County Court is not preserved by the Statutory Construction Law which saves a right of action notwithstanding the repeal of a statute and permits an action pending prior to the taking effect of a repeal to be prosecuted. Leake v. Hartman, 451.
2. From judgment only — costs — appeal from order denying new trial on ground of newly-discovered evidence. Where a defendant in a negligence action appeals from the judgment only, the weight of the evidence as to the negligence of both parties and the assumption of risk cannot be considered. The sole question is as to whether there is any evidence for the jury upon those questions, or whether there was such a failure of evidence as to authorize a nonsuit.
The Appellate Division will affirm an order denying a new trial upon the ground of newly-discovered evidence where four trials have resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff and there is no likelihood that the defendant will succeed as long as the issues are submitted to a jury.
As a motion for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence is necessarily made upon a case and exceptions, settled and filed, the prevailing party is entitled to full costs of appeal, although he is also entitled to full costs on a simultaneous appeal from the judgment. This, because the case on an appeal from the decision of a motion for a new trial on the ground of newly- discovered evidence embodies matters other than those taking place at trial and embodied in the case on appeal from the judgment. Peuse v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 458.
3. Practice- appeal to Court of Appeals after affirmance of demurrer by Appel- late Division. Where the Appellate Division has affirmed a judgment sustain- ing a demurrer to a complaint upon the ground that it does not state facts con- stituting a cause of action, the plaintiff may appeal directly to the Court of Appeals from the final judgment of the Special Term entered on the affirm- ance by the Appellate Division. Upon such appeal the decision of the Appel- late Division may be reviewed, providing notice of an intention to do so be given in the notice of appeal.
It seems, that it is only where the Appellate Division reverses such interlocu- tory judgment that the respondent must, after entry of judgment in the court below, appeal to the Appellate Division, take an affirmance and then appeal to the Court of Appeals. Geneva-Seneca El. Co. v. Economic Power & Constr. Co., 481.
4. Judgment by court without jury. On appeal from a judgment entered upon a decision of the court sitting without a jury, questions of law or fact may be reviewed, although no exceptions to the decision have been filed, provided the case contains a certificate that it contains all the evidence. Wilmarth v. Heine, 526.
5. Court of Appeals — certificate that question of law is involved. The Appellate Division on an application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals under subdivision 2 of section 191 of the Code of Civil Procedure, cannot determine whether the case is appealable without a certificate that a question of law is involved which ought to be reviewed, that question being for the Court of Appeals. Springs v. James, 669.
Review of discretionary order case.
Criminal action - failure to serve notice on clerk.
Appointment of commission for incompetent - party. See INCOMPETENT PERSON, 1.
Review of discretionary power.
See INJUNCTION, 1.
Judgment of Justice's Court failure of County Court to order new trial. See LANDLORD AND TENANT, 3.
Modification of judgment on appeal.
Power of Appellate Division to reinstate verdict.
See MALICIOUS PROSECUTION, 3.
Mandamus mandamus directed to borough president-right of city to
See NEW YORK CITY, 2.
Review of discretionary order.
See PRACTICE, 1.
Increasing verdict.
See PRACTICE, 5.
General assignment for benefit of creditors effect on supplementary proceedings.
See DEBTOR AND CREDITOR, 2.
Assignment of sum due partnership for individual debt - void as to lienor.
See LIEN, 1.
Assignment of wages.
Bank deposit by treasurer - right of action on certificates of deposit. See BANKING, 2.
Benevolent association - validity of by-law.
Unincorporated labor association — libel — damages must be shown. See LIBEL, 2.
Benevolent association expulsion of member.
ATTACHMENT. Foreign corporation - when moving papers insufficient. An attachment against a foreign corporation cannot issue under sections 635 and 636 of the Code of Civil Procedure in an action to recover for goods sold where the moving papers, though making a positive allegation that the defendant is a foreign corporation, do not give the sources of the affiant's knowledge or state facts indicating that the averment is made upon personal knowledge. Dain's Sons Co. v. McNally Co., 857. ATTORNEY AND CLIENT.
1. Commonl-aw lien-effect of refusal to prosecute cause· - withdrawal from one cause because of dispute in regard to another — attorney's liens — retaining lien and statutory lien - reference. An attorney at law may for a just cause terminate his relation with his client, but, if he do so without justification, he forfeits his common-law lien on the pleadings and papers in the action. In the latter case, where the client moves for the substitution of attorneys, the former attorney should be required to turn over the pleadings and papers in the action without imposing conditions.
