Case Name: Annie Crecelius, Appellant, v. The City of New York, Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1906-07-24
Citations: 114 A.D. 801
Docket Number: 
Parties: Annie Crecelius, Appellant, v. The City of New York, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 114
Pages: 801–804

Head Matter:
Annie Crecelius, Appellant, v. The City of New York, Respondent.
Second Department,
July 24, 1906.
Negligence — municipal corporation — injury from fall on sidewalk — contributory negligence — direction of verdict upon motion to dismiss complaint.
In an action to recover for injuries sustained by a fall upon a city sidewalk, where it is undisputed that plaintiff knew that the sidewalk was irregularly covered with gravel, and her evidence is confined to a statement that “my foot slipped from under me on the gravel that was there,” without any proof of the exercise of care on her part or permitting an inference thereof, a nonsuit is proper.
When, in an action at law, the court reserves the decision of a motion for a non-suit, and a verdict is thereafter rendered for the plaintiff, the court has no power to direct a verdict for the defendant on the merits, but is limited to a nonsuit dismissing the complaint.
Jenks, J., dissented, with opinion.
Appeal by the plaintiff, Annie Oreceliüs, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor of the defendant, entered in the office of the clerk of the county of Queens on the 22d day of April, 1905, upon the dismissal of the complaint by direction of the court after a trial at the Queens County Trial Term, the court having set aside a verdict previously rendered by the jury in favor of the plaintiff for $600, and also from an order entered in said cleric’s office on the 8th day of April, 1905, denying the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial made upon the minutes.
George F. Hickey [Morris L. Straus with him on the brief], for the appellant.
William Hughes [James D. Bell and John J. Delany with him on the brief], for the respondent.

Opinion:
Hirschberg, P. J.:
The plaintiff was injured -by a fall upon the sidewalk. The sidewalk was irregularly covered with gravel or Broken stone, and had been in that condition for a long time. It is undisputed that the plaintiff knew of its condition, and her description as to how the accident occurred is limited to the statement that " My foot slipped from under me on the gravel that was there." No evidence on her part was given with reference to the degree of care which she was exercising or of any facts or circumstances from which an inference could be drawn that she was taking such precaution as might be deemed commensurate to the situation.
At the close of the whole evidence the defendant moved to " dismiss the complaint for lack of affirmative proof that there was no contributory negligence; also upon the ground that the facts proven are insufficient to constitute a cause of action." No motion was made for the direction of a verdict. The court reserved its decision upon the motion which was made, and submitted the case to the jury. A verdict was rendered in favor of the plaintiff, and thereafter judgment was rendered dismissing the complaint upon the merits. The judgment contains this recital, viz., " the defendant having moved to dismiss the complaint and for the direction of a verdict at the close of the whole case and decision thereon having been reserved, and the court having set aside the verdict of the jury and directed a verdict for the defendant." The court was without power to render the judgment appealed from. It could dismiss the complaint. It could not destroy the cause of action. This was expressly decided in Levy v. Grove Mills Paper Co. (80 App. Div. 384). (See, also, Hoey v. Metropolitan. Street R. Co., 70 App. Div. 60, therein cited.)
Tlie judgment should be modified so as to render it a judgment of nonsuit instead of upon the merits, and as modified the judgment and order should be affirmed, without costs.
Woodward and Rich, JJ., concurred; Jenks, J., read for affirmance.