Kerr v. South Park Com Rs

• Decision Date: 29 March 1886
• Parties: KERR and others v. SOUTH PARK COM'RS. 1 Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 801

117 U.S. 379

29 L.Ed. 924

KERR and others v. SOUTH PARK COM'RS.¹

Filed March 29, 1886.

Edward S. Isham, for appellants.

M. W. Fuller, for appellees.

MATTHEWS, J.

The proceedings and decree brought here for revision by this appeal are in execution of the mandate of this court affirming a former decree in the cause, the appellants being the executors and devisees of William P. Kerr, the original complainant, in whose names, upon his death since the decree, the cause has been revived. The original litigation established the title of Kerr to the premises in controversy, subject to the right of the appellees, the South Park commissioners, who had taken possession of the lands on August 27, 1870, to appropriate them for the public use as a part of a public park in the city of Chicago, on payment of their value on that day. It was ordered by the decree that the South Park commissioners pay to the complainant 'the value of the premises on the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, known and described as the south fractional half of section thirteen, in township thirty-eight north, or range fourteen east of the third principal meridian, except lots 9, 10, and 15, in Chas. B. Phillips' subdivision of 26 acres off the west side of the S. W. 1/4 of said section thirteen, according to plat of same recorded in the recorder's office of Cook county, in book 98 of maps, p. 9, and the east half of said south west quarter of said section thirteen, together with interest thereon from the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, at the rate of six per cent. per annum, upon the conveyance of said premises by the complainant, William P. Kerr, and his assignees, claiming under him since the commencement of this suit, by deed which shall release to the South Park commissioners all interest of the said complainant and his assignees. And it is further ordered that the value of said premises required to be paid be ascertained as follows: A jury shall be impaneled in this court, on the law side thereof, to hear the evidence submitted by both parties, and said jury shall determine by their verdict the value of the land hereinbefore described on the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, the time when possession was taken by the South Park commissioners; and the verdict shall be certified by the clerk to the chancery side of this court, and the amount so found shall be considered as the value of said premises on the day aforesaid, unless set aside or changed by the further order of this court. And it is further ordered that the complainant, William P. Kerr, make a deed, and procure deeds to be made by all persons claiming under him since the commencement of this suit, conveying to the South Park commissioners the premises aforesaid, when they shall pay the amount found to be due, with interest from the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, at the rate of six per centum per annum; and the court denies any relief to the complainant as to the east half of the south- west quarter of section 13 aforesaid, and it is ordered that the bill of complaint be dismissed as to that part of the premises. And it appearing to the court that the South Park commissioners have commenced proceedings to condemn the undivided one-quarter of the west half of the south-east quarter of section twenty-four, in township thirty-eight north, of range fourteen east of the third principal meridian, another of the tracts described in the bill belonging to the complainant, it is ordered that all questions touching the same be reserved for the further order of the court.'

Afterwards, at the October term, 1884, the issue directed by the decree of October 8, 1878, was tried by a jury, who returned a verdict fixing the value of the tracts of land in controversy, comprising 111 acres, as of the date of August 29, 1870, at $155,400, which verdict was certified by the clerk to the chancery side of the court as by the decree was directed. And thereupon, on January 20, 1885, the following decree was entered. 'This cause coming on to be heard upon the pleadings, orders, and decree of October 8, 1878, herein, and the mandate of the supreme court herein filed May 17, A. D. 1882, and the verdict of the jury rendered upon the law side of this court on the sixteenth day of December, A. D. 1884, (the motion to set aside the same having been overruled,) and certified by the clerk to the chancery side of this court, determining the value of the tracts of land described in the decree herein entered on the eighth day of October, A. D. 1878, to have been on the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, the sum of one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred dollars, and the evidence, rulings, and charge of the court upon the trial of the issue as to said value, it is hereby ordered, adjudged, and decreed that said amount of one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred dollars be, and it is hereby, adjudged to be the value of said tracts of land at that date; and it appearing to the court that the said complainants cannot at present comply with said decree of October 8, 1878, and that various claims are set up as against said complainants to said tract, or portions thereof, it is ordered that the South Park commissioners pay into court the said sum of one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred dollars, with interest thereon from the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. 1870, at the rate of six per cent. per annum to the date of such payment, and that upon such payment into court the said South Park commissioners be discharged from further liability for interest in the premises, and that the distribution of said money when paid into court be reserved until further order. And the South Park commissioners exhibiting to the court the pleadings, orders, proofs, and decree of August 26, 1882, in a certain cause on the chancery side of this court, wherein the South Park commissioners were complainants and Susie M. Kerr, Rosa L. Kerr, and Joseph B. Kerr, executors, etc., of William P. Kerr, deceased, and others, were defendants, wherefrom it appears that on the twenty-ninth day of November, 1879, the sum of eighty-two thousand eight hundred dollars, and on the twenty-sixth day of February, 1880, the sum of seventy-two hundred dollars, of the moneys of the said South Park commissioners came to the hands of the said Kerrs, complainants in this case, and that the sum of forth-two hundred...