Where an attorney, after having been retained by a client in two actions, refused to proceed in one of them because of a dispute between himself and the client respecting sums due the attorney in the other action, which the client settled, he discharged himself as attorney without just cause and lost any common- law lien upon the papers in the pending action.
ATTORNEY AND CLIENT-Continued.
Where an attorney is retained to prosecute or defend a cause there is, so far as his obligation to his client is concerned, an entire undertaking to carry it through, and he cannot withdraw from the case without just cause.
An attorney at law has two liens; a common-law or retaining lien on papers and money which have come into his possession during the progress of the action, and a limited statutory lien on the cause of action or a counterclaim known as a charging lien.
There is no difference between the two liens as regards a forfeiture of the right thereto.
Evidence examined, and held, that the client, by negotiating with his attor- ney after a notice by the latter that he refused to go on with the case, did not waive his right to act upon the refusal and substitute other attorneys.
A determination as to whether or no an attorney has a lien should be made without a reference in order that the parties should not be put to the expense thereof. Matter of Rieser, 177.
2. Disbarment-court-commission to take testimony. A proceeding to disbar an attorney at law is a special proceeding, civil in character, the sole inquiry being as to whether he is a person qualified and fit to hold the office.
As it is a special proceeding, the Appellate Division has power under section 888 of the Code of Civil Procedure to issue a commission, on the application of parties moving for a disbarment, to take testimony upon written interrogatories. Matter of Spencer, 330.
3. Attorney disbarred. moneys collected for his same had been collected.
Attorney disbarred for expending on his own account client and concealing from the latter the fact that the Matter of Gifuni, 351.
4. Attorney disbarred. Attorney disbarred for obtaining money upon the false representation that he had been retained in an action and for converting the sum so obtained to his personal use. Matter of Andrews, 353.
5. Contract of retainer — agreement must be fair — novation ·when new contract not supported by consideration. An attorney cannot recover on a contract with his client giving him as compensation a certain percentage of moneys realized by the client from a sale of land without showing that the agreement was fair, that the client acted freely and with understanding, and when making the con- tract fully understood its purport and had knowledge of all material circum- stances known to the attorney, and that he was not guilty of fraud and made no improper use of the confidence imposed in him
Where in an action against the client there is no proof of the above facts, the jury should not be allowed to say whether the contract was fairly made, as they cannot speculate upon probabilities or find facts without evidence.
An attorney entitled to a contingent fee in case of success cannot recover on a subsequent contract by which his client agreed to pay a specific percentage on the sale of property made at a time when the attorney knew his client would be defeated if he performed no services under the new contract, for there is no consideration therefor. Blaikie v. Post, 648.
6. Attorney disciplined. An attorney at law suspended for one year for obtaining earnest money on a contract for the sale of his wife's lands, knowing at the time that the lands were bound by a similar contract made with other parties. Matter of Alexander, 770.
7. Attorney disbarred. Attorney at law disbarred for forging an indorsement on checks received from his client, for the purpose of settling an action, and for embezzling the proceeds. Matter of Rosenthal, 772.
Judgment against surety on default - default of surety. See GUARANTY AND SURETYSHIP.
Pledge of stock - lien dependent on possession — pledge of substituted stock subject to trust. A pledgee of personal property who gives up possession to the pledgor waives his lien unless he returns the property for some special, limited or tem. porary purpose of benefit to him so that the pledgor may be deemed to be in possession as bailee for the pledgee. Thus, where the pledgee of certificates of stock returned them without qualification to the pledgor, and accepted in return as security for an old debt substituted certificates standing in the name of a third party as trustee for the pledgor, he holds the stock subject to the trust. Hickok v. Cowperthwait, 94.
Liability of railroad for baggage delivered to trainman.
Speculation on margin - sale of pledged securities.
See PRINCIPAL AND AGENT, 3, 6.
Locatio operis faciendi.
See SALE, 3.
1. Suspension of payment caused by action of State authorities — depositor not entitled to interest · acceptance of principal bars claim to interest — principal and agent authority of clerk to bind bank. A depositor in a bank having an account not drawing interest is not entitled to interest during the period when the bank, though solvent, was compelled to suspend payment while its assets were held by receivers during an action by the People brought at the instance of the State Superintendent of Banks.
As the depositor had no contract or statutory right to interest she was entitled to interest only by way of damages for a wrongful detention of the debt, and as the bank was compelled to suspend payment by the State authorities, it was not chargeable with a default.
