Opinion ID: 374048
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Dismissal of John McGrath

Text: 44 The court should not, however, have dismissed the complaint as to John McGrath. 22 Although he may have been only minimally at fault, there was sufficient evidence for the case against him to go to the jury; and the jury found him liable (even though in subsequently apportioning the damages it allocated none to him). As to John McGrath the verdict was not against the weight of credible evidence. There was evidence that John McGrath gave the appearance of personal knowledge when he specifically ratified his brother's misrepresentation: What Chris told you is true . . . . All the coverage there is on the case is $200,000 . . . . That's it. How many times do you want to hear it? Berkowitz stated that John McGrath was one of his sources of information about the insurance coverage. There was evidence that John McGrath participated in the drafting of the March 4 stipulation which contained explicit representations as to the coverage limit. Moreover, the letters from the excess insurer's counsel were in his firm's file. We note that on the basis of this evidence, Judge Pollack reversed his earlier ruling granting John McGrath's motion for dismissal. On the renewed motion at the close of all the evidence, Judge Pollack recognized that it would be best to get the jury's verdict on the fact questions. The evidence supports the verdict that the jury rendered, and it is in accordance with New York law under Burgundy Basin and Ultramares, supra. 45 Finally, even though the case was not tried on a partnership theory, as a matter of law John McGrath was liable for his partner's tort. N.Y. Partnership Law §§ 24, 26 (McKinney); Caplan v. Caplan, 268 N.Y. 445, 448, 198 N.E. 23, 24 (1935); see also Pedersen v. Manitowoc Co., 25 N.Y.2d 412, 419, 306 N.Y.S.2d 903, 909, 255 N.E.2d 146, 150 (1969) (joint venture).