Anderson v. City National Bank
Anderson v. City National Bank
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming on Each. Appeal.
In the year 1900 the City National Bank of Cairo, Illinois, obtained a judgment against the Wiekliffe Canning Company for $313.97, with interest from July 24, 1910. In the same year the Scudder-Gale Grocer Company obtained a judgment against the Wiekliffe Canning Company for the sum of $159.70, with interest from February 10, 1900.
On March 5, 1900, the Wiekliffe Canning Company made a general deed of assignment, conveying all of its property to W. A. Anderson in trust for its creditors. Anderson accepted the trust and executed bond, with T. J. Neely and H. Hughes as sureties. In the month of April, 1900, the Wiekliffe Canning Company and W. A. Anderson, its assignee, sold and conveyed all the property of the Wiekliffe Canning Company to the Wiekliffe Packing Company, the consideration being $1,500 in cash and two notes for $750 each, payable in one and two years respectively. Anderson, filed in the county court no report of assets and liabilities, and never made any settlement, though the attorney for the City National Bank of Cairo, Illinois,- and the Scudder-Gale Grocer Company appeared in that court and moved that he be required to do so. After the lapse of two years from the qualification of Anderson as assignee, the City National Bank of Cairo, Illinois, and the Scudder-Gale Grocer Company brought this action against W. A. Anderson, Assignee, the Wiekliffe Canning Company, the Wiekliffe Packing
During the progress of the action the case was'referred to the master commissioner to report on the assets and liabilities of the Wickliffe Canning Company. The master commissioner filed a report showing three claims, one for $7.10 in favor of J. J. Grace, one for $9.50 for .taxes, in favor of the City of Wickliffe, and one for $8.75 in favor of Ruanna Sullivan. To this report no exceptions were filed, and a few days later it was confirmed. Thereafter proof was taken. It appears from one deposition of Anderson that none of the proceeds of the assigned estate came into his hands. He further testified that he did not know whether the two notes aggregating $1,500 had been paid or not. The funds received by the directors of the Wickliffe Canning Company had been paid out to the creditors of that company. In the month of December, 1904, Anderson signed on the margin of the record of the deed from the Wickliffe Canning Company to the Wickliffe Packing Company a release of the deferred payments. In another deposition, Anderson testified that he had gotten the notes executed by the Wickliffe Packing Company to the Wickliffe Canning Company from the directors of the Wickliffe Canning Company. He got them after the action was filed. The notes were then executed and dated back to the date of sale. Anderson further testified that J. B. Wickliffe, attorney for plaintiffs, agreed to the sale. J. B. Wickliffe testified that he appeared in the county court and asked that the county judge require Anderson to settle, but the county court refused to do so. He even refused to entertain the motion. He never at any time agreed with Anderson that the assignment should be annulled or set aside. On final hearing it was adjudged that the City National Bank of Cairo, Illinois, and the Scudder-Gale Grocer Company recover of W. A. Anderson, assignee, the amount of their respective debts, together with interest and costs. It was further adjudged that Anderson, as assignee, had re
On April 7,1911, the defendant,. W. A. Anderson, filed in the same action his petition to vacate the judgment. The petition charges in substance that the foregoing recital in the judgment with reference to its being agreed by the parties that all the other debts of the Wiekliffe Canning Company had been paid was false; and that the defendant did not in any manner agree that all the other debts of the Wiekliffe Canning Company had been paid, and that no one made the agreement for him. The petition charges that the above recital was recorded by Circuit Judge Sandidge by mistake on his part, and on the part of the circuit clerk, and the fraud of plaintiff’s attorney, who falsely and fraudulently represented to the judge that it had been agreed that all other debts had been paid. It is further alleged in the petition that defendant did not discover and could not by ordinary diligence have’ discovered the existence of the fraudulent record until after the term of court had expired. On this account he was taken completely by surprise and unavoidably prevented from protesting against the fraudulent recital contained in the judgment, and was thereby wrongfully and fraudulently prevented from availing himself of any remedy by appeal from said judgment, and that plaintiffs procured the judgment through their attorney with the fraudulent purpose of cutting off defendant’s remedy by appeal. The petition- further alleges that defendant, as assignee, never received funds belonging to the Wiekliffe Canning Company sufficient to pay the demands referred to in the judgment, and reiterates the statement contained in his original answer to the effect that no property of any kind ever came into his hands. Defendant thereafter amended its petition in certain respects. The City National Bank of Cairo and the Scudder-Uale Grocer Company filed a demurrer to the original petition and to the petition as amended. The
We conclude that the evidence fully sustains the original judgment. Anderson, the assignee, accepted the trust. He then "became trustee for all the creditors. He had no right, unless the creditors gave their consent, to turn over to the directors of the Wickliffe Canning Company the proceeds resulting from the sale of the assigned estate to the Wickliffe Packing Company, and thus prejudice the rights of the creditors. .The mere understanding between him and the directors of the Wickliffe Canning Company and the county court that the assignment was no longer operative did not relieve him from liability,, so far as the creditors of the Canning Company are concerned, to the extent of the assets which he actually received, or which he, in the exercise of ordinary prudence, should have received, but which he negligently turned over to the directors of the Wickliffe Canning Company to be applied as they saw fit. His liability continued until he settled his accounts and distributed the assets and was discharged by order of court. Furthermore, Anderson admitted that he had in his hands the two notes for $750 each, executed by the Wickliffe Packing Company. There is no satisfactory evidence that these notes have been paid. The chancellor properly held, therefore, that he had in his hands sufficient assets to meet the claims of plaintiffs.
The second appeal involves the propriety of the court’s action in sustaining the demurrer to the petition to vacate the original judgment in favor of plaintiffs. The basis of this action is that the recital in the judgment to the effect that it was agreed by the parties that all the other debts of the Wickliffe Canning Company had been paid was false, and that the false recital was made by the circuit judge by mistake, brought about by fraudulent representations made to him by plaintiffs’ attorney. The alleged false recital, it is claimed, is material because made for the purpose of overcoming the necessity of showing that plaintiffs were creditors representing one-fourth of the liabilities of the assigned estate. It appears from the record that plaintiffs alleged in their amended petition that all the other debts had been paid. This allegation was denied by answer. The master commissioner’s report of liabilities shows only three claims,
The judgment in each case is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.