Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/100447/gotthilf-vs-sills
Timestamp: 2016-10-25 14:07:18
Document Index: 201960744

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1257', '§ 1257', '§ 764', '§ 589', '§ 588', '§ 1257', '§ 1257']

Gotthilf Vs Sills - Citation 100447 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Save as PDF Add a Tag Add a Note Semantics Visualize Gotthilf Vs. Sills - Court Judgment	LegalCrystal Citationlegalcrystal.com/100447CourtUS Supreme CourtDecided OnNov-18-1963Case Number375 U.S. 79AppellantGotthilfRespondentSillsExcerpt:.....department
this court granted certiorari to review a judgment of the appellate division, supreme court of new york, first judicial department, which the court of appeals of new york held could not be appealed to it as of right because it did not finally determine the action. section 589 of the new york civil practice act provides,
that appeals from nonfinal orders can be taken to the court of appeals only by leave of the appellate division upon certified questions, but petitioner at no time applied to the appellate division for such permission.
the judgment of the appellate division is not that of the "highest court of a state in which a decision could be had," within the meaning of 28 u.s. c. § 1257, and the writ of.....Judgment:
The judgment of the Appellate Division is not that of the "highest court of a State in which a decision could be had," within the meaning of 28 U.S. C. § 1257, and the writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted. Pp.
375 U. S. 79
the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, petitioner attacked § 764 as being violative of both the state and federal constitutions. The order was affirmed, 17 A.D.2d 723. Petitioner then filed a motion in the Court of Appeals of New York for leave to appeal (N.Y.Civ.Prac.Act § 589) which was dismissed for want of jurisdiction because "the order sought to be appealed from does not finally determine the action within the meaning of the Constitution." 12 N.Y.2d 761, 234 N.Y.S.2d 714, 186 N.E.2d 563.
See Chase Watch Corp. v. Heins,
283 N.Y. 564, 27 N.E.2d 282 (1940);
cf. Knickerbocker Trust Co. v. Oneonta, C. & R.S. R. Co.,
197 N.Y. 391, 90 N.E. 1111 (1910). An appeal to the Court of Appeals as of right (N.Y.Civ.Prac.Act § 588) was dismissed on the same ground. 12 N.Y.2d 792, 235 N.Y.S.2d 379, 186 N.E.2d 811. Certiorari was granted to review the judgment of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. 372 U.S. 957.
Section 589 of the New York Civil Practice Act provides,
that appeals from nonfinal orders can only be taken to the Court of Appeals by leave of the Appellate Division upon certified questions. The petitioner at no time applied to the Appellate Division for such permission. It therefore appears that the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, "was not the last state court in which a decision of that [constitutional] question could be had."
, 100 (1942). The judgment of the Appellate Division is not that of the "highest court of a State in which a decision could be had" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1257. Whether, under the same section, that judgment is "final," a question of purely federal law, involves entirely different considerations. The petition for certiorari was therefore improvidently granted, and the writ is
The determination of the Court of Appeals that this body execution order is a nonfinal order subject to appeal only via the certified question route came as a surprise. Theretofore, the one and only New York case involving a body execution order and the question of how one should obtain review in the Court of Appeals was
Chase Watch Corp. v. Heins,
283 N.Y. 564, 27 N.E.2d 282, decided in 1940. The creditor took an appeal from an order of the Appellate Division vacating an order authorizing body execution. 258 App.Div. 968, 17 N.Y.S.2d 880. The Court of Appeals dismissed on the ground that the order was not final, giving the creditor, however, 20 days within which to seek certification of a question from the Appellate Division. This was done (259 App.Div. 888, 18 N.Y.S.2d 742), and the creditor ultimately prevailed (284 N.Y. 129, 29 N.E.2d 646). It is argued that the
case clearly established the type of procedure that petitioner should have followed. The vacation of a body execution order, however, as in
Chase Watch,
is far less final than the converse, which is the present case. In
the order determined nothing finally; the creditor was merely momentarily frustrated in his collection efforts, and was forced to rely on other devices. Here, on the other hand, the debtor
In my opinion, petitioner might reasonably have concluded that a final order had been entered in this case, and that
did not control. Therefore, his action in docketing an appeal in the Court of Appeals, and not invoking the certification procedures applicable only to nonfinal orders, was justifiable as a matter of federal law. The decision of the Court of Appeals in this case establishes, of course, as a matter of state law, that the order was not final. While that determination is binding on us, it does not preclude us from holding that the decision was sufficiently unexpected so as not to bar, in the interests of justice, the certiorari route here.
-458:
While 28 U.S.C. § 1257 also requires that judgments brought here for review be "final," we have recognized an exception -- sometimes even to the point of reviewing interlocutory decrees -- where the controversy has proceeded to a point where the "losing party [will] . . . be irreparably injured if review [is] . . . unavailing."
Republic Natural Gas Co. v. Oklahoma,
334 U. S. 62
334 U. S. 68
In my opinion, the case is properly here,
and the Court should consider, on the merits, the constitutional questions presented.