Frederic R. DeYoung

The case concerned Edward McFadden, who was arrested in Illinois under a Governor's warrant issued at Wisconsin's request for charges including possession of a machine gun for aggressive purposes and carrying concealed weapons. McFadden sought habeas corpus relief, arguing he was not a fugitive from Wisconsin justice, after federal agents had removed him from Wisconsin, taken him through Illinois and Minnesota, and later released him following an Illinois kidnapping prosecution. The criminal court dismissed the petition, and the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed, holding that under the U.S. Constitution's extradition clause, federal law, and Illinois statute, a person who commits a crime in one state and is later found in another is a fugitive regardless of how or why they left the demanding state. The court reasoned that McFadden failed to meet his burden of proving he was not physically present in Wisconsin at the time of the alleged offenses.

criminal lawfederal power

The case concerned two mutual insurance companies, one from Michigan and one from Ohio, both licensed in Illinois, that sought to enjoin Cook County from collecting taxes assessed on their 1930 net premium receipts under section 30 of the 1869 Fire, Marine and Inland Navigation Insurance Companies act. The companies argued that the statute did not apply to mutual insurers regulated by the 1915 Mutual Insurance act, that deductions for agency and general operating expenses should be allowed, and that the assessments violated due process and equal protection by discriminating against foreign corporations in favor of other insurers. The circuit court sustained demurrers and dismissed the bills for want of equity. The Illinois Supreme Court rejected the applicability, deduction, and constitutional claims, holding that section 30 governs net receipts of foreign fire insurance agencies without expense offsets and does not create invalid classifications, but reversed the dismissals and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

taxesbusiness & regulatory

The case concerned a World War veteran who deposited the proceeds of a federal loan secured by his adjusted service certificate into a savings account at Stony Island State Savings Bank shortly before the bank failed. After the Auditor of Public Accounts appointed a receiver, the veteran filed an intervening petition seeking priority payment of his remaining $400 balance over other depositors, relying on federal statutes granting the United States priority in insolvency cases and exempting such loan proceeds from attachment or seizure. The trial court granted the preference, but the Appellate Court reversed, and the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed that ruling. The court reasoned that the deposit established an ordinary debtor-creditor relationship rather than a special deposit or trust, the federal priority statute did not apply because the United States was not a creditor in this context, and the statutory exemption against seizure did not bar the receiver from treating the account as a general claim since no legal process was directed at the veteran's funds.

federal powerbusiness & regulatory

In this case, the brother and sisters of a woman who died intestate sought partition of her Chicago real property, claiming an ante-nuptial agreement signed before her first marriage to the surviving husband waived all his rights to the estate. The parties had divorced after the first marriage and later remarried, living together until her death; the husband, as administrator, asserted rights including homestead, dower, and a fee interest. The court decided that the 1912 agreement governed only the first marriage and did not extend to the second, because divorce ended the prior marital relation, recording the document showed no intent regarding remarriage, and mutual assent to apply it anew was absent. Accordingly, the decree favoring the siblings was reversed, and the cause was remanded for entry of a decree granting the husband's claims under the cross-bill.

family lawproperty

The case involved Turnverein "Lincoln," a nonprofit corporation organized for physical and mental improvement, seeking a property tax exemption for its Chicago buildings and land for 1931 on the grounds that the property was used exclusively for charitable, educational, and benevolent purposes under the Revenue Act. The board of appeals denied the exemption, finding the property taxable, and after review by the State Tax Commission, the Illinois Supreme Court confirmed that decision. The court reasoned that the organization was not primarily charitable because it derived income from profit-oriented activities such as leasing stores and a lodge hall, operating a restaurant, and charging fees to non-members for classes and facilities, and that any charitable uses were incidental rather than exclusive as required by the constitution and statute for tax exemption. Ownership by a nonprofit and some charitable activities were insufficient where the property was not devoted exclusively to such purposes.

taxesproperty

The case People v. Callopy addressed whether Rule 27 of the Illinois Supreme Court, which bars trial judges from commenting on evidence or expressing opinions on the facts in criminal jury trials, violates the state constitution's guarantee that the right to jury trial as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate. The majority upheld the rule's validity. Justice DeYoung dissented, contending that English common law at the time of the constitution's adoption included the judge's power to comment on evidence and opine on facts as an essential attribute of jury trials, so long as the jury retained ultimate decision-making authority, and that depriving judges of this function fundamentally altered the constitutional right.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved George A. Graves, who was indicted for bigamy in Cook County, Illinois, after marrying a second woman while his first wife was still alive and not divorced from him. The trial court found him guilty based on witness testimony proving both marriages and sentenced him to the penitentiary. On appeal, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, holding that the evidence sufficiently established the two marriages under the relevant statutes without needing additional record evidence, and that proof of the officiating minister's authority was unnecessary.

