Derby v. E.L. Gayvert & Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 18 November 1955 |
| Citation | 286 A.D. 1150,146 N.Y.S.2d 11 |
| Parties | Herbert C. DERBY and Norris J. Graves, Respondents, v. E. L. GAYVERT & CO., Inc., and others, Appellants. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Kenefick, Bass, Letchworth, Baldy & Phillips, Buffalo (Robert M. Hitchcock, Buffalo, of counsel), for appellants.
Kavinoky, Cook, Hepp & Sandler, Buffalo (Edward H. Kavinoky, Buffalo, of counsel), for respondents.
Before McCURN, P. J., and VAUGHAN, KIMBALL, WHEELER, and VAN DUSER, JJ.
This is an action for a declaratory judgment, a reformation, and related relief. The plaintiffs and individual defendants are all of the stockholders of one of the corporate defendants. The complaint is divided into three causes of action. Defendants-appellants moved to dismiss each cause of action for legal insufficiency, Rule 106. Annexed to the complaint are numerous documents, the construction and effect of which are sharply in issue. The case presents a genuing dispute, based upon conflicting interpretations of those documents, and rendering uncertain the jural rights and relations of the parties. Declaratory relief in some form is therefore appropriate, Strobe v. Netherland Co., Inc., 245 App.Div. 573, 283 N.Y.S. 246. It may be that, on the merits, plaintiffs are not entitled to the particular declarations which they have demanded, or even that the judgment should declare the parties' rights and relations according to defendants' theory of the case. But in either event the complaint would state a cause of action for a declaratory judgment. Rockland Light & Power Co. v. City of New York, 289 N.Y. 45, 43 N.E.2d 803; Liebschutz v. Schaffer Stores Co., 276 App.Div. 1, 5, 93 N.Y.S.2d 125, 129; Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co. v. Bell, 270 App.Div. 796, 59 N.Y.S.2d 615. We conclude that the first and second causes of action are sufficient for a declaratory judgment. The third cause of action clearly states grounds for a reformation of a contract and contains all the essential allegations therefor. All concur.
Order affirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements.
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