87 A.D.2d 780 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1982
Dissenting Opinion
dissent in a memorandum by Bloom, J., as follows: Plaintiff and defendant are sisters. The action is one to establish a constructive trust in the estate of Harry Publicker, the father of both parties. The complaint alleges that Harry died a resident of Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1951. Thereafter a document purporting to be his will was offered for probate. That document left nothing to plaintiff and, by consequence, she filed objections to its probate. Subsequently, and in or about 1953, the parties, together with their mother, met in Florida to discuss a possible settlement of the family dispute. Although the precise terms of the compromise purportedly reached are not entirely clear, it is averred that “defendant stated that she was in fear of her husband, Si Neuman, and promised that upon the death of her husband, Si Neuman, the defendant would compensate the plaintiff for the one-third of her parents’ estates that were devised and left to defendant as a result of the fraud, undue influence and physical and mental threats made by defendant’s husband, Si Neuman, so that the plaintiff would inherit equally with her borther and her sister, the defendant herein”. Neuman has since died. It is to enforce this alleged agreement by imposing a constructive trust in so much of Harry’s estate as defendant, allegedly, agreed to give plaintiff, that this action is brought. Harry Publicker was, apparently, a very wealthy man. During his lifetime he was chairman of the board of Publicker Industries, Inc., a publicly held Pennsylvania corporation which had offices in Greenwich, Connecticut, and in New York City. Upon Publicker’s death he was succeeded as chairman of the board by his son-in-law, Seymour Neuman. Neuman, in turn, was succeeded as chairman, upon his death, by his wife, the defendant. The precise issue submitted to us for determination is whether defendant was properly brought within the ambit of the jurisdiction of this State’s courts. Defendant is domiciled in Pennsylvania. She possesses a 35-room house in Wayne, Pennsylvania, set on a 68-acre tract of land, which, subsequent to the death of her husband in 1977, was closed down. Presently, it is occupied solely by a caretaker. Her principal place of abode is an apartment at the Rittenhouse Regency Hotel in Philadelphia. Additionally she maintains, or did maintain, a
. At the time the statute required mailing to the last known “address”. By amendment adopted in 1971 the word “address” was changed to read “residence”. However, the Judicial Conference which sponsored the amendment, noted that this change was made so that subdivision 2 would be stylistically consistent with subdivision 4 and that no substantive change was thereby intended (Seventeenth Annual Report of NY Judicial Conference, 1972, p 25).
. Defendant contends that the Palm Beach mansion has been sold.
Lead Opinion
Order of Supreme Court, New York County (Ryp, J.), entered August 19, 1981, which, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to confirm the referee’s report and granted defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint upon grounds of lack of in personam jurisdiction of defendant, is affirmed, with costs. The report made by the referee finding that defendant-respondent was not a resident of New York under CPLR 308 (subd 2) was amply supported by the facts in the record. Concur — Sandler, J. P., Silverman and Asch, JJ.