Friend v. Morris D. Fishman, Inc.

98 N.E.2d 571, 302 N.Y. 389

Opinion

Per Curiam.

The court explicitly and without objection instructed the jurors that, if they found that plaintiff and defendant had entered into a contract for employment, they were under the necessity of returning a verdict for $3,360 — and that was a proper charge, since there was nothing to show that plaintiff was entitled to a penny less than that amount as damages. The ensuing verdict for the lesser sum of $2,400 was a compromise, rendered in disregard of both evidence and charge and may not stand. (See, e.g., Angresani v. Tozzi, 245 N. Y. 558, affg. 217 App. Div. 642; Blackwell v. Glidden Co., 239 N. Y. 545, affg. 208 App. Div. 317; Hatch v. Attrill, 118 N. Y. 383, 389; Van Der Harst v. Koenig, 249 App. Div. 235, 236.)

The judgments should be reversed and a new trial granted, with costs to abide the event.

Loughran, Ch. J., Lewis, Conway, Desmond, Dye, Fuld and Froessel, JJ., concur.

Judgments reversed, etc.