Case Name: Allen H. Stem, Individually and as Surviving Partner of the Firm of Reed & Stem, Appellant, v. Whitney Warren and Charles D. Wetmore, Composing the Firm of Warren & Wetmore, Respondents, Impleaded with William J. Reed, as Executor, etc., of Charles A. Reed, Deceased, Defendant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1914-03-20
Citations: 161 A.D. 536
Docket Number: 
Parties: Allen H. Stem, Individually and as Surviving Partner of the Firm of Reed & Stem, Appellant, v. Whitney Warren and Charles D. Wetmore, Composing the Firm of Warren & Wetmore, Respondents, Impleaded with William J. Reed, as Executor, etc., of Charles A. Reed, Deceased, Defendant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 161
Pages: 536–539

Head Matter:
Allen H. Stem, Individually and as Surviving Partner of the Firm of Reed & Stem, Appellant, v. Whitney Warren and Charles D. Wetmore, Composing the Firm of Warren & Wetmore, Respondents, Impleaded with William J. Reed, as Executor, etc., of Charles A. Reed, Deceased, Defendant.
First Department,
March 20, 1914.
Practice — examination of defendant before trial — suit by surviving partner for accounting.
Two firms of architects entered into a written agreement with a railroad company to prepare plans and supervise the construction of certain buildings. After the death of a member of one firm, the railroad company, pursuant to the terms of the contract, gave notice, in writing, of its intention to terminate the same, and thereafter entered into a contract with the other firm for the completion of the work. In a suit by the surviving member of the first firm against the second firm for an accounting, held, that an order for the examination of the defendants before trial should be modified so as to limit it to the facts and circumstances leading up to and attendant on the cancellation of the contract, and the making of the new agreement.
McLaughlix and Clarke, JJ., dissented, with opinion.
Appeal by the plaintiff, Allen H. Stem, individually and as surviving partner, etc., from an order of the Supreme Court, made at the New York Special Term and entered in the office of the clerk of the county of New York on the 5th day of January, 1914, resettling a prior order entered in said clerk’s office on the 30th day of December, 1913, vacating an order for the examination of the defendants before trial.
The action was brought for an accounting.
Harold Swain, for the appellant.
Charles F. Mathewson, for the respondents.

Opinion:
Ingraham, P. J:
The order appealed from should be reversed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements, and the order for examination modified so as to limit the examination to the facts and circumstances leading up to and attendant on the cancellation of the contract between the railroad company and the associated architects, and the making of the new agreement with Warren & Wetmore; and the order for the examination as thus modified is reinstated.
Laughlin and Scott, JJ., concurred; McLaughlin and Clarke, JJ., dissented.