La Salle Nat. Bank v. County Bd. of School Trustees of Du Page County

• Decision Date: 26 September 1975
• Docket Number: 47477,Nos. 47284,s. 47284
• Citation: 61 Ill.2d 524,337 N.E.2d 19
• Parties: LA SALLE NATIONAL BANK, Trustee, Appellant, v. COUNTY BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES OF DU PAGE COUNTY et al., Appellees. PULLMAN BANK AND TRUST CO., Trustee, et al., Appellants. v. TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS OF TOWNSHIP 37 NORTH, RANGE 13 EAST, OF the THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, Illinois, Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 19

337 N.E.2d 19 61 Ill.2d 524 LA SALLE NATIONAL BANK, Trustee, Appellant,
v.
COUNTY BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES OF DU PAGE COUNTY et al., Appellees.
PULLMAN BANK AND TRUST CO., Trustee, et al., Appellants.
v.
TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS OF TOWNSHIP 37 NORTH, RANGE 13 EAST, OF
the THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY,
Illinois, Appellees. Nos. 47284, 47477. Supreme Court of Illinois. Sept. 26, 1975.
Rehearing Denied Nov. 21, 1975.

[61 Ill.2d 525]

Page 20

Sneider & Troy, Chicago (Richard J. Troy and Gayle F. Haglund, Chicago, of counsel), for appellant La Salle Nat. Bank.

Gannon, Forst & Oosterbaan, Blue Island (Peter D. Oosterbaan, Blue Island, of counsel), for appellants Pullman Bank and Trust Co., et al.

C. Richard Johnson and James N. Nowacki, of Chicago (Isham, Lincoln & Beale, Chicago, of counsel), for appellees County Bd. of School Trustees of Du Page County, etc.

Burke & Weber, Chicago (Thomas T. Burke and Robert J. Weber, Chicago, of counsel), for appellees Trustees of Schools of Township 37 North, etc.

WARD, Justice.

These appeals involve similar questions and were consolidated for argument and opinion. The questions relate to the character of the estate that a school board may acquire through an eminent domain proceeding and to the effect of the condemnation judgment.

The appeal in No. 47284, La Salle National Bank v. County Board of School Trustees of Du Page County et al., is from a judgment of the appellate court (23 Ill.App.3d 575, 319 N.E.2d 593) that La Salle National Bank (hereafter La Salle) [61 Ill.2d 526] could not in a subsequent proceeding attack an earlier condemnation judgment in favor of the County Board of School Trustees of Du Page County (Board).

The Board under its eminent domain authority (Ill.Rev.Stat.1969, ch. 122, par. 10--22.35A) filed a petition in the circuit court of Du Page County to condemn a 30-acre tract of land, title to which was held by La Salle as the trustee. On September 21, 1970, the circuit court entered an order, based on a stipulation between the parties, awarding La Salle $360,000 and vesting title in fee simple in the Board. There was no appeal from this judgment. The intention of the Board to construct a school on the site was defeated when the voters of the school district voted against the proposal. Subsequently the Board, under its statutory authority (Ill.Rev.Stat.1971, ch. 122, par. 5--22), determined that it would be in the best interests of the school district to sell the land at a public sale. At the sale the Board accepted the bid of Mac Diarmid-Palumbo, Inc., a defendant here, of $425,000. A bid of $360,000 by La Salle was rejected. La Salle filed suit in August 1972, in the circuit court of Du Page County in behalf of the former beneficial owners of interest in the parcel seeking to restrain the Board from transferring title to Mac Diarmid and contending that the Board did not have title in fee simple to the land. La Salle alleged that it had retained a reversionary interest in the land. The circuit court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and La Salle appealed to the appellate court. That court...