Travelers Insurance v. La Salle National Bank

558 N.E.2d 579, 200 Ill. App. 3d 139, 146 Ill. Dec. 616, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1075
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 24, 1990
DocketNo. 2—89—1286
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 558 N.E.2d 579 (Travelers Insurance v. La Salle National 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
Travelers Insurance v. La Salle National Bank, 558 N.E.2d 579, 200 Ill. App. 3d 139, 146 Ill. Dec. 616, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1075 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE DUNN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendants, La Salle National Bank as trustee under a land trust agreement, Flodstrom Family Partnership, the trust beneficiary, and Sven Flodstrom and Majken Flodstrom, appeal from the trial court’s order denying defendants’ motion to reconsider the court’s previous order placing plaintiff, Travelers Insurance Company, as mortgagee in possession of defendants’ property. On appeal, defendants contend that they have established good cause why they should remain in possession and the trial court’s order placing plaintiff in possession disregarded the statutory requirements of section 15 — 1701(b) of the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law (the Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15 — 1701(b)). We reject defendants’ interpretation of the Act and affirm the order of the trial court.

On April 1, 1986, defendant La Salle National Bank executed a mortgage in favor of plaintiff to secure a promissory note for $15,500,000. The mortgaged property was improved real estate located in Lake County and held in trust by La Salle for the benefit of defendant Flodstrom Family Partnership. At the times relevant to the instant matter, the office building on the property was at least partially occupied by commercial tenants and generated an approximate monthly rental income of $150,000 according to an affidavit filed by defendants. Defendants allege that Sven Flodstrom and Majken Flodstrom are general partners in Flodstrom Family Partnership, but this fact does not appear in the record. Additionally, it is apparent that either the partnership or the Flodstroms or a combination of these parties operated and managed the commercial office building located on the mortgaged premises.

The note matured on April 30, 1989, and on August 18, 1989, plaintiff filed a complaint in foreclosure, in which it alleged that the mortgage was in default. Thereafter, counsel for plaintiff and defendants executed a stipulation in which they agreed to open a joint checking account. Defendants agreed to deposit all rents produced by the mortgaged property into the account and to submit to plaintiff a monthly schedule identifying proceeds and operating expenses. Plaintiff agreed to review the schedule, designate the expenses it approved and draw a check sufficient to cover each month’s expenses. The net proceeds were to be paid to plaintiff monthly. Paragraph 10 of the parties’ stipulation provided that none of the parties waived any of their rights, including plaintiff’s right to be made a mortgagee in possession. The trial court approved the stipulation and entered an agreed order incorporating its terms.

Plaintiff subsequently filed a motion to be placed as mortgagee in possession of the mortgaged premises pursuant to section 15 — 1701 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15 — 1701). Plaintiff alleged that the mortgage instrument in question, which it had previously attached to its foreclosure complaint, expressly authorized plaintiff to take possession. Plaintiff further alleged that there existed a probability that it would prevail on its foreclosure complaint. Along with its motion for possession, plaintiff submitted a summary judgment motion and a supporting affidavit which verified the allegations contained in its complaint and also indicated that defendants owed $15,992,782.17 in unpaid principal and interest as of October 6, 1989.

Defendants objected to plaintiff’s motion for possession and denied the accuracy of plaintiff’s figures. Defendants asserted that they had equitable defenses to plaintiff's foreclosure complaint and claimed that they had been lulled into believing plaintiff would extend the due date on the note. Defendants further asserted that the motion for possession failed to allege any “equitable grounds or detrimental prejudice” which would entitle plaintiff to possession and that the parties’ stipulation adequately protected plaintiff’s interest. Defendants concluded that plaintiff was estopped from pursuing possession of the mortgaged premises.

Shortly after filing their objections, defendants answered the complaint and denied that plaintiff was entitled to foreclosure because defendants were not in default. In support of this claim, defendants contended that plaintiff had failed to credit to their account certain letters of credit and monetary reserves. By way of affirmative defenses, defendants alleged that plaintiff unreasonably had withheld its approval of certain new leases and had approved of other leases with improper rental abatement provisions, thus breaching certain fiduciary obligations to defendants and attempting to foreclose on defendants with unclean hands. Additionally, defendants reiterated their previously asserted estoppel claim.

The trial court granted plaintiff’s motion for possession, and defendants timely moved for reconsideration; in the alternative, defendants requested the trial court to clarify its order and to stay the order pending appeal. Following lengthy oral argument by the parties’ counsel, the trial court denied defendants’ motion to vacate and the motion to stay. In clarification of its earlier order, the trial court stated that it found plaintiff- entitled to possession of the premises pursuant to the mortgage documents. The trial court also stated that it was satisfied there was a reasonable probability that plaintiff would prevail on the merits of the foreclosure complaint based on the information contained in plaintiff’s affidavit.

The court further clarified its order granting plaintiff possession as follows:

“[T]he defendants!’] reliance upon the stipulation and agreed order *** in attempt to show good cause why mortgagor shall remain in possession is misplaced, as said stipulation and order do not preclude plaintiff from seeking possession (order at paragraph 10), nor can defendants rely upon their unverified answer and affirmative defenses, as the denials in said answer go only to the amount of interest and the affirmative defenses are conclusory, do not overcome the plaintiffs [sic] affidavit and with regard to the estoppel argument, [do] not set forth all of the necessary elements.”

Defendants’ timely appeal of this interlocutory order ensued. See 107 Ill. 2d R. 307(a)(4).

The sole issue on appeal is whether defendants demonstrated good cause pursuant to section 15 — 1701(b)(2) of the Act, thus precluding the trial court from placing plaintiff as mortgagee in possession. We believe this matter presents a case of first impression in Illinois.

The Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, pars. 15 — 1101 through 15 — 1706), which became effective July 1, 1987, represents the legislature’s attempt “to integrate into one single legislative enactment the numerous foreclosure provisions previously covered by separate statutes and various articles of the Code of Civil Procedure.” (F. Bernard & G. Thorpe, Recent Illinois Mortgage Law Changes Affecting Commercial Mortgage Lending, 76 Ill. B.J. 606, 606 (1988).) Section 15 — 1701 of the Act specifically pertains to the right to possession during foreclosure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15 — 1701), a subject which was previously addressed as the right of “possession of realty after default” (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 110, par. 15 — 301 et seq.; Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 95, par. 22b.51 et seq.).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
558 N.E.2d 579, 200 Ill. App. 3d 139, 146 Ill. Dec. 616, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-insurance-v-la-salle-national-bank-illappct-1990.