Case Name: DELMAR v. KINDERHOOK KNITTING CO.
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1909-11-19
Citations: 119 N.Y.S. 705
Docket Number: 
Parties: DELMAR v. KINDERHOOK KNITTING CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 119
Pages: 705–707

Head Matter:
DELMAR v. KINDERHOOK KNITTING CO.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
November 19, 1909.)
Pleading (§§ 345, 350*)—Motions—Judgment on Pleadings.
Plaintiff alleged that he was employed by defendant as a salesman under a written contract set forth in the complaint, by which defendant agreed to pay plaintiff a certain commission on sales, and “$35 per week for each and every week up to January 1, 1910, and furnish him with traveling expense on his Western trip to the extent of $60 per week, * * * this contract to hold good until January 1, 1910,” and that plaintiff duly performed and is still performing the services described in the contract, but that defendant had failed to pay him since April 24, 1909, the weekly sum of $35 or any part thereof, and judgment was asked for $210, the amount alleged to be due. Defendant demurred for failure to state a cause of action, and plaintiff moved for judgment on the pleadings under Code Civ. Pmc. § 547, providing that, “if either party is entitled to judgment on pleadings, the court may upon motion at any time after issue joined give judgment accordingly,” on the ground that the demurrer was frivolous, and that plaintiff was entitled to judgment on the pleadings as they stood. Held, that, on such motion, the rule that a pleading will not be stricken out as frivolous if it requires argument to demonstrate that it is frivolous does not apply, and that the complaint so clearly stated a cause of action that judgment on the pleadings was properly ordered.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Pleading, Dec. Dig. §§ 345, 350.*]
McLaughlin, J., dissenting.
♦For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
Appeal from Special Term, New York County.
Action by Alexander Delmar against the Kinderhook Knitting Company. A motion for judgment on the pleadings in favor of plaintiff was granted, and defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Argued before INGRAHAM, McLAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN, CLARKE, and SCOTT, JJ.
John C. Snyder, for appellant.
Eugene Cohn, for respondent.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
-The motion below was not to overrule the demurrer as frivolous, but was for judgment on the pleadings under section 547 of the Code of Civil Procedure; the grounds of the motion being, first, that the demurrer was frivolous, and, secondly, that the plaintiff was entitled to judgment upon the pleadings as they stood. Upon such a motion, the time-honored rule that a pleading will not be stricken out as frivolous if it requires argument to demonstrate that it is frivolous does not apply. As we think that the complaint clearly states a cause of action, the order was proper and should be affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements, with leave, however, to the defendant to withdraw its demurrer and to answer within 20 days on payment of costs in this court and in the court below.