Interest for the wrongful detention of a debt is but an incident to the principal debt, and cannot be made the basis of an independent claim. Acceptance of the principal sum under protest will not save the right to recover interest, unless there be a special agreement to that effect.
Evidence examined, and held, that a clerk of the defendant bank had no authority to bind it to pay interest and that the plaintiff's assignor did not rely upon such promise in accepting the principal.
The extinguishment of a claim to interest by an acceptance of the principal does not rest upon the doctrine of waiver, so as to involve an element of intent. Forschirm v. Mechanics & Traders' Bank, 149.
2. Action on certificates of deposit — deposit by plaintiff as treasurer of voluntary association-pleading. answer showing title in association. It is a good defense to an action against a bank to recover on certificates of deposit to allege that the moneys were deposited by the plaintiff as the treasurer of a voluntary asso- ciation which had previously been dissolved so that his authority as treasurer was revoked; that the certificates were issued to him solely as treasurer of the association, and that he notified the defendant at the time of the deposit that in case of his death or disability the deposit was payable to the order of certain specified officers of the association, and that thereafter the defendant paid the deposit to such officers and other members of the association upon demand.
A bank receiving a deposit from one acting in a representative capacity cannot justify a payment to him if it knows that the funds are about to be wrong- fully diverted from the true owner.
While the relation between a bank and a depositor is that of debtor and cred- itor, and it cannot escape liability by alleging title in a third person, the defense aforesaid shows that the money deposited did not belong to the plain- tiff, but to third persons, of which the defendant was informed when the deposit was made and to whom it paid upon demand.
It seems, that under such circumstances, had the defendant paid to the plain- tiff, it would have still been liable to the association or its members. Parks v. Knickerbocker Trust Co., 719.
1. Intentional and malicious injury-evidence-burden of proof. Where a judgment obtained by an administratrix is based upon the fact that chloral was administered to her intestate by the defendants; that they neglected to care for him properly as an intoxicated guest, and it is not claimed that they desired to injure or cause his death, the judgment is dischargeable in bankruptcy.
The administration of chloral, being for the benefit of the intestate, was not a malicious or intentional injury within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act. The burden is on the plaintiff to show that her judgment comes within the exception of the Bankruptcy Act so as to survive the discharge. Tompkins v. Williams, 521.
2. Trust agreement · accounting — rights of trustee in bankruptcy. Where a corporation, being in financial difficulties, made certain valid agreements with another corporation whereby it transferred to the second corporation all its per- sonal property, the same to be liquidated and applied to the payment of the creditors of the transferor, except the secured creditors and two others named, and leased to it all its real estate upon condition that its plant be operated for the benefit of the creditors, a trust relationship is created between the corporations, and the first having gone into bankruptcy, its trustee is entitled to an accounting and to recover the surplus in the hands of the second corporation after payment in full of the creditors of the bankrupt, except the secured creditors and the two others named. Gill v. Bell's Knitting Mills, 553.
Lienor-trustee in bankruptcy - priority.
1. Check delivery of check with amount blank — presumptions — authority of payee to insert amount-burden on payee to show that blanks were filled within rea- sonable time. The payee of a check, which was originally delivered with the amount left blank, is not under the burden of showing authority to fill in the blank.
By section 35 of the Negotiable Instruments Law the production of the check raises a presumption of a valid delivery by the drawer and, by virtue of section 33, the delivery operates as prima facie authority to fill in the blank for any
But the latter section also provides that in order that the instrument delivered in blank may be enforced against one who became a party prior to its completion, it must be filled in strictly in accordance with the authority given, and within a reasonable time and there is no presumption whatever as to the time within which the blanks were filled.
Hence, the burden is upon the payee to show that they were filled in within a reasonable time.
It seems, that such blanks were not filled in within a reasonable time where there was a delay of over eight months after delivery. Madden v. Gaston, 294.
2. Usury-demand note for over $5,000 secured by stock. A demand note for $5,500, of which $500 is compensation for the loan, secured by the pledge of certificates of stock. is not void for usury.
Such note is within section 379 of the General Business Law, providing that where advances of money repayable on demand, to an amount not less than $5,000, are made upon warehouse receipts, bills of lading, certificates of stock, bills of exchange, bonds or other negotiable instruments pledged as collateral security, it shall be lawful to contract for any compensation for the advance which the parties may agree upon in writing.
Such note is not void, because it does not 'show what part thereof comprised the compensation and what part the loan. Wright v. Toomey, 401.
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