Manning v. International Navigation Co.
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
Appeal by the defendant, the International Navigation Company, from an order of the Supreme Court, made at the New York Special Term and entered in the office of the clerk of the county of New York on the 8th day of October, 1897, denying the defendant’s motion to compel the plaintiff to serve a bill of particulars. The action was brought to recover damages for the killing of the plaintiff’s intestate by an explosion on board the steamship St. Paul.
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Appeal by the defendant, the International Navigation Company, from an order of the Supreme Court, made at the New York Special Term and entered in the office of the clerk of the county of New York on the 8th day of October, 1897, denying the defendant’s motion to compel the plaintiff to serve a bill of particulars. The action was brought to recover damages for the killing of the plaintiff’s intestate by an explosion on board the steamship St. Paul. Paragraph IV of the complaint alleges that “ while the said steamship was lying at her wharf * * * and while the said Walter Kaufman Manning was…
1Opinion of the Court
O’Brien, J.:
The office of a bill of particulars is to limit the generality of a pleading and to prevent surprise upon the trial, and not to furnish evidence for the opposite party; and in actions for negligence care should be taken not to require particulars which it is impossible to know with any degree of precision, dependent, as the plaintiff must to some extent be, upon his proof; as otherwise they may serve only as a source of embarrassment or injustice. Neither should the plaintiff be compelled to give details which the defendant is more likely to know than the plaintiff to be able to…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Fernet v. James Stewart & Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1914
- Neuwelt v. Consolidated Gas Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1904
- State v. McVaySuperior Court of Rhode Island · 1926