Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-07-10
Madison, July 6.

Madison, July 6.
The supreme court of Wisconsin
handed down a decision Wednesday
that will rank as one of the most i'm
portant legal precedents in the history
of the state. The decision was rem
dered in the case of the creditors OF
the defunct Plankinton bank of Mil
waukee against Judge Johnson Of the
circuit court of Milwaukee county and
was a complete victory for the credit
ors. This decision strikes out into a
new field of Jurisprudence, and brings
into prominence an untried and I'M
used clause of the state constitution.
That clause gives the supreme court
experimenting authority over the in
ferior courts of the state. Heretofore
there have been several methods OF
getting the supreme court to review
the acts of a lower court, but all of
them were slow and the parties to the
litigation often lost interest in the
case before the decision OF the supreme
court was reached, and the decision
when obtained was of little or no value
owing to the lapse of time. This was
the situation in the PlankintOn bank
case, for if the ordinary methods Of ap-
peal had been waited for the statute Of
limitations would have run against
many of the claims, and the creditors
lost a large part of their money. This
decision, by declaring that the supreme
court has power to step in at any stage
of the progress of legal proceeding.
and correct the acts Of inferior courts
will have an effect of the utmost i'm
portance on the progress Of litigation
in the future.
The Plankinton case was novel in
many respects. Judge Johnson, with
out proper notification to the creditors
of the bank, some 1900 in number, ap
proved what was alleged to be the final
account of Assignee William Plankin-
ton. The creditors were lead to be-
lieve from utterances of the judge at
a prior proceeding that the final ac
count Of the assignee would not be ap-
proved until several motions made by
them had been disposed Of Some time
| later they were surprised to learn that
! the Judge had entered an order APPROX
ing the account. They protested and
moved that such order be vacated and
they be allowed to examine under oath
the assignee and other witnesses rel
alive to the report. Their real purpose
in making this motion was to find out
what disposal had been made Of GER
| tain collaterals and to persuade the
court to cut down the allowance OF
! SOL 900 to the assignee and his attOr-
neys as fees for their services in set
| Ting the affairs of the defunct bank.
The judge denied this motion and the
to compel him to grant it, the ap-
peal being taken under the
heretofore overlooked clause Of the
constitution giving the supreme court
such authority. Judge Johnson was
cited to appear before the supreme
court and give cause why he shouldn'
do as the creditors desired. He filed a
lengthy return in which he stated that
the creditors had not shown sufficient
! foundation for their motion, that they
had not objected to the report within
the limit of time allowed by the stat
utes and that the report stood ap-
proved. This return was argued last
Monday by Gen. F. G.. Winkler, ]. G.
Flanders and E. H. BOttu1n for Judge
Johnson and the assignee and by Unit
ed States Senator-elect J. V. Quarles, J.
B. Doe, NJ. M. Riley, Moritz Wittig and
| C. e. Estabrook for the creditors.
The court decides that the creditors
have a right to examine Assignee Will
liam Plankinton under oath and at the
expense of the estate as to his man
agement Of the assets Of the bank.
This was the chief demand of the at
torneys for the creditors. The court
also decides that the report made by
Mr.. Plankinton and which has been in
dispute is not a final report as required
by law The circuit court for MilWau-
kee county is directed to modify or
withdraw all orders made which inter
fere with the rights of the creditors
! to examine Mr.. Plankinton, or which
treat the report made by Mr.. Plankln-
! ton as a final report. The alternative