, whereby Marjorie agreed to make a will in favor of Elsie.” Plaintiff appeals.

Essential to a determination of the propriety of the dismissal is a detailed analysis of the Complaint, all properly pleaded facts of which are taken as admitted by the motion to dismiss. Fancil v. Q.S.E. Foods, Inc. (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 552, 554.

Count I alleged that plaintiff, Elsie, and her older brother, Delmar A. Stevens (Delmar), were the only heirs of their mother, Mary E. Stevens, a widow, who died intestate on April 5,1934. Elsie’s husband, Ralph, died prior thereto, leaving an insolvent estate. Elsie had two children, Thomas, who at that time was seven years old, and Lois, who at that time was less than one year old. Elsie’s brother, Delmar, was vice-president (and a director) of Chas. A. Stevens & Co. He was the husband of Marjorie. When Thomas A. Stevens, Elsie’s and Delmar’s father, died in 1919, and thereafter, Delmar was relied upon by both Elsie and her mother, Mary, “for advice and guidance as to the family assets.” Delmar frequently received Elsie’s proxies to represent her and “to elect Delmar to the Board of Directors of Chas. A. Stevens & Co. as a representative of the family interest.” Delmar also employed Elsie at a salary commencing at *25 a week as a buyer in one of the departments of that company at a time when jobs were scarce and she needed the job to maintain herself and her children.

When Elsie’s and Delmar’s mother died in April, 1934, Elsie “permitted Delmar ° ° ° to act as sole administrator” of her mother’s estate in the probate cotut of Cook County instead of doing so herself or acting as co-administrator. In the mother’s estate there was included (1) 692 shares of stock of Chas. A. Stevens & Co., (2) the Delmar Stock Farm in Crystal Lake and (3) a Chicago residence on South Shore Drive. Delmar continued to act as administrator of that estate from April 24,1934, until March 16,1945. He managed the stock farm, leased it, collected the rents, paid taxes and insurance and made improvements, all without objection by Elsie, or demands by her that he close the estate.

The Complaint further alleged that, by reason of the foregoing facts, “[a] confidential and fiduciary relationship existed between Delmar # # and Elsie 0 0 0 whereby Delmar * * * stood in a superior position and Elsie * * * reposed trust and confidence in him,” and that Delmar abused that relationship “by making an unequal distribution” of their mother Mary’s estate, under the following circumstances: Delmar called Elsie to a meeting on February 2, 1945, in the office of Oscar Stem, his attorney in their mother’s probate estate. Delmar and Mr. Stern represented to Elsie that to close and settle the estate “it was necessary that Delmar receive title to the Delmar Stock Farm” and for Elsie to “receive title to the” Chicago residence. At that meeting Mr. Stem had appraisals of the farm and the residence which Delmar had obtained. The appraisals showed that the fair market value of the farm, which was stated by the appraiser to be “conservative,” was *24,000, and the fair market value of the Chicago residence was *12,500. When Elsie stated that this disposition would give Delmar “an unfair advantage,” Delmar promised that if Elsie agreed to that division she “or her children would receive the Delmar Stock Farm and the 346 shares of Chas. A. Stevens & Co. which Delmar received from the estate ° ° °, upon the death of Delmar and his wife, Marjorie.” (Delmar’s last will which he had executed in February, 1934, and which was in effect on his death in 1959, would have fulfilled that promise if he had continued to own the property.) Elsie said she would accept that division of the real estate and rely on Delmar’s promise “as long as Delmar’s wife, Marjorie, * * * was informed and consented to it.” Approximately three weeks later Delmar told Elsie that his wife, Marjorie, “was informed of Delmar’s promise and consented to it.” Elsie then executed a quitclaim deed conveying the Delmar Stock Farm to Delmar on February 24,1945, and on the same day Delmar and his wife, Marjorie, executed the deed conveying the Chicago residence to Elsie.

The Complaint further alleged that in 1955 “[ljawsuits of creditors were filed against Delmar,” and by quitclaim deed dated December 3, 1955, recorded February 7, 1956, Delmar conveyed the farm to his wife, Marjorie, “without consideration,” and on May 1,1956, he transferred 104 1/6 shares of Chas. A. Stevens & Co. stock to Marjorie “without consideration.” On March 5, 1959, Delmar died leaving a last will and testament dated February 13, 1934. (A copy of his will is attached to the complaint. Insofar as relevant here, Delmar’s will devised and bequeathed all of his estate to his wife, Marjorie, “for her life or during her widowhood,” and “upon her death thereafter not having remarried * * * to my ° # 6 sister, Elsie.”) During the course of the probate proceedings in McHenry County, Marjorie, as administrator with will annexed of Delmar’s estate, filed a petition executed May 17,1961, asking authority to sell all 287 shares of Chas. A. Stevens &<Co. stock which were inventoried in that estate, in order to pay expenses of administration. “After a conference between the attorney for the estate and Thomas A. Stansbury” (Elsie’s son, who by then was a lawyer), “242 shares 909 were preserved in the estate, so that Marjorie 9 9 9 received a life interest therein with remainder on her death to” Elsie; those 242 shares and the 104 l/6th shares held by Marjorie “equal the 346 shares which Delmar 9 9 9 had promised to cause to be transferred to [Elsie] on the death of the survivor of Delmar and his wife, Marjorie.”

In March, 1969, as a result of negotiations between Chas. A. Stevens & Co. and Hart, Schaffner & Marx, the 104 l/6th shares of Chas. A. Stevens & Co. stock were exchanged for 2440 shares of Hart, Schaffner & Marx Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock.

Early in 1971, Marjorie executed a trust agreement known as Trust No.

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Related

Mid-America National Bank v. First Savings & Loan Ass'n
515 N.E.2d 176 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1987)
Stansbury v. United States
543 F. Supp. 154 (N.D. Illinois, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
355 N.E.2d 613, 42 Ill. App. 3d 58, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 3080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stansbury-v-home-state-bank-illappct-1976.