Kaufman v. Loomis

Illinois Supreme Court
Kaufman v. Loomis, 110 Ill. 617 (Ill. 1884)
Dickey

Kaufman v. Loomis

Opinion of the Court

Mr. Justice Dickey

delivered the opinion of the Court:

We think the Superior Court of the county of Cook erred in refusing instruction No. 1, asked by appellant, and in giving instruction No. 2, asked by the appellee, and for that cause the Appellate Court erred in affirming the judgment.

There is some discussion as to the legal effect of the supposed sale of these securities by Bisbee to the bank, and to Loomis. Without determining what effect is to be attributed to the proceedings connected with that supposed sale, it is clear that either the sale was entirely inoperative, and produced no change in the status of these securities; or the sale passed the absolute ownership of these securities to «the bank and Loomis, as joint owners, freed from "all trusts, to^be used by the purchasers for their own profit, without reference to the debts and liabilities for which Bisbee had before that held them, the purchasers taking the same rights which strangers purchasing would have taken had they bid and paid the $1500, and received a written transfer of the same to them from Bisbee; or the sale vested such ownership in the bank and Loomis jointly, as trustees, to realize the most that might be had for such securities by these trustees, by the exercise of reasonable judgment, care and diligence to that end, for the benefit, first, of Loomis, in relieving him from his liabilities as guarantor, or otherwise, in relation to the three debts for which he was personally bound; second, for the benefit of the bank, in procuring the payment of the $2420 note, for which Loomis was not personally liable; and third, for the benefit of whomsoever might be entitled to the surplus, if any; and the proofs tend to show that in such case this surplus, if any had been realized, would have belonged, in equity, one-half to the bank, and one-half to Cozzens and Ten Broeke, or one of them.

On the first hypothesis these securities remained, after the sale, vested in Bisbee, as trustee, with full power of sale, and no consent of the bank or of Lcewenthal was at all necessary to the sale if Bisbee thought best to sell to the railroad companies, and neither Lcewenthal nor the bank was under any obligations or duty to assume any responsibility in the matter, and neither was bound to give consent, even if good judgment required the sale to be made to the railroad companies on the terms offered.

On the second hypothesis, the bank, being an absolute joint owner with Loomis, had the absolute right to refuse to sell its interest, or to sell the same, as it might choose, and the other joint owner had no rights which could lawfully limit the exercise of that choice.

On the third and last hypothesis, the bank and Loomis being joint trustees, and Loomis being one of the beneficiaries, he had a right to demand of the bank fidelity in the exercise of the trust, and so had Cozzens and TenBroeke, who were interested with the bank in the surplus which might remain after relieving Loomis from his personal liability on the first three debts, and after paying the $2420 note held by the bank. The proof tends to show that when the offer of $11,000 was made for these securities it was generally thought that the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States would declare the validity of the same, and there is not one word of proof tending to show that Lcewenthal, at the time when he refused to give the consent of the bank to the proposed sale for $11,000, had not good reason to believe, or did not believe, that a larger amount could and ought to be realized from the sale. If, in good faith, as a trustee, he exercised his honest judgment in so refusing, and acted, as he supposed, for the best interests of all concerned,—unless that judgment was grossly erroneous, with the lights he had,—he surely can not be charged with wronging any one by acting upon his judgment. The mere fact that it turned out after-wards that he was mistaken, does not charge him with a wrong done to any one.

We think the proofs do not tend to support the exact hypothesis assumed in the second instruction given at request of appellee. That hypothesis varies from the third hypothesis, supra, in this only, that it would give the entire surplus to Cozzens, after fulfilling the supposed trusts. But even if the proofs tended to support that hypothesis, the reasoning, supra, as to the third hypothesis applies thereto with more cogency. Upon the hypothesis stated in the instruction, had the decision of the Supreme Court affirmed the validity of the patent, and of Cozzens’ claim against the railroad companies, and had Lcewenthal consented to the sale for $11,000, Cozzens, who also was a mere surety, might, for aught shown in these proofs, have justly complained that his securities had been wantonly and foolishly sacrificed, and in such ease the bank might (if a trustee be a guarantor of his own wisdom,) have well been called to an account by Cozzens for consenting to a sale of these securities for $11,000.

The judgment of the Appellate Court is therefore reversed, and the cause remanded, that the judgment of the Superior Court may be reversed, and a new trial had.

Judgment reversed.

Reference

Full Case Name
Ellis Kaufman v. Edgar Loomis
Cited By
3 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Pledge—sale under pledge—of the title—surplus funds. The owner of securities conveyed them, by a deed of assignment, in the nature of a deed of trust, to be held by the trustee as security for the payment of certain notes upon which the grantor was liable, and it was therein provided that if the grantor should fail to meet the payments on his notes the trustee might sell the securities so pledged, at either public or private sale, and such sale was made to two of the persons for whose protection the pledge was made: Meld, the purchasers at the trustee’s sale either acquired thereby the absolute ownership of the securities, freed from all trusts, to do with as they chose, or the sale vested the ownership in the purchasers as joint trustees, to be converted into money at their best price, to first pay off their own liability,—and any surplus funds, after paying.off all debts with which the trust was charged, would in equity belong to the grantor. 2. Gtjabanty—release—failure to avail of proceeds of collaterals which are lost. A & B were indebted to a bank upon a note of $3000, and they were at the same time liable to the bank upon a note of $3500, given by them to 0 for his accommodation, and also upon another note for $1000, upon all of which D was liable as guarantor, and A & B owed the bank $2420 upon their own note, on which D was not liable. A & B and C desired an extension of the time of payment. To procure such time, C transferred to F, by a deed, certain securities, to secure, first, D, for carrying the $3500 note and guaranteeing the $3000 and $1000 notes; and second, to secure to the bank the payment of the $2420, and the surplus to 0, or his assigns. The trustee sold the securities to D and the bank for $1500, after which an offer was made to the bank and D of $11,000 for the securities, but the bank refused to sell at that price, and demanded $15,000, shortly after which the securities were rendered worthless by a decision of the Supreme Court: Held, that the bank, by refusing to sell the securities, having acted honestly in trying to get a better price, did not release the liability of D as guarantor of the $3000 note. 3. In a suit upon the guaranty of the payment of a note owned by a bank, the fact that the bank held, before the suit, an assignment through a trustee of a patent right, and some claims for damages for an alleged infringement of the patent, and was offered more for such patent and claims than enough to have paid the note, such assignment having been made by the principal debtor, and the patent and claims afterwards prove valueless from an adverse ruling of the courts, will not operate to discharge the guarantor, although he may have urged the bank to accept the offer for the patent. It was the duty of the bank, as a trustee, to obtain the largest sum that could be realized, and the making of a mistake, while acting in good faith, will not subject the bank to a loss.