Case Name: Francesco Pensabene, as Administrator, etc., of Antonio Pensabene, Deceased, Respondent, v. F. & J. Auditore Company, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1913-02-21
Citations: 155 A.D. 368
Docket Number: 
Parties: Francesco Pensabene, as Administrator, etc., of Antonio Pensabene, Deceased, Respondent, v. F. & J. Auditore Company, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 155
Pages: 368–375

Head Matter:
Francesco Pensabene, as Administrator, etc., of Antonio Pensabene, Deceased, Respondent, v. F. & J. Auditore Company, Appellant.
Second Department,
February 21, 1913.
Master and servant—Workingmen’s Compensation Act of Mew Jersey —complaint under said statute— demurrer.
The provisions of the Workingmen’s Compensation Act of the State of Mew Jersey for “ Elective Compensation ” apply only where the contract of hiring is made in that State.
Hence, a complaint in an action under said statute which fails to allege a hiring made in the State of New Jersey is defective in so far as it is based upon the statute and a demurrer thereto should be sustained. •
Woodward, J., dissented in part.
Appeal by the defendant, the F. & J. Auditore Company, from an order of the Supreme Court, made at the Kings County Special Term and entered in the office of' the clerk of the county of Kings on the 24th day of December, 1912, denying the defendant’s motion, made pursuant to section 976 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to sustain the demurrer to the plaintiff’s complaint and overruling said demurrer.
Samuel Greason, Jr., for the appellant.
Charles A. Ludlow, for the respondent.

Opinion:
Carr, J.:
It is plain from a reading of subdivision 9 of section 2 of the New Jersey statute (Laws of 1911, chap. 95) that its provisions for "Elective Compensation" apply, by force of said statute, only where the contract of hiring was made in the State of New Jersey. The complaint in this action fails to set up a hiring made in that State. I am inclined to the view that this failure of allegation was deliberate. Be that as it may, the complaint is defective so far as it is based upon the foreign statute. Beyond this point, I do not concur in the opinion of Woodward, J., for the further discussion therein contained is purely obiter. In view of the fact that this case was submitted to this court without' any brief from the respondent and practically with but little oral argument from her counsel, I think it the better policy to refrain from any expression of views which, as this case stands before us, can be at most but personal views and not the declaration of a principle of law put forth necessarily to decide the actual controversy.
The order is reversed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements, and the motion to sustain the demurrer is granted, with ten dollars costs, with leave to the plaintiff to serve an amended complaint within twenty days on payment of costs as aforesaid.
Jerks, P. J., Burr and Thomas, JJ., concurred; Woodward, J., concurred in separate opinion.