Trotter v. Smith

Citations

• 59 Ill. 240

Syllabus

<p>1. Bill to redeem—where a judgment debtor has been induced to let the statutory period for redemption expire. A judgment debtor, whose hand had been sold under execution, was induced to allow the time prescribed by the statute for him to redeem, to pass without making redemption, on the promise of another that he would aid him in redeeming after the twelve months expired, through a judgment creditor. Accordingly, before the time for redemption by a judgment creditor had expired, the debtor confessed a judgment in favor of the party thus promising to aid him, and of another, an attorney at law, who had advised the same course, for the purpose of such redemption, and these judgment creditors redeemed the promise from the original sale, and the attorney, having purchased the interest of the other, obtained a sheriff’s deed, and refused to permit the debtor to redeem from him: Held, upon bill filed for that purpose, the debtor, under the circumstances, was entitled to redeem from the party who had thus acquired the title. Having lost his right to redeem under the statute by reason of the promise of assistance, the party making that promise could not be allowed to disappoint the expectation he had created in the debtor’s mind that the redemption should be for his benefit.</p> <p>3. Attorney and client. Nor could the attorney, who had participated in the redemption, and finally obtained the title, stand in any different attitude towards the debtor, for while he made no promise of aid in respect to a redemption by a judgment creditor, he advised the debtor, when consulted by him on the subject, not to redeem as a judgment debtor, but to make redemption after the twelve months, in the other mode. The relation of the attorney, in that capacity, to the transaction, would prevent him from holding the land as against his client.</p> <p>3. Moreover, if it had been agreed between the debtor and the attorney that the latter should retain the land under his redemption, such an a