Robinson v. Brems

• Decision Date: 30 September 1878
• Citation: 1878 WL 10161,90 Ill. 351
• Parties: JETTA ROBINSON et al.v.CARSTEN BREMS et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

90 Ill. 351

1878 WL 10161 (Ill.)

JETTA ROBINSON et al.

v.CARSTEN BREMS et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1878.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. JOHN A. JAMESON, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. E. & A. VAN BUREN, for the appellants.

Mr. JOHN J. KNICKERBOCKER, for the appellees.

Mr. JUSTICE BAKER delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was an action of replevin, brought by appellants, to obtain possession of certain goods distrained for rent by appellees as the property of Isaac S. Robinson and Abraham Robinson, the husbands of appellants.

The only question in the case is whether the title to the property was in appellants or their husbands. It is claimed the court erred in the instructions to the jury, and that the verdict of the jury was clearly against the evidence.

At the time of the great fire in Chicago, in the fall of 1871, the husbands of appellants, who were brothers, were, and for several years had been, engaged in business, as partners, in the cigar and tobacco trade. They were burned out, and quit business some $28,000 in debt. In the spring of 1872 a restaurant, saloon and cigar business was commenced at 193 East Lake street and 38 Fifth Avenue, in the names of their wives, from which a profit of from $4000 to $5000 a year was derived. The books were kept and the purchases and sales made principally by the brothers, the appellants living with them on the premises and working in the restaurant, kitchen and lodging rooms up stairs. It was claimed by appellants the capital used in the purchase of the furniture and stock was their separate property, being money obtained by them from relatives; that their husbands were employed by them as agents to manage the business, at a salary of $100 each per month, this salary being paid every month, and that the husbands had no interest whatever in the business.

On the other hand, it was claimed by appellees this was all a fraudulent device to protect the property of the husbands, and prevent the collection of just debts held against them; that the husbands had, after the fire, collected $1600 from the insurance companies, and $3000 or $4000 on their outstanding accounts; that one of them, Abraham, made $2000 in a partnership venture with one Fredericks; that these moneys were not satisfactorily accounted for, and, in fact, constituted the capital used in furnishing and stocking the house on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East Lake street. It was further urged, even if appellants advanced their own separate money, and placed the same in the hands of their husbands for the purpose of carrying on the business, yet this was done for the benefit of their husbands, who had possession of the property and claimed it as their own, and managed the business and paid debts of their own out of the stock on hand, and increased the fund by their labor and skill.

We can not mention, in detail, the evidence to be found in the voluminous record now before us. The case of appellants is based almost wholly upon their own testimony and that of their husbands. Suffice it to say, there is much to be found in the surrounding circumstances and in the conduct of the parties, and in the cross-examinations of appellants and their witnesses, and in the very nature of the case itself, tending strongly to show a collusive and fraudulent arrangement to hinder and delay creditors in the collection of their debts. Witnesses were introduced upon the trial to impeach the testimony of both Abraham and Isaac S. Robinson, and no attempt was made by appellants to sustain their characters for truth and veracity. The jury saw the witnesses upon the stand and heard them testify, and noted their demeanor, and could better judge than we can of their credibility. The jury found against the claim of appellants, and we do not feel that we...