Gundlin v. Hamburg-American Packet Co.

28 N.Y.S. 572, 8 Misc. 291, 59 N.Y. St. Rep. 208
CourtNew York Court of Common Pleas
DecidedMay 7, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 28 N.Y.S. 572 (Gundlin v. Hamburg-American Packet Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gundlin v. Hamburg-American Packet Co., 28 N.Y.S. 572, 8 Misc. 291, 59 N.Y. St. Rep. 208 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1894).

Opinion

BISCHOFF, J.

No error appears from the record by due exception for which we may reverse the judgment on ithe merits. Several exceptions appear to rulings on the admission of evidence for defendant. The first was taken to the denial of a motion by plaintiff’s counsel to strike out the witness’ answer to a question not objected to. It was within the discretion of the court to deny the motion (Platner v. Platner, 78 N. Y. 90), and, assuming that the answer was in part irresponsive to the question, the motion to strike out should have been limited to that part (McCabe v. Brayton, 38 N. Y. 196; People v. Beach, 87 N. Y. 508, 512; Tuomey v. O’Reilly, 3 Misc. Rep. 302, 306, 22 N. Y. Supp. 930). In the case of the remaining exception the ground of objection was not stated. Cruikshank v. Gordon, 118 N. Y. 178, 23 N. E. 457; Stouter v. Railway Co., 127 N. Y. 661, 27 N. E. 805. The judgment of affirmance of the court below is conclusive upon ns respecting the weight of the evidence. Arnstein v. Haulenbeek (Com. Pl. N. Y.) 11 N. Y. Supp. 701; Smith v. Pryor [573]*573(Com. Pl. N. Y.) 9 N. Y. Supp. 636; Rowe v. Comley, 11 Daly, 318. Plaintiff must be deemed to have conceded that there was a sufficient conflict of evidence to require the jury’s determination of the facts, because he did not ask to have a verdict directed in his favor (Barrett v. Railroad Co., 45 N. Y. 628; Paige v. Chedsey, 4 Misc. Rep. 183, 23 N. Y. Supp. 879; Myers v. Cohn, 4 Misc. Rep. 185, 23 N. Y. Supp. 996); and, without an exception to the denial of such a request, it is not within our province to inquire whether there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict, or whether the verdict was without, or contrary to, the evidence (Schwinger v. Raymond, 105 N. Y. 648, 11 N. E. 952; Smith v. Pryor [Com. Pl. N. Y.] 9 N. Y. Supp. 636). On appeal to this court from the city court of New York, an order denying a motion for a new trial brings up for review such questions of law only as are presented by due exception taken upon the trial (Schwinger v. Raymond, 105 N. Y. 648,11 N. E. 952); and an exception to the denial of a motion to set the verdict aside, and for a new trial, is not one taken upon, but after, the trial (Code Civ. Proc. §§ 992,995,996). Such an exception cannot therefore avail on appeal. Matthews v. Meyberg, 63 N. Y. 656; Boos v. Insurance Co., 64 N. Y. 236; Grier v. Hazard (Com. Pl. N. Y.) 14 N. Y. Supp. 784; Carroll v. O’Shea, 2 Misc. Rep. 437, 21 N. Y. Supp. 956; Meyers v. Cohn, 4 Misc. Rep. 185, 23 N. Y. Supp. 996. One other exception remains to the charge, which we proceed to notice specially.

