135 N.Y.S. 411 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1912
Lead Opinion
After the trial judge had handed down his opinion, deciding the case in favor of the plaintiffs, but before he had signed his formal decision, the defendants submitted to the trial judge proposed findings of fact and law (as they are designated), upon which the judge declined to pass further than as found in his formal decision, upon the ground that they were not sub
After the formal decision had been signed, application was made at Special Term, at which the same judge presided who decided the case, to have him pass upon the proposed findings. The application was denied and from the order entered upon that decision this appeal is taken.
The case was submitted to the judge for decision in March, 1909, upon oral arguments and briefs, without any suggestion that any party would thereafter submit to him requests to find facts or to rule upon questions of law; nor was any such suggestion made until after the judge had delivered his opinion, as has been stated.
The defendants contend that the proposed findings were submitted under the provisions of section 1023 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and were timely submitted. That contention seems to rest upon a statement at the close of the opinion, stating that findings may be submitted, and what occurred thereafter. But the judge seems not to have so understood that statement.
What the judge seems to have had in mind was not to reopen the case to permit requests to find to be submitted, but to receive such suggestions from the attorneys for the respective parties as might aid him in putting into a formal decision what he had already decided. That practice was in vogue long before the enactment of the present Code of Civil Procedure and has been resorted to more or less by trial judges since the enactment of section 1023. in its present form, and is entirely independent of the course of procedure provided by that section.
The purpose of submitting requests under section 1023 is not only to protect the rights of parties upon appeal, but as well to aid the trial judge in determining the case. The opinion shows that the judge had considered the questions of fact as well as law, and had reached a conclusion thereon. TTis opinion is a very full and complete statement of the facts found, and an elaborate discussion of the law, and directs the judgment to be entered, although it is not a formal decision. Undoubtedly the judge had the right, after delivering his opinion, to reconsider his conclusions and revise his decision, or
Furthermore, that section requires the statement to be in the form of distinct propositions of law or of fact, or both, separately stated, each to be numbered and so prepared with respect to its length and the .subject and phraseology thereof, that it may be conveniently passed upon. Its purpose is to aid the judge, and not to entrap him.
Of the one hundred and twenty-seven proposed findings, sixty-seven are denominated “Findings of Fact,” and sixty ‘ ‘ Law. ” Many of them are mere recitals of the evidence; others are covered by the formal decision, and the statement as a whole, I think, is not such as the section contemplates.
If the judgment is against the weight of the evidence, that may be reviewed in this court, and, if any of the findings are without any evidence to support them, they may be excepted to as a ruling upon a question of law (Code Civ. Proc. §§ 992, 993), and are reviewable upon appeal in the Court of Appeals as well as in this court.
If the defendants desired to submit requests to find, they should have done so seasonably. They made no case relieving them from their default, and no relief was asked upon that ground. They contended, and still contend, that the requests yvere seasonably made and in proper form. I think that position is not tenable..
The order should be affirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements.
All concurred, except McLennan, P. J., and Foote, J., who dissented in an opinion by Foote, J.
Dissenting Opinion
This action was tried at Special Term. The justice presiding ' vrdte an opinion in which he stated at length his views of disputed questions of fact and the law of the case. At the conclusion of his written opinion is the following: “ Findings maybe submitted.” Defendants’ counsel had not submitted pro
This clearly was not an allowance by the trial justice of further time within which defendants might submit proposed findings and rulings to be passed upon by the trial judge under section 1023 of the Code. The trial justice might well have understood that defendants’ counsel wished further time to examine the findings submitted for plaintiffs, with a view to criticising their form or sufficiency or suggesting changes or additions. It would seem, however, that defendants’ counsel were, or soon became, of opinion that either because of what had been said at this hearing or of the' statement in reference to findings at the end of the court’s written opinion, they were to be allowed to submit proposed findings to be. formally ruled upon by the presiding justice. Accordingly, they applied to the
There is no substantial controversy as to the facts above stated. The affidavit of one of plaintiffs’ attorneys was read in opposition to the motion, in which it is stated: “No findings or requests to find or statement of fact or rulings of the defendants before the cause was finally submitted as aforesaid or before the decision was rendered; nor was the time of any defendant to submit such findings, requests to find, statement or rulings ever extended; that the case was decided on or about the 31st day of October, 1911.” There is no denial in this affidavit of the specific facts contained in the moving affidavits as to what took place before the trial justice and between counsel. Hence, I conclude that the statement above quoted is the statement of the opinion or conclusion of the affiant that the facts stated in the moving affidavits do not constitute an extension of the time of any defendant to submit requests to find and that the opinion delivered October thhty-first is a decision. In this view I do not concur. The trial justice received the proposed findings of each party on the sixteenth of December, retaining them in his possession until on or about the 7th of January, 1912, when he delivered to plaintiffs’ attorneys the findings which they had prepared, duly signed by him, and to defendants’ attorneys the proposed findings which they had submitted, without having ruled upon any of them and with the following indorsement: “The foregoing-requests to find were not submitted to me until after I had decided the issues in the cause and delivered my opinion to the counsel. I, therefore, decline to pass upon these requests and to find further in the action than as I have found in my formal decision. Dated January 6, 1912.”
This indicates, I think, that the learned justice considered that he was without authority to pass upon defendants’ proposed findings; that his written opinion which had been made and delivered to counsel on October thirty-first was a decision
The order appealed from should be reversed and the defendants’ proposed findings should be resubmitted to the trial justice for his rulings thereon, with ten dollars costs and disbursements to the appellants.
McLennan, P. J., concurred.
Order affirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements.