De Mott v. Kendrick

17 N.Y.S. 630, 70 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 112, 43 N.Y. St. Rep. 858
New York Supreme Court·Decided February 15, 1892·Published

Opinions

Martin, J.

As the appellant’s motion was denied upon the ground that more than 30 days had elapsed after the service of a copy of the judgment with a notice of the entry thereof, and before the service of the notice of appeal, we think it is fair to presume from the order in this case that the motion was denied upon the ground that the appellant’s time to appeal had expired, and, consequently, the court had no power or authority to grant the order. The only question we need to consider is whether the service of a copy of the judgment herein, with a written notice of the entry thereof at the time when it was served, was sufficient to limit the appellant’s right to appeal. The appellant’s claim is that the judgment that was entered, and of which a notice was given, was not then a final and perfected judgment, but was uncertain, and liable to be changed; and hence that a notice of its entry before it had been perfected and become final was insufficient to limit his time to appeal. In Sherman v. Wells, 14 How. Pr. 522, the general term of the first district held that, while the amount of the costs is kept open, no notice of the entry of judgment can be given which will limit the time to appeal. Mitchell, J., in delivering the opinion of the court in that case, said: “The appellant is to appeal within thirty days after written notice of the judgment is given to him. This must mean of a judgment so perfected in form that on the very day on which the notice is given of its entry the appellant has on the record a knowledge of all the matters necessary to the perfection of an appeal, and of a stay upon it. One of these matters is the amount of the judgment, and that depends on the amount of the costs. So that, while the amount of the costs is kept open, no notice of the entry of judgment can be given which will limit the time to appeal. ” The doctrine of that case was followed by the general term of the seventh district in Champion v. Society, 42 Barb. 441. In the opinion of the court in that case the doctrine laid down in the Sherman Case was quoted with approval, and it was distinctly held that a notice of the entry of judgment served before the costs were finally adjusted did not have the effect to limit the right of the opposite party to appeal to the general term. In Thurber v. Chambers, 60 N. Y. 29, it was held that, where a decree in a partition suit awards costs, a notice of judgment, served prior to the taxation and entry of the costs, does not limit the time for appeal. The same doctrine was held in Beinhauer v. Gleason, 44 Hun, 556. These authorities seem to justify the appellant’s claim, and to establish a doctrine that a notice to limit the time of appeal can only be given when the amount of the judgment including costs as well as damages has been finally adjusted and determined by the clerk who is the taxing officer. The respondent, however, contends that the doctrine of the first two cases has been in effect overruled by the cases of Wilson v. Palmer, 75 N. Y. 250, and Yates v. Burch, 87 N. Y. 412. In Wilson v. Palmer a judgment was perfected by the final adjustment of costs by the clerk on August 3, 1877, and a copy thereof with .notice of entry was served on the same day. On the 30th of the same month, on application to the court for an order for a retaxation of the costs, an order was granted by the court striking out an item of $1.25. It did not appear that the judgment was actually modified. An undertaking on appeal was [632] filed and served August 30, 1878. On a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground that it was not perfected within one year, it was held that, as the appeal was not perfected within one year from August 3, 1877, it was too late, and that no other notice to limit the time of appeal was necessary, although the taxation was corrected on August 30th. It is quite obvious that the costs in that case were finally adjusted by the clerk upon notice to the adverse party on August 3d, when the notice to limit the time to appeal was given, as it appears from the report of the case that the taxation was corrected by an order of the court granted on a motion for retaxation made by the appellant. In other words, the correction in that case was made on an appeal to the court from the decision of the clerk, and not upon a readjustment' of the costs by the clerk. While the report of that case is meager, it shows that the judgment had become fixed, and was final, so far as any act of the clerk as taxing officer was concerned, before the notice was served. At the time of its entry his power to adjust or readjust the costs was at an end, and hence it was that the notice of entry of judgment was held effectual to limit the time of appeal.

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De Mott v. Kendrick, 17 N.Y.S. 630, 70 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 112, 43 N.Y. St. Rep. 858 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1892).

17 N.Y.S. 630 (De Mott v. Kendrick) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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