Claim of Lanning v. Erie Railroad

Soheuck, J. (dissenting).

I dissent and vote for reversal. Between decedent and this claimant, his widow, there is no privity, a term which “ denotes mutual or successive relationship to the same rights of property ” (1 Greenleaf on Evidence [15th ed.], § 189), for “ a proceeding under a claim for death benefits is not the same as a proceeding for compensation made by an employee who survives his injury but subsequently dies therefrom.” (Snow v. United States Railroad Administration, 209 App. Div. 308, affd. 239 N. Y. 528; cert. den. 266 U. S. 630.) Moreover, for the principle of res judicata…