125 A. 562 | N.J. | 1924
This is an appeal by the defendant below from a judgment of the First District Court of Jersey City. The judgment was entered upon a verdict directed by the court for the plaintiff. The suit was instituted to collect a balance of rent claimed to be due for premises in Jersey City. The defendant appeared in court prepared to controvert the amount of rent due. The dispute arose from an increase in the rent of the premises. The court refused to permit the defendant to contest the amount claimed to be due, for the reason that prior to the institution of the suit the plaintiff had brought against the defendant proceedings to dispossess him for the non-payment of the increased rent, and had secured a judgment for possession. The court, in arriving at its decision in the landlord and tenant proceedings, found that the defendant was obligated to pay the increased rent. In the present case the court held that the judgment in the proceedings to dispossess the tenant, which was offered in evidence, was conclusive against the defendant, upon the amount of rent due and the question as to the amount of rent to be paid by the defendant for the premises wasres adjudicata. This appeal presents the question whether or not a judgment for possession in a case to dispossess a tenant is conclusive upon the parties in a subsequent legal action involving the question as to the amount of rent due, or is merely a decision pro hac vice.
Upon this question divergent views have been expressed in the opinion of our courts. In Brick v. Burr,
We feel that the view expressed by Chief Justice Beasley in the case last mentioned is the more logical. In landlord and tenant proceedings the procedure is summary. It is designed to determine speedily who is entitled to immediate possession of property. The proceedings cannot be reviewed by appeal or certiorari. It would be unjust to make the decision final and conclusive where no right of review is given. We have therefore reached the conclusion that the *80 District Court erred in its rulings that the defendant below should be precluded from presenting his proof as to the amount, if any, due the plaintiff.
The judgment of the District Court is reversed and a venire denovo awarded.