Braman v. Braman

236 A.D. 164, 258 N.Y.S. 181, 1932 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5919
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 1, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 236 A.D. 164 (Braman v. Braman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Braman v. Braman, 236 A.D. 164, 258 N.Y.S. 181, 1932 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5919 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

Martin, J.

The complaint alleges for a first cause of action that the plaintiff and defendant Harold A. Braman were married on August 1, 1922, in the State of Massachusetts and thereafter continued to five as husband and wife in the State of Rhode Island; that thereafter and prior to the month of October, 1928, the plaintiff and her husband separated and continued to live apart. On October 31, 1928, the parties entered into a separation agreement, which was amended on July 8, 1929, on which date the plaintiff obtained a final decree of absolute divorce from the defendant Harold A. Braman in the Superior Court of the State of Rhode Island, which decree incorporated therein, by reference, the aforesaid separation agreement. On October 21, 1930, a supplemental decree of divorce was duly entered by the Superior Court of the State of Rhode Island, which by its terms incorporated therein verbatim the aforesaid separation agreement of October 31, 1928, and the modification of same on July 8, 1929.

The agreements and decrees provide, among other things, that the defendant Harold A. Braman shall pay to the plaintiff $500 per month for her support and $50 monthly for the support of their daughter; that $30,000 in securities shall be deposited by the j defendant Harold A. Braman with the Industrial Trust Company of ¡ Providence, R. I., in order to adequately provide for the payments to be made under the agreements and to guarantee the carrying out of same; that the provisions with respect to the payments and the creation of the fund were made in contemp ation of a prospective inheritance by defendant Harold A. Braman from his father, and upon the condition that he should share substantially equally with the other children of his father.

The complaint then alleges that the father of the defendant Harold A. Braman died on or about November 29, 1928, a resident of the State of New Jersey, leaving a last will and testament, under the terms of wh'ch the Central Union Trust Company of New York was appointed trustee and that this respondent is the successor to said company and is now trustee under the will and has assumed all obligations under same.

Under the provisions of the will the remainder of the estate of the father of the defendant Harold A. Braman was left to the trustee to be divided into equal shares, the income of which was payable to various persons named therein, including the defendant Braman. The complaint then alleges that the corpus of the trust fund is under the control and custody of the respondent within the State of New York, and that the defendant Harold A. Braman is receiving and will continue to receive more than $30,000 annually in quarterly installments as income of the trust; that prior to the [166]*166commencement of this action he received the sum of $300,000 absolutely as a legacy from his father, and that by reason thereof he has shared substantially equally with the other children of his father, and that aside from the trust and the income thereof the defendant Harold A. Braman has no property or funds in the State of New York.

It is then alleged that pursuant to the agreements and decrees there became due the plaintiff from the defendant Harold A. Braman the sum of $500 on the 1st days of September, October, November and December, 1930, totaling $2,000, less a credit of $115.24, leaving a balance of $1,884.76; that in violation of his agreements and the terms of the decrees, he has refused and failed to deposit the sum of $30,000 in escrow as a guaranty of his performance of the conditions of the agreements and decrees; that prior to the commencement of this action he left the State of Rhode Island; that plaintiff is without adequate means to support herself and child in the condition in which they are accustomed to live and that she has no adequate remedy at law.

The plaintiff alleges for a second cause of action that there is due and owing to her the sum of $1,884.76 as accrued alimony, no. part of which sum has been paid, although duly demanded. She seeks to have the defendant Harold A. Braman specifically perform the agreements and make the payments and the deposit and also seeks injunctive relief restraining the transfer of the corpus of the trust fund and the payment by the respondent of any income derived from the trust fund to the' defendant Harold A. Braman.

The plaintiff served the summons, complaint and motion papers for a temporary injunction upon the respondent, the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company, and the latter then obtained several extensions of time in which to plead or move as to the complaint and then moved to dismiss it upon the ground that it appeared on the face thereof that the court had no jurisdiction over the person of the respondent, or, in the alternative, on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject of the action.

The court at Special Term dismissed the complaint on the ground of lack of jurisdiction over the person of the respondent, without prejudice to an action in the State of New Jersey, or in any other proper forum, and also denied the application for a temporary injunction restraining the respondent from making any disposition of the corpus of the trust fund or the income thereof, without prejudice to a further application in New Jersey or in any other proper forum.

The appellant now contends that the respondent, by its acts and conduct, waived its objection to the court’s jurisdiction, in that it [167]*167requested and obtained, for a period of several weeks, adjournments of the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary injunction and extensions of time in which to answer the complaint. It is pointed out that on the occasion of each adjournment and extension the respondent, by its attorneys, signed stipulations wherein no mention was made or indication given that its appearance in this action was other than a general appearance; that it failed to specify that it was appearing specially and must be deemed to have waived its objections to the court’s jurisdiction over its person. It is claimed that any doubt whether respondent appeared generally in this action is dispelled when we consider that the respondent contested the plaintiff’s application for a temporary injunction, not alone on jurisdictional grounds, but also on the merits.

It is well settled that a defendant who intends to appear specially in an action must rely solely upon his jurisdictional objection and cannot protest against the court’s jurisdiction and at the same time defend the action on the merits as such positions are inconsistent and when a defendant adopts both at the one time he is deemed to have waived his jurisdictional objection. The respondent by obtaining adjournments of the motion made by plaintiff for "a temporary injunction and by obtaining extensions of time in which to answer must be deemed to have waived its objection to the court’s jurisdiction over its person. In Zabriskie v. Second National Bank (204 App. Div. 428) this court said: “ It is quite true that where a defendant appears by attorney in an action and enters into a stipulation for an extension of bis time to answer the complaint, he impliedly admits the jurisdiction of the court and waives his right to object to its jurisdiction. [Hupfeld v. Automaton Piano Co., 66 Fed. Rep. 788; Waters v. Central Trust Co., 126 id. 469.] ”

In this case the extensions of time to answer were not incidental to or part of any special appearance or motion attacking the complaint and service thereof on jurisdictional grounds.

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Bluebook (online)
236 A.D. 164, 258 N.Y.S. 181, 1932 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5919, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/braman-v-braman-nyappdiv-1932.