Kaufman v. Kaufman — 152 A.D. 99

Majority

p. 99

Anna Kaufman, Respondent, v. John Kaufman, Appellant.

First Department,

July 11, 1912.

Headnote

Venue — suit to rescind separation agreement.

The venue of a suit to set aside a separation agreement upon the ground that the plaintiff was induced to execute it by the coercion and fraud of her husband, should be changed to the county where the defendant resides and where he and the greater number of witnesses who will testify on the issue of coercion reside.

Appeal by the defendant, John Kaufman, 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 22d day of April, 1912, denying the defendant’s motion to change the place of trial for the convenience of witnesses.

H. Louis Jacobson [Charles I. Webster, attorney], for the appellant.

Clifford S. BostwicJc, for the respondent.

Action to set aside a separation agreement on the ground that the plaintiff was induced to execute the same by coercion and fraud practiced upon her.

The agreement was drawn in Rensselaer county, where both parties then resided, and where the defendant still resides. Whether the plaintiff were coerced into signing the agreement by reason of fraud practiced upon her, will, from the facts presented, have to be determined largely from witnesses residing in Rensselaer county. The greater number of witnesses there reside and for the reasons stated in Kaufman v. Kaufman ( 152 App. Div. 100 ), decided herewith, the order appealed from should be reversed and the motion to change the place of trial from the county of New York to the county of Rensselaer granted, without costs.

Present—Ingraham, P. J., McLaughlin, Scott, Miller and Dowling, JJ.

Order reyersed and motion granted, without costs.