Case ID: ad_171/html/0106-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Scott, J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Isaac Heidelburger, Respondent, v. Hattie Heidelberger and Others, as Executors, etc., of Bertha Heidelberger, Sometimes Described as Heidelburger, Deceased, Appellants.
    First Department,
    December 3, 1915.
    Bills and notes—accommodation indorsement — conflict of laws—law of place of indorsement governs liability — accommodation indorsement by married woman in State of New Jersey.
    Where notes drawn in this State and payable in New Jersey were indorsed in the latter State for the accommodation of the maker by his wife, who was temporarily sojourning in said State, her liability on the accommodation indorsement is governed by the law of the State where the indorsement was made.
    Hence, there can be no recovery on such accommodation indorsement as, by the law of the State of New Jersey, no married woman may become an accommodation indorser, or is hable on any promise to pay debts, or answer for the default or liability of any other person.
    Appeal by the defendants, Hattie Heidelberger and others, as executors, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor of the plaintiff, entered in the office of the clerk of the county
    
      of New York on the 19th day of May, 1915, upon the verdict of a jury rendered by direction of the court, and also from, an order entered in said clerk’s office on the 18th day of May, 1915, denying defendants’ motion for a new trial made upon the minutes.
    
      Louis H. Moos, for the appellants.
    
      Mayer Kronacher, for the respondent.
   Scott, J.:

The defendants are the executors of the last will and testament of Bertha Heidelberger, deceased, who was an accommodation indorser upon seven promissory notes executed by her husband, Joseph Heidelberger, to his own order, and indorsed by him and delivered to his brother Isaac Heidelburger, the plaintiff, in settlement of a controversy.

The notes bear upon their face no indication as to where they were made, although the evidence is that they were actually drawn in the State of New York, and were delivered to plaintiff in this State. They were all payable at a trust company in the State of New Jersey. Mrs. Heidelberger was a resident of the State of New York, but at the time the notes were made she was temporarily sojourning in New Jersey, and she indorsed them in that State. Payment was resisted by defendants on the ground that under the law of the State of New Jersey an accommodation indorsement by a married woman creates no liability against her. It is conceded that the law of New Jersey is that no married woman shall become an accommodation indorser, guarantor or surety, nor be liable on any promise to pay debts or answer for the default or liability of any other person. (Compiled Statutes N. J. 3226, § 5.) It is also conceded that Mrs. Heidelberger was merely an accommodation indorser.

The sole question in the case is whether the law of the State of New York or that of the State of New Jersey applies. In our opinion this is not an open question.

Whether the note itself was a New York contract or a New Jersey one, it is clear that the contract of indorsement was an independent contract governed by the Jaw of the State where

it was made, which place, in the present case, was the State of New Jersey. (Spies v. National City Bank, 174 N. Y. 222; Chemical National Bank v. Kellogg, 183 id. 92.) The question whether the indorser was permanently or merely temporarily residing'in New Jersey is irrelevant. It is the place where the contract is made and not the residence of the contractor which is to govern. It follows that the judgment and order appealed from must be reversed and the complaint dismissed, with costs to the defendants in this court and the court below.

Ingraham, P. J., Laughlin, Clarke and Smith, JJ., concurred.

Judgment and order reversed, with costs, and complaint dismissed, with costs.