Case Name: EICHNER v. METROPOLITAN ST. RY. CO.
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1906-06-25
Citations: 99 N.Y.S. 870
Docket Number: 
Parties: EICHNER v. METROPOLITAN ST. RY. CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 99
Pages: 870–872

Head Matter:
EICHNER v. METROPOLITAN ST. RY. CO.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
June 25, 1906.)
1. Judgments—Vacation—Fraud.
Code Civ. Proc. § 1282, provides that a motion to set aside a final judgment for irregularity shall not be beard after the expiration of one year since the filing of the judgment roll. Held that, in. order to avoid the effect of such statute, a clear case of fraud must be established.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 30, Cent. Dig. Judgment, § 743.]
2. Same—Motion—Affidavit—Information and Belief.
An affidavit in support of a motion to set aside a judgment for misconduct of a juror, based solely on information and belief, and failing to set out the sources of the information or the grounds of the belief, was fatally defective.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 30, Cent. Dig. Judgment, § 751.]
Appeal from Special Term, New York County.
Action by Ettie Eichner against the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. From an order denying a motion to vacate a judgment entered on a verdict in favor of defendant, plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
Argued before O'BRIEN, P. J„ and McEAUGHEIN, PATTERSON, EAUGHEIN, and CLARICE, JJ.
Frank M. Hardenbrook, for appellant.
Marvin Wynne (Bayard H. Ames and Anthony J. Ernest, on the brief), for respondent.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The case was tried on the 12th and 13th days of May, 1904, and resulted in a verdict in favor of the defendant, on which verdict a judgment was entered on the 19th day of July, 1904. The motion for an order vacating the judgment and setting aside the verdict and granting a new trial upon the ground of misconduct of a juror was made on the 20th day of March, 1906. Section 1282 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that "a motion to set aside a final judgment for irregularity, shall not be heard after the expiration of one year since the filing of the judgment roll." To avoid the effect of this statute, a clear case, based upon sufficient evidence of fraud, must be made out. The moving affidavit is made by the plaintiff, and is solely upon information and belief, without stating the sources of the information or the ground of the relief. In Matter of Peck v. Carghill, 167 N. Y. 391, 60 N. E. 775, 53 L. R. A. 888, the court held that a "petition in which all the material facts are stated upon information and belief, without disclosing the source of the information or the ground of the belief, is not sufficient basis for any judicial action"—citing Murphy v. Jack, 142 N. Y. 215, 36 N. E. 882, 40 Am. St. Rep. 590; Buell v. Van Camp, 119 N. Y. 169, 23 N. E. 538; Campbell v. Morrison, 7 Paige, 157; Cushing v. Ruslander, 49 Hun, 19, 1 N. Y. Supp. 505. This rule has been applied on motions to vacate attachments for insufficiency of the moving papers (Yates v. North, 44 N. Y. 274; Steuben County Bank v. Alberger, 78 N. Y. 258; Hunt v. Robinson, 52 App. Div. 539, 65 N. Y. Supp. 386); to affidavits of service by mail in an action for foreclosure (Mowry v. Sanborn, 65 N. Y. 581); in motions for an injunction (Rome v. Watertown & O. T. R. Co. v. Rochester, 46 Hun, 149, where the court said: "Such an affidavit proves nothing, and does not call upon or aid the court in determining any fact necessary to be determined in order to administer relief in any given case"; Matter of Wheaton v. Slattery, 96 App. Div., at page 108, 88 N. Y. Supp., at page 1074; Cupples Envelope Co. v. Lackner, 99 App. Div. 235, 90 N. Y. Supp. 954); and on orders of arrest (McKelvey v. Marsh, 63 App. Div. 396, 71 N. Y. Supp. 541; Price v. Levy, 93 App. Div. 274, 87 N. Y. Supp. 740).
As the papers, under the decisions above cited, presented no facts upon which .the court at Special Term could act, the order appealed from was clearly right, and should be affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements.