People ex rel. Holt v. Lambert

• Decision Date: 23 May 1933
• Citation: 262 N.Y. 511,188 N.E. 42
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of New York ex rel. Lillie M. HOLT, Appellant, v. Lillian LAMBERT et al., Respondents.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

262 N.Y. 511

188 N.E. 42

PEOPLE of the State of New York ex rel. Lillie M. HOLT, Appellant,

v.Lillian LAMBERT et al., Respondents.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 23, 1933.

Appeal from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department (237 App. Div. 39, 260 N. Y. S. 678), entered December 9, 1932, which reversed an order of Special Term sustaining a writ of habeas corpus and discharging the relator from custody, dismissed the writ, and remanded the relator. The respondent Lillian Lambert brought an action against the relator in the Municipal Court of the City of New York under a contract of employment to recover a month's salary as a kindergarten teacher. The judgment contained a provision for a body execution against relator. The Municipal Court subsequently denied a motion by relator for an order vacating the judgment, as entered, or, in the alternative, striking therefrom the provision for a body execution Relator was thereafter arrested and imprisoned in the New York County Jail. Section 139 of the New York City Municipal Court Code provides that, ‘in an action by a journeyman, laborer, or other employee whose employment answers to the general description of wage earner,’ a body execution may issue under certain conditions. The principal grounds on which the application for the writ of habeas corpus was based were that the plaintiff in the Municipal Court action was not a wage-earner within the purview of section 139 of the Municipal Court Code, and that the provision in the judgment in that action rendering the relator liable to arrest and imprisonment was inserted without authority.Nathaniel Ellenbogen and Hyman J. Eisenberg, both of New York City, for appellant.

Dicran Simsarian, of New York City, in person, for respondents Dicran Simsarian and Lillian Lambert.

Rudolph Stand, Henry Salitan, in person, and Gerald G. Schwartz, all of New York City, for respondent Henry Salitan.

PER CURIAM.

Order affirmed.

POUND, C. J., and CRANE, LEHMAN, KELLOGG, O'BRIEN, and CROUCH, JJ., concur.

HUBBS, J., not sitting.