49 A.D.2d 634 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1975
In an action against the New York Racing Association, Inc. to recover damages for its failure to allot stall space, plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, entered June 25, 1974, in favor of defendant, upon a jury verdict. Judgment affirmed, with costs. No opinion. Martuscello, Cohalan, Brennan and Munder, JJ., concur; Rabin, Acting P. J., dissents and votes to reverse the judgment and grant a new trial, with an opinion. Rabin, Acting P. J. (dissenting). I dissent and vote to reverse the judgment and grant a new trial. Howard Jacobson, the plaintiff, is an owner and trainer of race horses; the defendant New York State Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) owns all of the major race tracks in New York. There are only a limited number of stalls for horses at race tracks and, since the demand exceeds the supply, the NYRA must refuse some applications for stall space. The New York State Racing Commission, a public body, suspended the plaintiff’s owner’s and trainer’s licenses for 45 days for violations of its rules and regulations. Following the plaintiff’s reinstatement, the defendant NYRA, a private nonprofit organization with significant State connections, refused to grant him stall space for his horses. Jacobson then instituted this suit, claiming that the refusal to grant him stall space was wrongful in that it was based upon the NYRA’s assessment of his character, a determination claimed to be the "sole right of the New York State Racing Commission”, and in that the decision to refuse stall space was made "maliciously and wantonly” to punish the plaintiff for his criticism of the NYRA and for his activities in connection with the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), an organization repre
Conversely, the defendant was entitled to a charge instructing the jury that it should find for the defendant if it found that the refusal to allot stall space was either (1) not based on an estimate of the plaintiff’s character and general fitness, or (2) based in part on the defendant’s estimate of the plaintiff’s character and general fitness, but that these factors were not necessary to the decision, the refusal being sufficiently explained by other factors.