criminal law

The case involved Bert Burley, who was convicted in Cook County criminal court of obtaining $100 from restaurant owner Merrill G. Gorton through the confidence game by exchanging forged American Express money orders. Burley had received the orders from an acquaintance and passed them to Gorton via Gorton's brother-in-law Eyre without making any direct statements or indorsements, after which Gorton sent the orders to creditors and they were dishonored. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that the evidence failed to establish the elements of the offense because Burley made no fraudulent representations to obtain Gorton's confidence and Gorton relied solely on Eyre's recommendation rather than any confidence in Burley. The court distinguished the facts from prior cases where defendants impersonated payees or forged indorsements to induce reliance. No other offenses or issues were before the court on review.

criminal law

The case involved the robbery conviction of Charles Christocakos (along with two codefendants) in Cook County criminal court for an incident in which three men forcibly took a car, money, a watch, keys, and a jacket from victim George Grieshaber. Christocakos appealed, arguing that the evidence failed to prove his participation beyond a reasonable doubt. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial, holding that Grieshaber could not identify Christocakos as one of the robbers, the only direct evidence placed him elsewhere, an alleged admission to police concerned a separate later encounter rather than the charged crime, and the circumstantial evidence (including possession of the jacket) did not exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved multiple plaintiffs who sued the Bankers Life Company in assumpsit for alleged breaches of their life insurance certificates, claiming wrongful assessments that violated the contracts; after demurrers were sustained and the plaintiffs elected to stand on their declarations, judgments were entered for the defendant. On direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, the court found it lacked jurisdiction because the abstract in the one case raising constitutional claims failed to include the text or substance of the challenged by-law, and no other basis for direct review existed in any of the consolidated cases. The court held that a mere assertion of a constitutional issue is insufficient to confer direct appellate jurisdiction, and it therefore transferred all the cases to the Appellate Court for the First District.

procedurebusiness & regulatory

The case involved Frank G. Keplinger filing a bill to foreclose a trust deed securing notes on property held by the Apollos Camp and Bennet Humiston Trust, a charitable trust established by will for educational and charitable purposes benefiting Pontiac residents. The trustees appealed the foreclosure decree directly to the Supreme Court, contending that the trust was public and required the Attorney General as a necessary party, which would confer direct appellate jurisdiction. The court examined the will's terms vesting title and control in the trustees and found the state's interest neither direct, substantial, nor monetary under the Practice Act. It therefore held that jurisdiction was lacking and ordered the cause transferred to the Appellate Court for the Second District.

propertyprocedure

The case involved a dispute over whether tax moneys collected by a county collector and deposited in the insolvent Oregon State Savings Bank should be treated as a preferred claim with priority over general creditors in the bank's receivership proceedings. The circuit court allowed the preference, and the receiver appealed. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the decree, holding that the state's common law prerogative right to priority in payment of its claims for undistributed tax moneys was not abrogated by the Banking Act or section 153a of the Revenue Act. The court reasoned that this sovereign right, inherited from English common law and adopted in Illinois, attaches to the full amount of undistributed taxes until distribution occurs.

taxesbusiness & regulatory

The case involved the Auburn Coal and Material Company seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the Illinois Secretary of State to issue 1934 licenses for three four-wheel trucks with gross weights exceeding 24,000 pounds, after the Secretary rejected applications citing weight limits under the Motor Vehicle law. The circuit court granted the writ, and the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed that judgment. The court reasoned that paragraph 2 of section 3 of the Motor Vehicle law permits cities over 20,000 in population to authorize weights up to 50% higher than the 24,000-pound state limit via ordinance, Chicago had done so up to 36,000 pounds, and the company operated its trucks solely within city limits. The court further held that subdivision (g) of section 9 fixes the license fee at $150 for such four-wheel vehicles over 20,000 pounds without additional qualifications or increases for intra-city use.

