In re White

101 A.D. 172, 91 N.Y.S. 513
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 15, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 101 A.D. 172 (In re White) 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
In re White, 101 A.D. 172, 91 N.Y.S. 513 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1905).

Opinion

Per Curiam :

This is an appeal from four orders of the Special Term denying motions to vacate orders made at another Special Term presided over by another justice. It is not proper practice to seek a review of one Special Term by another, as in this.case, but to appeal to an appellate court. We might with clear. authority dispose of the appeal by the application of this rule. In Clapp v. Atterbury (57 N. Y. Super. Ct. 579), which presented the question of an appeal from an order denying a motion to vacate an _ order, the, General Term said: The only ground on which the appellants could have claimed the order should have been vacated was that the order was erroneous. It was not claimed that the former order was made without notice, or that there was any irregularity of practice as to [174]*174it. The order was valid until reversed for error. ' The learned judge below was not bound to hear an appeal from the order. Or, if he still thought thei;e ■ was no error, even if it were supposed that error existed, a refusal to vacate was. not injurious to appellant, for he, Unless there had been loches, could appeal and have the erroneous order reversed. And'further, this court cannot proceed to inquire if there were error in the order so long as it is hot' brought before it upon an appeal.” In Platt v. N. Y. & Sea Beach Ry. Co. (170 N. Y. 451) the court say (p. 458) : “ The practice'of moving before one judge at .Special Term to declare void the order or judgment of another judge at Special Term is not sanctioned by any provision..of .the Code that I am a ware of, or by...añy .controlling authority. It virtually amounts ‘to an • appeal from one Special Term to another Special Term for a review of the first order.”,’ ,

If, however, we pass on to discuss this case, our action must noü be taken as any indication of a policy to depart from the rule, Or of an intent to make a precedent. There are.-.some r.easons.why we deem ' it proper to.make an exception. It must be borne in mind that we/ cannot and we do not consider these appeals as if taken from the orders themselves, which course was free, to the appellant, for the question' presented is whether the orders refusing to vacate the' orders were erroneously made. If they were not, then the appeals must fail. This is. the peril Of an appellant who has chosen to rest his case not upon a direct review, but upon the refusal of one Special Term to undo what another has done. These motions were addressed to discretion, and it should appear, that the discretion was not fairly exercised within judicial bounds • before we, in the exercise of our discretion, disturb the results reached. . By grace of this court the. appellant was permitted to present Ms appeals, in one record. That record is long and replete with orders and- affidavits. For convenience of identification each order and affidavit has been marked by the appellant by the figures 1, 2, 8 and 4, many, however, bearing more than one mark, to indicate the particular motion to-which such ordér or affidavit refers; It has been no easy task\to render each order and affidavit to its particular motion. . And yet? though we must limit Our View to the record presented upon the motions for vacation, practically it is not much confined, for the recitals of these orders ar&véry comprehensive. And in the course [175]*175of our discüssion we shall consider the more salient points made by the appellant, though he does not always remember the difference between a direct review and that which we must make in this appeal.

The first order refuses to vacate an order- which settles the accounts of the Long Island Loan and Trust Company as guardian of the property óf Frederic Hall White, the infant son of the appellant. The appellant moves as guardian of the person and as guardian ad litem. It is urged that it was shown to the Special Term that the trust company and its attorney were stayed at the time they obtained the order to show cause which initiated the proceedings terminating in this order or decree. To sustain him the appellant referred to an order, which is found in separate Appendix A: In his affidavit he deposed that the order denied a motion of the attorney of the trust company, with ten dollars costs, and stayed the trust company froten proceeding further in the matter. But the opposing affidavit of that attorney (which was omitted in the recital of the order now on appeal, and was inserted only by a resettlement) .showed that this order relied upon by the appellant was secured in April, that he had thereunder ten days to file amended objections to the account, that the stay extended only for those ten days, and that no objections up to that time (July) had ever been filed to the best of the affiant’s information and belief. Examination of the order seems to sustain this view. Of course the appellant by his omission to file objections could not make the stay perpetual, or even extend it. The appellant deposed that the trust company was primarily at fault because although it had filed'the account, yet it had not filed vouchers and other specified accounts so that he could object. But the opposing affidavit is contrary. If the papers actually filed were not those required or all of those required, the appellant was free to move under the order itself. He construed the compliance he admitted as not full compliance at the peril of having such allegation of non-compliance controverted, and if the controversy prevailed. of being himself charged with fault. We cannot say that the court erred if it accepted the vérsion of the trust company’s attorney as correct, and if it did, then certainly there was no stay after the lapse of ten days, and the failure during that period of the appellant to file objections. The second ground of objection is that there was practically no hearing when the motion was heard. The [176]*176defendant had engaged counsel the night before, and the counsel naturally wished an adjournment for a week, and besides, made excuse that he was actually engaged. The court regarded the engagement, but set the hearing down for the next day. bic reason appears why the appellant delayed this retainer until the eve of the hearing. And at the time appointed when further delay was denied, the appellant and counsel went on with the argument.

This complaint as to the hearing is twofold. First, it is urged that the moving party made little or no mention ofbhis motion. That was his own concern alone;. Second, it is urged that the appellant had lit-, tie or no opportunity to present his side of the controversy, either by stating or reading the affida-v-its or by argument. The conduct of the motion was naturally within the control of the justice presiding. bTo. other justice and no other court can make a hard and fast rule for the dispatch of business at Special Term! That must be regulated by the volume of business, the wish of the judge presiding for-long or brief- argument, and it is naturally subject to the individual temperament and individual method of the justice. Of course, there may be a review where there is absolute oppression or absolute suppression, but not short of this. But there was presented to the Special Term that made this order appealed from, the affidavit of the opposing counsel that each counsel was allowed by the court all the time he chose to occupy. And the. court was free to accept such statement. And, in addition, such affidavit set forth the following as the facts : The infant at this time was a young man of twenty years of age.

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Bluebook (online)
101 A.D. 172, 91 N.Y.S. 513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-white-nyappdiv-1905.