Case Name: Minna G. Haskell, Respondent, v. William S. Haskell, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1924-01-25
Citations: 207 A.D. 723
Docket Number: 
Parties: Minna G. Haskell, Respondent, v. William S. Haskell, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 207
Pages: 723–729

Head Matter:
Minna G. Haskell, Respondent, v. William S. Haskell, Appellant.
First Department,
January 25, 1924.
Husband and wife — action by wife to recover payment under separation agreement — res judicata — prior judgment in action by wife to recover money advanced by her for necessaries for infant son of parties, denying relief on ground that wife violated agreement, is res judicata.
A judgment in an action by a wife to recover moneys alleged to have been advanced by her for necessaries for the infant son of the parties in which the wife was denied relief on the ground that she had violated the separation agreement made by the parties, in that she had harbored the son who, by the terms of the agreement was to be under the control of the father for purposes of education, although she knew that he had deliberately disobeyed the father by refusing to attend school, is res judicata in this action by the wife to recover monthly payments agreed upon in the separation agreement, and the complaint herein is dismissed. Smith and Merrbll, JJ., dissent, with opinion.
Appeal by the defendant, William S. Haskell, from a determination of the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, First Department, entered in the office of the clerk of the county of New York on the 10th day of May, 1923, affirming a judgment of the Municipal Court of the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan, Ninth District, in favor of the plaintiff, with notice of intention to bring up for review the said judgment, and also an order of the said Municipal Court entered in the office of the clerk of said court on the 19th day of December, 1922, denying the defendant’s application for a stay.
William L. Kiefer [Francis G. Caffey of counsel], for the appellant.
Samson Selig [/. Maurice Wormser of counsel; Samson Selig and Leonard Acker with him on the brief], for the respondent.

Opinion:
Dowling, J.:
I dissented from the prior action of this court reversing a judgment in favor of the present plaintiff in an action brought by her to recover moneys alleged to have been advanced by her for necessaries for the infant son of the parties. This court reversed the judgment and dismissed the complaint upon an opinion by Mr. Justice Greenbaum (201 App. Div. 414), wherein the refusal to allow the plaintiff to recover was placed directly upon the conclusion, stated to be inevitable from the evidence, that plaintiff harbored the boy although she Ipiew he had deliberately disobeyed the father by refusing to attend school, and that it had been agreed that the father was to have the sole charge of the boy's education and maintenance. Mr. Justice Greenbaum there stated the question to be whether under the circumstances the defendant was obliged to pay the plaintiff anything for the support of their infant child. He reached the conclusion that the action of the present plaintiff in harboring the boy when she knew he had refused to attend the school selected by the father was a violation of the terms of the separation agreement between the parties, and, therefore, the defendant was held not to be indebted to the plaintiff, and the complaint was dismissed. The judgment of the court to that effect, embracing findings of the facts before referred to, was affirmed by the Court of Appeals without opinion (236 N. Y. 635).
I feel, therefore, bound by the prior judgment of this court and of the Court of Appeals and, despite my prior dissent, am constrained to vote to reverse the determination here appealed from and the judgment of the Municipal Court, and to dismiss the complaint.
Clarke, P. J., and McAvor, J., vote for reversal and to dismiss the complaint on the authority of Haskell v. Haskell (201 App. Div. 414); Smith and Merrell, JJ., dissent.