Case ID: nys_160/html/0500-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "RUSSELL, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

(95 Misc. Rep. 95)
    BROWN et al. v. QUINLAN et al.
    (Rensselaer County Court,
    April, 1916.)
    Pleading @=>204(3)—Demurrer—Grounds.
    Under Const, art. 6, § 14, giving County Court jurisdiction in actions for the recovery of money only for sums not exceeding $2,000, the fact that a complaint, asking $1,150 for damages to real property, asks also an order of injunction, and alleges facts which, if proved, might entitle plaintiff' to equitable relief, does not render the complaint subject to demurrer.
    [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Pleading, Cent. Dig. §§ 486, 487; Dec. Dig. @=204(3).]
    @=Ear other cases see same topic & KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests & Indexes
    Action by James Brown and another against Edward J. Quinlan and others. Demurrer to complaint overruled.
    Ransom H. Gillet, of Albany, for plaintiffs.
    Akin & Keenan, of Troy, for defendants.
   RUSSELL, J.

The complaint in this action presents the customary allegations for damages to real property. The prayer, however, asks for damages in the sum of $1,150, and also for an order of injunction.

There is no question but that this court has jurisdiction of the subject-matter relating to damages. Article 6, § 14, of the Constitution of the state of New York:

“ * * * County Courts shall have the powers and jurisdiction they now possess, and also original jurisdiction in actions for the recovery of money only, where the defendants reside in the county, and in which the complaint demands judgment for a, sum not exceeding two thousand dollars.”

The allegations of the complaint bear mainly upon facts relating to damages. The complaint also alleges facts which, if proved, might entitle the plaintiff to equitable relief. The relief demanded does not necessarily characterize the action to such an extent that a general demurrer should be sustained, where the allegations in the complaint constitute a cause of action for damages and the allegations for equitable relief appear to be incidental thereto. Thacher v. Hope Cemetery Ass’n, 46 Hun, 597; Hale v. Omaha Nat. Bank, 49 N. Y. 626.

The court having jurisdiction of the main subject of the action which is for damages, and the other relief asked for m the complaint being incidental thereto and of an equitable character, the demurrer is overruled.

Demurrer overruled.