Miller v. Smith

PRESIDING JUSTICE EARNS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendants, E Hoxie Smith and Mary Smith Otto, as co-trustees of the Smith Family Trust (trustees), appeal from the order of the circuit court of Perry County declaring plaintiff, Lucius S. Smith III (Smith III) to be the owner of 101 shares of stock of Call Publishing Company. We reverse.

The controlling question on appeal is who owns the 100 shares of Call Publishing Company (the Call) originally titled in the name of Emma Weinberg. To answer this question we must turn back to 1936 and the formation of the Call itself.

In 1936,…