Cutright v. Stanford

Citations

• 81 Ill. 240

Syllabus

<p>1. Corporation—liability of stockholder under act of 1849. Under the act of 1849 relating to railway corporations, if a claim is owing by a railway company for services performed for it, a stockholder is not liable in an action therefor, until an execution shall be returned unsatisfied, in whole or in part, against the corporation, and then the amount due on such execution is the amount recoverable, with costs, against the stockholder.</p> <p>2. Default against administrator—presumption. A default in a suit against an administrator, to enforce the liability of his intestate as a stockholder of a railway company, under the act of 1849, admits all the facts properly pleaded, and it will be presumed they were sufficient to justify the judgment rendered therein, when called in question collaterally.</p> <p>8. Administration—presumption as to claim allowed. Where a claim is allowed by the county court against an estate, after the payment of other debts, and the surplus of assets to the heirs, it is prima facie a valid claim, and in a suit against the heirs by the administrator and his securities paying the same, it will be presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that he was liable and the estate bound for its payment, although allowed after two years from the grant of administration.</p> <p>4. Same—administrator's right to recover back money paid to heirs. Where an administrator, after settlement of an estate and the payment of the balance in his hands to the heirs, is compelled to pay a new claim unknown to him within the two years after the grant of his letters, he or his executors may maintain a bill in equity against such heirs, to reimburse him or his estate for the sum so paid, although no refunding bond was taken.</p> <p>5. Heirs—extent of liability for ancestor's debts. The extent of the liability of heirs at law of a deceased person, for a debt of their ancestor, both at law and in equity, is to the full amount of what came to them by descent, and