Case Name: Fleig v. Gorman
Court: New York City Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1892-10
Citations: 1 Misc. 194
Docket Number: 
Parties: Fleig v. Gorman.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 194–195

Head Matter:
Fleig v. Gorman.
(City Court of New York—General Term,
October, 1892.)
An application "by a sheriff under Code Civil Procedure, section 1431, authorizing the substitution of indemnitors in place of the sheriff, may be granted without requiring him to furnish additional security to answer the final result of the litigation.
Appeal from order made at Special Term, substituting indemnitors in place of the sheriff.
Joseph Kohler, for plaintiff (appellant).
William E. Stillings, for defendant (respondent).

Opinion:
Ehclich, Ch. J.
The provisions of section 1421 of the Code, authorizing the substitution of indemnitors in place of the sheriff, were evidently intended for the protection of that official, and to enable him to let himself out of a litigation concerning which he had no personal interest, and in reference to which he had merely performed an official duty according to the requirement of the law. The court below, in furtherance of the legislative intent, granted the application upon terms which seemed to it just. The judicial discretion was not abused, and there is nothing in the record which requires us to change the result arrived at. If the indemnitors had made the application, their pecuniary condition at the time might have required the court below to exact from them additional security as a condition for granting the relief. Code, § 1423. But the application was not made by the indemnitors but by the sheriff on his own behalf and for his own protection. To require the sheriff to furnish additional security to answer the final result of the litigation would defeat the very -object of the enactment, for it would keep him responsible for the consequences of the acts of others, and their mode of defense, without any personal supervision over the management of the litigation. The act intended to let the sheriff out of the litigation, leaving the parties in interest to settle the contention in their own way.
The order made, was authorized by the Code provision, and, as there was no abuse of power or discretion, it must be affirmed, with costs.
Order affirmed.