Thrifts v. Fritz

101 Ill. 457, 1882 Ill. LEXIS 110
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 18, 1882
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 101 Ill. 457 (Thrifts v. Fritz) 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
Thrifts v. Fritz, 101 Ill. 457, 1882 Ill. LEXIS 110 (Ill. 1882).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Scott

delivered the opinion of the Court:

Much confusion exists in this record on account of the introduction of irrelevant matter in no way connected with the present appeal. It is to be regretted the abstracts- are not so prepared as readily to present a clear understanding of the case. It will simplify the investigation to ascertain what the litigation in this court concerns.

On looking into the transcript filed in the cause,- it is seen an appeal was taken by John W. Thrifts from a judgment rendered against him in the circuit court of Pope county, on the 22d day of October, 1879, in favor of Andrew J. Fritz, for the sum of $151.20 and costs of suit, and in case of default in payment of-the sum adjudged against him, within a time fixed by the order of. the court, it was ordered that execution issue therefor. That judgment was affirmed by the Appellate Court for the Fourth District, and now defendant brings the case to this court, a majority of the judges of the Appellate Court having certified they were of opinion the case involves questions of law of such importance, on account of the legal principles involved, that it should be passed upon by the Supreme Court,—which, under the statute, authorizes him to bring his appeal to this court.

That which is called a “bill of exceptions, ” made part of the record, by the judge of the circuit court in which the cause was tried, contains all the evidence that can be considered on this appeal. It contains the petition of Andrew J. Fritz, in which it is recited a petition was filed in the case of Andrew J. Fritz v. Cassandra Jenkins et al., in which it was set forth that said cause was pending on a hill to foreclose a mortgage, in the circuit court of Pope county, at the March term, 1878, when John W. Thrifts, a junior mortgagee, was, on his own petition, made a party; that a decree was rendered in favor of petitioner, Andrew J„ Fritz, for the sum of $138.08, and also in favor of defendant, John W. Thrifts, the junior mortgagee, for the sum of $65, and the mortgaged premises ordered to be sold, the proceeds to be applied to the payment of the costs of the proceedings, and to the payment of the claims of the respective mortgagees. It is further set forth in the petition, that the master in chancery, after giving the notice required by the decree, offered the mortgaged property for sale; that the same was struck off to defendant for $253.60, as to the highest bidder, and, although a certificate of purchase, in the usual form, was tendered to him, he refused to accept it and pay the amount of his bid. It is further represented, in and by the same petition, that at the March term, 1879, of the court, an order was entered requiring defendant, Thrifts, to pay the purchase money alleged to have been bid by him for the mortgaged property, within thirty days, and that in default thereof such real estate be resold by the master in chancery, at the risk and expense of defendant; and that, as defendant had not paid such purchase money, the master in chancery, after advertising the property, resold the same to Alonzo McCoy for $5, that being the highest bid made, and issued to him the usual certificate of purchase. Upon the facts alleged, petitioner asked that defendant, Thrifts, be required, by an order of court, to pay the difference between his alleged bid of $253.60 and the subsequent bid of $5, viz.: $248.60, together1 with the costs consequent upon this proceeding, as well as the costs of the proceeding against defendant at the March term, 1879, within a reasonable time, and in default thereof, that execution issue to the sheriff of Massac county to collect the same. To the petition and motion filed against him, defendant answered, that while the petition contained many facts that were true, and some that were untrue, yet upon the material matters which would fix liability on defendant the facts alleged are very inaccurate and greatly misrepresented, and then proceeds to relate what he alleges is a full history of his connection with the case. The substance of all that is material to the present consideration is : 1st. Defendant did not make any bid for the mortgaged premises at the master’s sale. 2d. The premises were not bought by him. 3d. No certificate of purchase was ever tendered to him. 4th. He did not authorize any one to make a bid for him at the master’s sale of the premises, and was greatly, surprised when he heard the premises had been struck off at such sale in his name. 5th. That Thomas H. Clark, who made the alleged bid for defendant at the master’s sale, was the acting solicitor for petitioner in the foreclosure suit. And 6th. The only notice defendant received of the resale of the property, was a notice from the master, on the 28th day of June, 1879, when in fact the resale did not take [place until the 19th day of July, 1879. Exceptions to the answer of defendant, filed by petitioner, are: 1st. The matters set up are not responsive to the motion. 2d. The material allegations of defendant’s answer were at issue, and adjudicated by the court, at its last term. And 3d. The answer is otherwise informal and insufficient. . It appears the court “sustain the exceptions” to the answer of defendant, and thereupon leave was given to defendant to file another answer, which he did, the substance of which is, the only service of process in the foreclosure suit on defendants, a part of whom ■ are minors, was by a person not authorized by the sheriff of the county to make service of such processthat the party making the service was appointed a special deputy for the sheriff of the county by an acting deputy, and not by the sheriff himself, and it is insisted the court never acquired jurisdiction of the persons of the defendants in the foreclosure suit, there having been no appearance by any adult defendant, and for that reason the decree of foreclosure, and the sale thereunder, were null and void. With his amended answer defendant filed the affidavit of the sheriff, in which he states the written appointment of a special deputy, on the back of the summons in the foreclosure suit, purporting to have been made by him, was not made by him, and was not signed by him. Exceptions filed by petitioner to the additional or amended answer of defendant, were by the court overruled, and thereupon he filed a general replication to the answer of defendant, such as is usual to an answer to a bill in chancery, stating that the matters therein set up are not true, and the allegations of the petition and motion are true, and for aught that appears in such answer the prayer of the petition and motion should be granted. Just before the hearing of the cause was commenced in the circuit court, and after a motion for continuance by defendant had been overruled, petitioner asked leave of the court to amend the appointment of the special deputy indorsed on the back of the summons, in the suit to foreclose the mortgage of petitioner, by adding below the name of the sheriff, which appears to be signed thereto, the words, “by Thomas H. Alexander, deputy, ” which motion, against the objection of defendant, was allowed, and the appointment of the special deputy was so amended. And thereupon the cause came on ' to be tried, when Thomas H. Alexander was introduced as a witness, and stated he was a deputy sheriff on the 20th day of October, 1877, when the summons in the foreclosure suit was given to him, and he appointed the deputy named, to serve the summons, and signed the sheriff’s name to the appointment, and that the sheriff had told him if he became pressed with business to appoint a special deputy in any case, but gave him no particular authority in this case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 Ill. 457, 1882 Ill. LEXIS 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thrifts-v-fritz-ill-1882.