Perry  v. Engel

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM.
• Citation: Perry  v. Engel, 296 Ill. 549, 130 N.E. 340 (Ill. 1921)
• Decision Date: 06 April 1921
• Docket Number: No. 12896.,12896.
• Parties: PERRY et ux. v. ENGEL et al.

296 Ill. 549

130 N.E. 340

PERRY et ux.

v.ENGEL et al.

No. 12896.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 15, 1921.

Rehearing Denied April 6, 1921.

Bill by William H. Perry and wife against Antoine Engel and others. From the decree for complainants, defendants appeal.

Reversed and remanded.Appeal from Superior Court, Cook County; Denis E. Sullivan, judge.

Jacob Cantlin, of Rock Falls, for appellant Antoine Engel.

Gustave Nelson, of Chicago, for appellant Bertha Engel.

Harper E. Osborn, of Chicago, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

In June, 1917, appellees, William H. Perry and his wife, of Sterling, Ill., owned a six-flat building, 957-959 East Sixty-Second street, Chicago, and Perry employed Antoine Engel, of Tampico, Ill., to either exchange the flat building for farm property or to sell it. The flat building was worth about $25,000 and was incumbered for $14,500. Perry had invested in it about $28,000 and told Engel he wanted to get that amount out of the property. Engel showed Perry several farms near Sterling, but no exchange for them could be arranged. In July, 1917, they went to Carrollton, Mo., at the suggestion of Engel, to inspect a farm owned by one Quisenberry, but no deal was perfected with him. During the same month they inspected a farm of 200 acres in the county of Chariton, Mo., described as the northwest quarter and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 17, township 55, range 19, owned by Richard W. Nance. Perry examined the soil, crops, and buildings on the farm and was desirous of making a trade for it. Engel represented to him that Nance was sick in a hospital in the city of Chicago and was not expected to live long, and for that reason was desirous of selling his farm in order to get ready cash to meet expenses of his illness. He told Perry that he had known Nance and his wife for some time, and that they were old friends of his, and that he would see them and try to arrange a deal. A few days afterwards he told Perry that he had seen the Nances and that they would make the exchange; that they would take his flat building and deed him the farm subject to a $14,000 mortgage, upon his further paying $1,000 in cash and giving his note for $1,000. He also told Perry that the Nances were peculiar people and would not make this deal unless Engel's name was on the mortgage; that they had confidence in him and did not know Perry; and that they would only make the deal that way. The terms for the exchange were not quite satisfactory to Perry. Later Engel represented to Perry that he had had a hard time in making the deal, but had finally got the Nances to agree to exchange the farm, subject to a mortgage of $14,000, for $1,000 cash, a note for $700, the flat building to be taken by the Nances subject to a mortgage for $14,500, appellees to have the rents for that year of the farm, and the Nances the rent of the flat building beginning August 1, 1917. Engel stated to Perry that the farm was worth $140 per acre, and that he could sell it for him for $150 per acre. He further informed Perry that the arrangement was that the Nances were to make a deed to Engel's daughter, Bertha, and she was to make a deed for the Missouri farm to Perry, and would deliver the Chicago property to the Nances after Perry had delivered it to her and when they desired her to do so. This proposition was accepted by Perry, and a contract was drawn up between himself and Bertha Engel at the instance of Antoine Engel by an attorney, Phillip H. Ward, Engel having first had the Nances deed the land to his daughter. The exchange of deeds was afterwards made between Perry and Bertha Engel, and Perry paid $1,000 cash to Ward, who forwarded the same to Nance as an advance payment, and then Perry delivered his note for $700 payable to Bertha Engel, as it was stated to him that that was the way the Nances desired it done. Perry then paid Engel $200 as commission for perfecting the deal.

While Engel was seeking to have made the exchange of real property, he learned from L. M. Stewart, a real estate agent in Missouri, that the Nance farm could be bought for $15,000-$1,000 cash and a mortgage for $14,000 due in ten years at 5 per cent. interest-and that Stewart had a contract with the Nances to sell the farm on those terms. Engel made a contract of purchase of the farm for himselfwith Stewart and the Nances upon the terms given him by stewart before he made the final deal with Perry. As a matter of fact, Engel had never known the Nances before this transaction. He first met them at the Presbyterian Hospital, in Chicago, August 1, 1917, and introduced himself to the Nances as the man who was trying to buy their farm. He stated to them that he was in a hurry to get the transaction completed, as he might be able to exchange it for some Chicago property. He told them he was purchasing their Missouri farm, but that it would have to be taken in his daughter's name because his wife was in poor health and could not execute deeds. He finally concluded the deal with them and had them deed the farm to his daughter for $15,000-$1,000 in cash and a trust deed or mortgage on the farm signed by Bertha securing a note for $14,000 and interest signed by her and her father. The Nances never knew that Perry had or was to have any connection with the deal for their farm, and Perry did not know that the Nances were not to get the flat building and were not trading for it until about the middle of November, 1917. The record evidence further discloses that Bertha Engel never saw this farm in person before it was deeded to her, and that she was never out one dollar of money for the land to the Nances or to any one for them. Her father, on account of a judgment existing against him, appears in former deals to have taken title to property in her name, and in this instance she took title for him, and the Nance property was deeded to her in the manner aforesaid after her father had learned from Perry that he could make the deal with him for the flat property. He deceitfully led Perry to believe that he was trading directly with the Nances, and that they were, in fact, to become the owners of his flat property, for the purpose of taking advantage of Perry while his agent and for the purpose of his own gain. Nance died September 12, 1917, leaving him surviving Aurelia P. Nance, his widow, and Helen P. Nance, his daughter and only heir.

On December 7, 1917, appellees filed a bill in the superior court of Cook county against Antoine Engel, Bertha Engel, Helen P. Nance, individually and as administratrix of the estate of Richard W. Nance, Aurelia P. Nance, and Robert M. Shanklin, based upon the foregoing facts, and praying to have the deed to the Chicago property to Bertha Engel declared void and set aside, and that she be ordered to reconvey the real estate to complainants; that Antoine Engel be ordered to repay to them the sum of $700 obtained from their note for that amount, together with the $200 paid him as commission for the deal; that Helen P. Nance and Aurelia P. Nance be ordered to deliver up and cancel the $14,000 note and mortgage and repay to complainants the $1,000 upon reconveyance by complaniants to the Nances of the Missouri farm; that Bertha Engel and Antoine...