Morey v. Brown

• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois
• Citation: 137 N.E. 210,305 Ill. 284
• Docket Number: No. 14706.,14706.
• Parties: MOREY v. BROWN.
• Decision Date: 12 December 1922

305 Ill. 284
137 N.E. 210

MOREY
v.
BROWN.

No. 14706.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 21, 1922.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 12, 1922.

Error to Circuit Court, Macon County; James S. Baldwin, Judge.

Action by L. A. Morey against Wesley M. Brown. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error.

Affirmed.

[305 Ill. 284]Lee & Lee, of Chicago, and H. C. Luallen, of Decatur (John A. Walgren, of Decatur, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

Wiley & Morey, of Decatur, for defendant in error.

CARTER, J.

Defendant in error, L. A. Morey, instituted ejectment proceedings in the circuit court of Macon county against plaintiff in error, Wesley M. Brown. On a trial before [305 Ill. 285]a jury a verdict was rendered in favor of defendant in error. A motion for new trial was granted under the statute, and a second trial was had before the court, a jury being waived, and judgment was again entered in favor of defendant in error. From this last judgment an appeal was prayed to this court, but not perfected, and later this writ of error was sued out.

The property over which this litigation arose consists of a 50-acre farm in Macon county, originally owned and occupied for many years prior to his death, in 1910 by William Evans. In 1898 he deeded the land to Amos C. Evans and his bodily heirs, reserving to the grantor the rents, use, and right to control the premises for his natural life. Plaintiff in error testified that he became an occupant of the premises about March 1, 1913, and has resided there continuously up to the time of the hearing, part of the time under a lease from Arthur Evans, a son of William Evans, part under a lease from Troy Evans, and part under a deed to himself. It appears from the record that the property was sold for taxes for the year 1916 and a tax deed to 40 acres of the farm was issued to F. B. Sawyer on July 22, 1919, and that the latter gave a quitclaim deed to plaintiff in error dated February 28, 1920, acknowledged April 8, 1920, and recorded the following day. Defendant in error's claim of ownership is based upon a sheriff's deed issued to her in February, 1920. This deed was issued upon a certificate of purchase which was assigned to her by the assignee of certain persons who had recovered a judgment in 1914 against Amos C. Evans before a justice of the peace and had filed a transcript of said judgment with the clerk of the circuit court.

On the hearing in the trial court, after defendant in error had introduced the sheriff's deed and certain other proof, plaintiff in error offered the tax deed heretofore referred to, which the court refused to admit. It is argued [305 Ill. 286]earnestly by counsel for plaintiff in error that the court erred in refusing to admit the tax deed as showing prima facie title to the land in question in plaintiff in error.

It is also objected that the sheriff's deed was improperly admitted in evidence;

[137 N.E. 211]

that the levy and sale under execution upon which it was based failed to give a fee-simple title to defendant in error. The count in the declaration described the whole 50-acre tract, stating that the plaintiff ‘claims for the term of the life of one Amos Clifford Evans, who is still living,’ and there is no qualification as to the estate conveyed by such deed. The...