Slack v. Cooper

• Decision Date: 20 December 1905
• Citation: 219 Ill. 138,76 N.E. 84
• Parties: SLACK v. COOPER et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

219 Ill. 138

76 N.E. 84

SLACK

v.COOPER et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 20, 1905.

Appeal from Appellate Court, First District.

Bill to foreclose a trust deed by the German Old People's Home and another against August Warnhoff and others. A sale of the premises was had, at which William Slack became a purchaser and filed an intervening petition, praying that the sale to him should be confirmed. The petition was answered by William Fenimore Cooper, master in chancery, and by complainant. An order was entered dismissing the petition for want of equity, which order was affirmed by the Appellate Court, and intervener appeals. Affirmed.Charles K. Ladd, for appellant.

Henry Horner, Jr., and Charles Goodman, for appellees.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Court affirming a decretal order of the circuit court of Cook county entered in said cause on the 13th day of April, 1904, setting aside a sale of the premises involved in this cause to the German Old People's Home, one of the appellees, and refusing to confirm an alleged sale thereof to the appellant, and the order of a resale of said premises. The facts of the case disclose that on June 5, 1902, the German Old People's Home, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Illinois for charitable purposes, and John W. Buehler, as trustee, filed their bill of complaint in the circuit court of Cook county against August Warnhoff and others to foreclose a trust deed in the nature of a mortgage upon certain property in Cook county. The German Old People's Home was the owner of the indebtedness secured by said trust deed. John C. Wilson was one of the parties defendant to the bill, being the owner of the equity of redemption, and was represented in the foreclosure proceedings by William Slack, appellant, filed an answer on behalf of said Wilson; the other defendants being defaulted.Areference was had on the bill and answer and replication to William Fenimore Cooper, one of the masters in chancery of said circuit court, and on March 10, 1904, a decree of foreclosure and sale was entered in said cause, finding due the German Old People's Home from the defendant the sum of $8,197.11, together with all costs incurred in the suit, and $409.85 attorney's fees, and decreeing that the premises be sold at public auction for cash to satisfy the same, provided the defendants did not pay the sum found due in three days from the date of the decree, and providing for execution in case of a deficiency after sale. The master duly advertised the said premises for sale according to law and the terms of said decree. The time and place fixed for the same was 1 o'clock in the afternoon of April 5, 1904, at the judicial salesrooms of the Chicago Real Estate Board in Chicago. Between 1 o'clock sharp and 5 minutes after 1, upon said day at said place, the master, acting under apparent misapprehension that the owner of the decree was represented at said sale by appellant and that all persons interested were present, offered the premises for sale; the master, from his statements, having been confused as to the attorneys that represented the parties interested. At the time said master offered the premises for sale there was no one present at the salesroom except Wilson and his solicitor, appellant. The master, immediately after 1 o'clock, offered said property for sale and the appellant bid $3,000, and, no other bid being received, the master declared the same sold, and, believing appellant to be the representative of said complainant, remarked, ‘That will leave you a deficiency of about $5,800.’ Immediately upon such announcement of the master the appellant left the salesroom without depositing or offering to deposit any cash or making any arrangements for the payment of the same. The master, being under the impression that Slack represented the complainant, said nothing to him about the payment of cash; it being the custom and practice of masters in chancery in Cook county, when property is bid in at a sale in a foreclosure suit by the complainant (if such bid is not in excess of the amount due under the decree), to credit the amount of his bid upon the amount found due him in the decree, and when the property is bid in by one other than the complainant and the decree provides a sale for cash either to require the amount of the bid to be paid in cash as the property is struck off, or a substantial deposit made. As appellant and Wilson were leaving the salesroom, and just as they had stepped out from the door, they were met by Henry Horner, Jr., who was the solicitor for the complainant in the foreclosure proceedings, who, being unaware of what occurred in the salesroom, asked appellant and Wilson to return to said salesroom, as he, Horner, was going to bid in said property on behalf of the complainant. Appellant and Wilson refused to return. When Horner entered the salesroom, the master was still on the raised platform from which the property was offered for sale, making a notation regarding the sale. Horner immediately asked the master if he was ready to offer for sale the premises, and the master thereupon informed Horner that his (Horner's) representative had just been in and bid $3,000 at said sale. Horner replied that no one had represented him and asked the master who made the bid, and was then informed that the property was bid in the name of William Slack for $3,000. Horner then informed the master that appellant was the defendant's solicitor. The master then said to Horner that, acting under the impression...