2 N.Y.S. 169 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1888
Lead Opinion
This action was commenced in the county court of Montgomery county by the service of a summons. No copy of the complaint accompanied it. The defendant, by-his attorneys, appeared generally in the action, and a copy of the complaint was served, and an answer was interposed, wherein the defendant (1) denied each and every allegation of the complaint; (2) alleged, by way of counter-claim, “that within six years last past, at plaintiff’s request, defendant performed services and furnished merchandise for benefit of said plaintiff to the value of one hundred and twenty-five dollars; that a demand has been made upon said plaintiff for payment of same, but that no part thereof has ever been paid.”
That the county court possessed jurisdiction of the subject-matter is not questioned by the defendant. The only contention of the defendant, so far as the question of jurisdiction is involved, is that the complaint did not allege that the defendant was, at the time of the commencement of the action, a resident of the county of Montgomery, and therefore the county court did not aequire jurisdiction of his person. No motion was made to set aside the summons upon that ground. The defendant did not demur to the complaint upon that ground, which he could have done, (Code Civil Proc. § 488, subsec. 2;) nor did lie allege any such ground of defense in his answer. The jurisdiction of the court was in no manner questioned by .the defendant until the trial. We conclude that the defendant submitted to such jurisdiction, and waived all objection thereto, and as, upon the trial, he was shown, by competent evidence, to have been an actual resident of that county at the commencement of the action, the county court committed no error in entertaining the action. McCormick v. Railroad Co., 49 N. Y. 303; Dake v. Miller, 15 Hun, 356; Holbrook v. Baker, 16 Hun, 176; Potter v. Neal, 62 How. Pr. 158, affirmed by this court, 31 Hun, 86; Cleaveland v. Hatch, 25 Hun, 308; Davis v. Packard, 6 Wend. 327. In McIntyre v. Carriere, 17 Hun, 65, the case of McDonald v. Truesdail, which was decided in this court, is referred to, wherein the action was commenced by the service of a summons without the complaint, as in the present action; and this court held that jurisdiction was acquired by the service of the summons, and that the county court was justified in amending the complaint by reducing the claim of damages from $5,000 to $1,000. The decision in that case involved a much greater stretch of authority than is required to sustain the proceeding in the present action. We are referred by appellant’s counsel to Gilbert v. York, 41 Hun, 595. In that case the defendant demurred to the complaint; thus raising the question of jurisdiction at the first opportunity. Again, the complaint in that case failed to show jurisdie
Landon, J., concurs.
Concurrence Opinion
(eonnurring.) There is another objection to a reversal of this cáse. The case and exceptions are not signed or ordered to be filed. See rule 85, Code Proc. § 997. We have several times refused to hear cases which did not show that they had been settled by the judge who tried them. This-appeal was submitted without argument, and therefore this defect was not discovered during the term. It is the right of the judge who tried the case to determine what took place, and this right should be preserved to him.