Hager v. Arland

The case of Reiner v. Galinger, 151 App. Div. 711, follows the well-settled rule that an action in equity to cancel an agreement or obligation tainted with usury will not lie when the rights of the maker can be enforced in an action brought upon the instrument itself in a court of law. But where, as in this action, the lender has taken possession of the property pledged as security, and thus avoided bringing the disputed instrument before the court for adjudication, thereby depriving the borrower both of his property *422and his opportunity to establish at law the illegality of the transaction,…