Court Opinion

ID: 9710626
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:13:36.866988+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:49.066087
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE SIMON, specially concurring: I concur in the portion of the opinion holding that the plaintiffs’ acceptance did not correspond with the terms of the option and that they did not properly exercise the option. I, therefore, concur in the conclusion that the judgment should be affirmed. My concern is with the portion of the court’s opinion holding that no valid option ever existed because the lease was not executed in a way which bound the land trustee or the beneficiary. In dealing with that aspect of the appeal, the opinion ably and accurately analyzes the line of Illinois cases setting forth the circumstances under which a beneficiary of a land trust may be bound by leases and contracts to sell real estate. I disagree with the court’s opinion, however, because it follows the traditional approach to land trusts which is to view the actual owner separate and apart from the title holder, thus permitting the owner to use the land trust as an escape from obligations he has assumed with respect to his real estate. The court’s opinion points up the artificialities resorted to in dealing with land trusts to mask the realities of the relationship between the trustee holding legal title and the one who has the power to say what should be done with tire property. Mr. Ciardelli had the sole power to direct the trustee, and he and his wife were the beneficiaries of the trust. Had Mr. Ciardelli and his wife styled themselves as beneficiaries, signed tire lease as beneficiaries and incorporated a provision agreeing to cause title to be conveyed when the option was exercised by the lessee, the option would have been valid under the holding in House of Realty Inc. v. Ziff (1973), 9 Ill. App. 3d 419, 292 N.E.2d 71. Because Mr. Ciardelli departed from those formalities by identifying himself instead as “duly authorized agent” for the trustee who was named in the lease, signed the lease in his own name and did not specifically agree to cause title to be transferred, Mr. Ciardelli is excused by the court’s opinion from performing an arrangement he entered into with respect to property which he and only he could direct be conveyed to plaintiffs. Mr. Ciardelli managed the real estate and collected rent from the plaintiffs for several years. He gave them two leases, one in 1969 for a term of 1 year with an option to extend for an additional 15 months at an increased rental and the second in 1972 for a term of 2 years, again with an increased rental and with the option to purchase which gives rise to the controversy between the parties. All of this was with the acquiescence of Mrs. Ciardelli who during the years involved gave her husband full authority to manage the property and to deal with the trustee. Under these circumstances, I regard the land trust as abused by applying the line of cases that permit Mr. Ciardelli to separate himself from the land trust, cast himself in the role of a stranger to it and in effect use the land trust device to shield himself from his own actions with respect to the property held for his benefit in the land trust. Particularly here I cannot see anything of substance that would have been added to the option had Mr. Ciardelli agreed in it to cause title to be conveyed in view of the provision contained in the trust agreement giving him full authority to direct such a conveyance.