business & regulatory

The case involved Anthony Gurdak, who was convicted in Cook County criminal court of armed robbery after taking money from a store cash register while another man stood guard at the door. Two eyewitnesses identified Gurdak as the lookout based on a brief view during the crime, though neither had provided a description to police beforehand and both expressed initial uncertainty during a later lineup before confirming their identification. Gurdak maintained his innocence and presented an alibi supported by multiple witnesses placing him at home and a nearby barber shop at the time of the robbery. The court found the identification testimony unreliable due to limited observation, lack of prior descriptions, hesitant identifications influenced by seeing the defendant in court, and the failure of other store occupants to identify him, while the alibi evidence was positive and unimpeached. It therefore reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial because the evidence raised a grave doubt as to Gurdak's guilt.

criminal law

The case involved Albert O. Shepard and Cecil Strong, who were convicted in the criminal court of Cook County for obtaining money by means of the confidence game from Edward Hemmelgarn through a scheme involving a staged poker game at an apartment. The defendants appealed, arguing the evidence did not support the conviction, but the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the judgment and sentences. The court reasoned that the evidence established a confederacy in which the defendants feigned being strangers to gain Hemmelgarn's trust, induced him to withdraw over $1,000 from his safety deposit box, used deceptive tactics such as rigged card dealing and false assurances during the game, and then absconded with his money while pretending to assist in its recovery. This conduct met the legal definition of the confidence game by obtaining the victim's money through a fraudulent scheme that betrayed his confidence.

criminal law

The case involved Joseph Kubish, who was indicted and convicted by a jury in Cook County for armed robbery of a men's furnishing store in Chicago on March 8, 1933, during which he and accomplices used a revolver and sawed-off shotgun to take money and property from four Chinese victims. Kubish appealed, arguing a fatal variance between the indictment's allegation that the stolen property belonged to Ng Dong and evidence suggesting partnership ownership, as well as insufficient proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based on identification testimony and an alibi. The court held that robbery requires only proof the property did not belong to the defendant, so any variance was not fatal, and that the victims' detailed and consistent identifications after ample opportunity to observe Kubish in a well-lit store, along with discrepancies in the alibi (such as confusion over the day of the week), supported the jury's credibility determinations. The judgment of conviction was affirmed.

criminal law

The case concerned whether an appeal could be taken from a circuit court order or decree entered in a proceeding under the act governing delinquent insurance companies, which makes no explicit provision for appeals. The majority held that an appeal was allowed despite the statute's silence on the issue. The dissent argued that appeals must rest on statutory authority, and permitting one here would undermine the circuit court's ongoing supervision of the receiver, who functions under judicial oversight comparable to equity proceedings when managing, liquidating, or dissolving such companies.

business & regulatoryprocedure

This case concerned a lawyer serving as executor of two estates who commingled estate funds with personal accounts and converted between $12,000 and $13,000 for personal and household expenses over more than a year. The dissenting opinion concludes that these repeated acts justify disbarment. The reasoning emphasizes that the conversions were deliberate and fraudulent, that the lawyer had no authority to borrow estate funds for himself, and that an agreement to make restitution does not excuse the breach of professional duties requiring absolute fidelity. Justices Stone and Shaw joined the dissent.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved creditors of the late Knowlton L. Ames who sought to invalidate a life insurance trust agreement he had created, along with amendments, naming a bank as trustee and beneficiary of numerous policies; the creditors argued the trust lacked a valid corpus during Ames's life due to his retained powers over the policies and should be treated as part of his insolvent estate. The circuit court dismissed the bill for want of equity after finding the trust valid, and the appellate court affirmed. On certiorari, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the rulings, reasoning that Ames had validly changed beneficiaries to the trustee, the reserved powers did not render the inter vivos trust testamentary or invalid, the insurers had recognized the trustee's interest, and the creditors had no lien or standing to challenge the arrangement. The court concluded that the trust attached to the policy proceeds upon Ames's death and that his intent to benefit his family should not be frustrated.

property

This case involved Florence Lewis's application for workers' compensation benefits after her husband, a lineman for the DeKalb County Telephone Company, fell from a pole in August 1925, became ill, and died in January 1926 from spinal meningitis. The Industrial Commission twice denied the claim, finding that no timely claim for compensation had been filed as required by section 24 of the Workmen’s Compensation act, and the circuit court confirmed the denial. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the statutory deadlines were jurisdictional and that the employer's voluntary wage payments during the husband's illness and its assurance regarding medical bills did not constitute payments of compensation or a claim under the act. The court reasoned that the wage payments followed the company's custom for valued employees and were not made pursuant to the compensation statute, while section 8(a) expressly provided that furnishing medical services did not count as compensation or an admission of liability. As a result, the widow's April 1926 application, filed more than six months after the accident, was barred.

labor & employmentprocedure