Hammond v. Crowell Publishing Co.

The action is one for damages for the unauthorized use of plaintiff’s name in violation of sections 50 and 51 of the Civil Rights Law. The statute requires that written consent first be obtained in order to justify the use of one’s name or picture for the purposes of trade. Defendant pleads as a separate and complete defense that consent was given by a course of conduct, and seeks to assert an estoppel based on such conduct. It repeats the facts so pleaded in an additional partial defense in mitigation of damages. In view of the express statutory requirement for written consent, we deem the…