The action was brought to recover damages for the loss of baggage belonging to a passenger, which defendant, a foreign corporation, was alleged to have received on board its steamship Polynesia for transportation from Stettin, Germany, and which it failed to deliver on arrival of the steamship at its place of destination in this country. On the trial it was contended, on defendant’s behalf, that plaintiff was not, when the action was commenced, a resident of the state of New York, and the fact appeared by fair inference from plaintiff’s deposition, taken under a commission. Counsel for defendant therefore urged that the court was without jurisdiction to determine the rights of the litigants. Plaintiff’s counsel thereupon, as a witness in his client’s behalf, testified to the fact of the latter’s residence in the city of New York at the time of the commencement of the action. On the question of plaintiff’s nonresidence, as well as that the baggage was lost through defendant’s neglect, there ensued a conflict of evidence, and, upon the submission of the case, the trial justice charged the jury as follows: “It is for you to determine whether the plaintiff in this action was a nonresident of this city when this action was commenced (February 15, 1892), as it seems to be. If you find he was not such a resident, your verdict will be for defendant. Should you conclude he was a resident, your verdict will be in favor of the plaintiff, and that will bring you to the other disputed questions of fact in the case.” To this charge plaintiff’s counsel excepted generally, to wit, to all that part of the charge relating to plaintiff’s evidence. The vice of the exception is apparent. It is incumbent upon counsel for the excepting party to point out the specific part of the charge to which he intends to object, so that the error, if any, may be obviated. If, [574]*574therefore, a charge, excepted to generally, is objectionable in some respects, but unobjectionable in others, the exception does not present error. Stone v. Transportation Co., 38 N. Y. 240; Jones v. Osgood, 6 N. Y. 233; Caldwell v. Murphy, 11 N. Y. 416; Walsh v. Kelly, 40 N. Y. 556; Groat v. Gile, 51 N. Y. 431, 442; Hunt v. Maybee, 7 N. Y. 266; Haggart v. Morgan, 5 N. Y. 422; Oldfield v. Railroad Co., 14 N. Y. 310, 315; McGinley v. Insurance Co., 77 N. Y. 495. Upon the conflict of evidence it was the province of the jury to determine whether or not plaintiff was a nonresident at the time of the commencement of the action; and having determined that plaintiff was not a nonresident, and that the loss of his baggage was occasioned through defendant’s fault, it was the jury’s duty to return a verdict for plaintiff. In these two last-mentioned respects, therefore, the charge of the trial justice was not justly open to adverse criticism. Hence, for the reason already stated, the exception taken is not available to show that the justice erred, because the charge in effect determined that the cause of action did not arise within this state, as plaintiff’s counsel now contend it did. In this connect tion it may not be amiss to call counsel’s attention to a grievous error on his part. We observe that he refers to Exhibit A, which is in the German language and attached to plaintiff’s deposition, and of which there appears no translation in the record, as the passage contract between plaintiff and defendant, by the terms of which, it is claimed, defendant undertook to convey plaintiff, and to transport his baggage, from Stettin to New York. This instrument, however, does not purport to have been made on defendant’s behalf, and on its face appears to be no more than a contract by one R. Munger with plaintiff, wherein the former is described to be an emigrant forwarding agent, accredited as such by the local authorities at Stettin, and whereby he undertook to secure plaintiff’s conveyance, and the transportation of the latter’s baggage, from Stettin to New York by the steamship Polynesia. Munger’s relation to defendant is nowhere defined in the instrument, neither does the record elsewhere inform us in that respect. For aught which appears, the contract involves only a personal enterprise on Munger’s part. No contract on plaintiff’s part with defendant appears to have been made in this state, and the fact that plaintiff embarked upon defendant’s steamship at Stettin will, at most, sustain an inference that defendant’s contract with plaintiff for conveyance to this country was made at Stettin. From unchallenged evidence, it appears that the destination of the steamship was Hoboken, N. J., and from that fact we can only infer that the place of destination was the place intended for delivery of the baggage which defendant had assumed to transport. In the abstract, we agree with plaintiff’s counsel that a contract is broken by failure to perform it at the place where, by its terms, the contract was to be performed, and that the cause of action arises when and where the breach occurs. Perry v. Transfer Co. (Com. Pl. N. Y.) 19 N. Y. Supp. 239, 28 Abb. N. C. 430, and note; Bank v. Lacombe, 84 N. Y. 367; Burckle v. Eckhart, 3 N. Y. 132; Toronto Gen. Trust Co. v. Chicago, B. & Q. R.

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Bluebook (online)
28 N.Y.S. 572, 8 Misc. 291, 59 N.Y. St. Rep. 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gundlin-v-hamburg-american-packet-co-nyctcompl-1894.