Naujokas v. H. Frank Carey High School
| Decision Date | 24 November 1969 |
| Citation | 33 A.D.2d 703,306 N.Y.S.2d 195 |
| Parties | George NAUJOKAS, an infant, etc., Respondent, et al., Plaintiff, v. The H. FRANK CAREY HIGH SCHOOL, Defendant, and Central High School District #2 of the Town of Hempstead, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Kelly, Callahan & Duffy, Mineola, for plaintiff-respondent.
O'Hagan & Reilly, Mineola, of counsel to Patrick F. Adams, Mineola, for defendant-appellant, Central High School District #2 of Town of Hempstead, Henry J. O'Hagan, Mineola, of counsel.
Before CHRIST, Acting P.J., and RABIN, HOPKINS, BENJAMIN and MARTUSCELLO, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries of the infant plaintiff and for medical expenses, etc., of his father, the appeals are (1) from two orders of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, entered August 28, 1968 and September 6, 1968, respectively, each of which granted appellant's motion to set aside a jury verdict for the infant plaintiff against appellant for $250,000, unless said plaintiff would stipulate to reduce his verdict to $125,000; and (2) as limited by appellant's brief, from so much of a judgment of said court, entered October 15, 1968, as is in favor of the infant plaintiff upon the verdict as reduced to $125,000 by stipulation made pursuant to said orders.
Judgment reversed insofar as appealed from i.e., insofar as it is in favor of the infant plaintiff, on the law, without costs; and, as to said plaintiff, action severed and new trial granted, solely on the issue of damages, unless said plaintiff, within 30 days after entry of the order hereon serve and file in the office of the trial court a written stipulation consenting to reduce his verdict to $50,000 and to the entry of an amended judgment accordingly, in which event the judgment as to him, as so reduced and amended, is affirmed, without costs. The findings of fact below are affirmed, except for the findings on the issue of damages.
Appeals from orders dismissed, without costs, as academic in view of the determination herein on the appeal from the judgment.
Since it is the general rule in this State that a party may not recover a money judgment in a sum greater than that requested in his prayer for relief (see, e.g., Michalowski v. Ey, 7 N.Y.2d 71, 75--76, 195 N.Y.S.2d 633, 636, 163 N.E.2d 863, 865, and cases cited thereat), the maximum amount that respondent could have recovered at bar was the $50,000 prayed for in the...
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Mosca v. Pensky
...N.Y. Jur., Damages, § 65); and since verdicts may not exceed the amount specified in the ad damnum clause (Naujokas v. H. Frank Carey High School, 33 A.D.2d 703, 306 N.Y.S.2d 195) counsel invariably will select a high dollar number as his prayer for monetary relief. Consequently, discovery ......
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Litcom Division, Litton Systems, Inc. v. Suffolk Roofing Co., Inc.
...the trial court erred in awarding plaintiff damages in an amount greater than that demanded (see Naujokas v. H. Frank Carey High School, 33 A.D.2d 703, 306 N.Y.S.2d 195). However, we are of the opinion that, on the record before us, plaintiff was entitled to recover damages in an amount at ......
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Sponholz v. Stanislaus
...prayed for in the complaint. Wyman v. Morone, 33 A.D.2d 168, 306 N.Y.S.2d 115 (3rd Dept. 1969); Naujokas v. H. Frank Carey High School, 33 A.D.2d 703, 306 N.Y.S.2d 195 (2d Dept. 1969). In such circumstances an action in which the complaint seeks less than the federal jurisdictional amount i......
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Loomis v. Civetta Corinno Const. Corp.
...774). Postverdict motions to amend the ad damnum clause, on the other hand, uniformly have been denied (see Naujokas v. Carey High School, 33 A.D.2d 703, 306 N.Y.S.2d 195; Wyman v. Morone, 33 A.D.2d 168, 306 N.Y.S.2d 115; Silbert v. Silbert, 22 A.D.2d 893, 255 N.Y.S.2d 272; affd 16 N.Y.2d 5......