Wright v. Chapin

26 N.Y.S. 825, 81 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 521, 31 Abb. N. Cas. 137, 56 N.Y. St. Rep. 718
New York Supreme Court·Decided December 15, 1893·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

VAN BRUNT, P. J.

In this action a demurrer was interposed to the complaint, and after a trial of the issue of law a decision was made by the court pursuant to section 1021 of the Code sustaining the demurrer upon the ground that the amended complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and that there was a defect of parties apparent upon the face of the complaint, in that George Goodwin was not made a party plaintiff or defendant; and directing that an interlocutory judgment be entered sustaining the demurrer, with leave to the plaintiff to amend; and further directing that, in case the plaintiff should fail to amend, final judgment should be entered sustaining said demurrer, with costs. The interlocutory judgment was thereupon entered; and, the plaintiff not having amended, the final judgment-was entered, and from such final judgment this appeal was taken, and notice was given that upon the appeal the interlocutory judgment would be brought up for review.

It is now urged that, inasmuch as the appeal is taken from the final and interlocutory judgments, and no notice is given of any intention to review the order directing their entry, the appeal brings-up only the question whether the judgment conforms to this order; and certain decisions of the superior court are cited to sustain this proposition, and also the case of Bank v. Lynch, 76 N. Y. 514. The headnote of this last case is presented upon the brief, but an examinar tian of the opinion will show that the consequences of the headnote-which are relied upon by the respondents by no means follow. It will be seen that the provisions of section 1021 in reference to the-decision of the court upon the trial of issues of law raised by demurrer are similar to those of section 1022, in reference to what, is to be done by the court or referee upon the trial of the whole issue of fact. In the one case the decision of the court or the report of the referee upon the trial of a demurrer must direct the final or-interlocutory judgment to be entered thereupon. Upon the trial of the whole issue of fact, the decision of the court or the report of the referee must state separately the facts found and the conclusions-of law, and it must direct the judgment to be entered thereupon. We have never heard it advanced but once that in the case of an. appeal from a judgment entered upon a referee’s report or the decision of the court, in order to bring up for review the proceedings-[827] upon the trial, it was necessary to mention that the decision, in which were stated the facts found and the conclusions of law, and which directed judgment to be entered thereupon, would be brought up for review. The theory upon which this fallacy rests in the case of a demurrer is that the decision mentioned in section 1021 is an order. It is no more an order than the decision mentioned in, section 1022. In the case of Bank v. Lynch it is held that there is no appeal from such a decision, although it may be an order, because, there is no provision in section 1347 for such an appeal. But the court held that the only way in which such a decision may be reviewed is upon an appeal from the interlocutory or the final judgment. It by no means holds, however, that by the provisions of section 1316 the right of review is extended to every order upon appeal from a final judgment, whether mentioned in section 1347 as an appealable order or not. There is no intention of extending the right of appeal by section 1316. All that is intended to be done is to permit the party who feels himself aggrieved by an order which, under the provisions of section 1347, is appealable, and has not already been reviewed upon a separate appeal therefrom, to review such order upon the appeal from the final judgment. This is plainly stated by section 1316, which does not seem to admit of the construction claimed. We think, therefore, that upon an appeal from an interlocutory judgment the decision filed pursuant to section 1021 may be reviewed, and also upon an appeal from a final judgment in which notice of an intention to review the interlocutory judgment is given; precisely the same as, upon appeal from a final judgment, a decision filed under section 1022 may be reviewed, although no notice is given of an intention to review such an order. It seems to us clear that the appellant is correct in his practice.

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Wright v. Chapin, 26 N.Y.S. 825, 81 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 521, 31 Abb. N. Cas. 137, 56 N.Y. St. Rep. 718 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1893).

26 N.Y.S. 825 (Wright v. Chapin) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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33 N.Y.S. 1068 (New York Supreme Court, 1895)
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28 N.Y.S. 165 (New York Supreme Court, 1894)