Appelt v. Timpone

195 Misc. 68, 88 N.Y.S.2d 43, 1949 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2035
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 17, 1949
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 195 Misc. 68 (Appelt v. Timpone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appelt v. Timpone, 195 Misc. 68, 88 N.Y.S.2d 43, 1949 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2035 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1949).

Opinion

F. E. Johnson, J.

Defendant, in one notice of motion, seeks to set aside, etc., and obtain a new trial on four grounds; the first and second together relate to a claim of newly discovered evidence, including the alleged misconduct of a juror not known of until after the verdict was rendered; they will be discussed first:

(1) There is no ground for deciding, as charged, that the juror “ was biased and incompetent to act as a juror,” or for finding that he then knew the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s wife, or that there was any “ concealment of his knowledge and acquaintance with ” them. No unbiased view of the affidavits on that subject would permit any such conclusion as underlies this particular application, and there is a complete failure to prove the alleged ground. If, more properly, it is an application based upon the claim of juror’s fraud, the basis of the charge is unfounded. In accordance with the practice carefully followed by this court for many years, the jury was admonished at the close of each trial day not to discuss the case with anyone and to return in the morning; there is no evidence that the juror discussed the case with anyone; there is, on these papers, every reason to believe that he obeyed the direction. That he knew a witness is a trivial circumstance, and cannot be the basis of a new trial unless there was a special situation that might have colored his mind thereafter; that situation is not shown here. The supposition that this juror must have known somebody, whom he is not shown to have any personal contact with, but whose family he is supposed to have known seventeen years ago, must be viewed merely as an effort to get another trial. In Murphy v. 16 Abingdon Square Realty Corp. (243 App. Div. 815) our Appellate Division, after a motion under section 549 of the Civil Practice Act had been denied, and plaintiff moved at Special Term, attacking a juror, made comments not unlike those that could be made here.

(2) The other alleged newly discovered evidence “ that the plaintiff committed perjury in his testimony ” relates to the [71]*71extent of his physical disability after he came back from the hospital. Rule 221 of the Rules of Civil Practice requires that this motion must be made on a “ settled case ’ ’; that is probably not applicable in a nonjury trial, but does apply to jury cases. (Sachs v. Blum, 241 App. Div. 384; Swenson v. Trowbridge, 195 App. Div. 310; Lopez v. Margulies, 246 App. Div. 391; Matter of Rose, 153 App. Div. 263, 264; Cohn v. Warschauer Sick Support Soc., 19 N. Y. S. 2d 742; Stoddard v. Stoddard, 37 N. Y. S. 2d 605, citing authorities at p. 607, affd. 264 App. Div. 980; Boyd v. Boyd, 11 Misc. 357, citing authorities at p. 358.)

Defendant can present no “ settled case ”, since none has been settled, so rule 221 requires the denial of this part of the motion. However, it is probably the duty of the court to rescue a client, wherever reasonably permissible, from the consequences of his attorney proceeding in disregard of established law and clear rules; the court will therefore, of its own motion, invoke the doctrine of waiver against the plaintiff because there was no specific objection made when the motion was heard, the time when fatal objection could have been raised. That doctrine requires that one who has a remedy that he can choose to use, cannot remain silent and then, by later motion, try to take advantage of what he could have done but would not do. It has been defined as an implied consent by failure to object, and neglect to insist upon a right at the proper time, or to dispense with something of value. (67 C. J., Waiver, pp. 302-303; Clark v. West, 193 N. Y. 349, 360; Chapman v. Fowler, 132 App. Div. 250, 253; Cowenhoven v. Ball, 118 N. Y. 231, 234; Schifferdecker v. Busch, 130 Misc. 625, 629.)

This procedure will thus permit considering the merits of the “ newly discovered ” claim. Mr. Tripp, in his admirable “ A Guide to Motion Practice ” (1946) says (p. 122): “ It must be shown that the newly discovered evidence was discovered after the trial and could not with all diligence have been discovered prior thereto ” (citing In Re Manning, 196 App. Div. 586; Collins v. Central, 229 App. Div. 363) and that it “ must be material and ‘ so positive and convincing, that it will in all probability, produce a different result, if a new trial is had ’ ”; that cumulative evidence is not of such a character, and that when the new evidence would merely enable a defeated party to impeach credibility a new trial will not be granted (Corley v. New York & Harlem R. R. Co., 12 App. Div. 409).

[72]*72At the trial alert counsel would have noticed that the inability of the plaintiff to do physical work was stressed, and not his inability to do estimating (which can be done at a desk), and his receipts from physical work were given.

It is apparent from the papers that plaintiff, long established in business, was acceptable for the kinds of insurance required in his business, and that the man -who was actually doing the work was not equally fortunate, and so was an associate or employee. If the bill of particulars was not sufficiently definite as to special damage no motion was made to improve it; the latest judicial views on section 288 of the Civil Practice Act might warrant seeking an examination before trial not confined to the matter on which one has the affirmative, since he may examine to anticipate the'need of rebuttal" (Tripp, A Guide to Motion Practice, pp. 30, 31). A little thought before the trial would have indicated the directions in which information about his alleged inability to work might be obtained; the supply houses with which he had been dealing, Social Security records showing who were still his employees, compensation records of hib continued insurance, building department’s permit bureau, and local gossip in the small settlement in Staten Island in which he lived. It is no reflection to say that privacy of life would not be as easy to maintain there as in larger, more congested areas, where public curiosity abóut neighbors is less active. In these somewhat isolated settlements, each of which is almost a separate village, it would be difficult to hide both what one was doing, and what one was not doing. The meager information presented by defendant to the jury on this subject suggests how little real effort was made to get the information now called “ newly discovered ” but which, if newly discovered was not newly discoverable.

Newly discovered evidence “ not material to the principal issue ” (italics supplied) was ignored in Beatty v. Healy (248 App. Div. 896), since it “ would not be likely to change the result. * * * There must be a finality to litigation.” In Papathanasi v. Reiter (270 App. Div. 308) the “ new evidence ” was not as to the main issue and the motion was denied; held also that the motion rests in the discretion of the trial justice, under Barrett v. Third Ave. R. R. Co. (45 N. Y. 628) and Collins v. Central Trust Co. (226 App. Div. 486).

The remaining grounds are either included in the broad motion made under section "549 and denied, after the jury was polled, or should have been so included.

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Related

People v. Paczovski
81 Misc. 2d 381 (New York Supreme Court, 1975)
O 'Connor-Sullivan, Inc. v. Otto
207 Misc. 272 (New York County Courts, 1955)
Appelt v. Timpone
275 A.D.2d 1046 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1949)

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Bluebook (online)
195 Misc. 68, 88 N.Y.S.2d 43, 1949 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2035, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appelt-v-timpone-nysupct-1949.