Clarke v. Martin

Headnote

Clarke v. Martin, 175 App. Div. 919 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered November 10, 1916, modifying and affirming as modified a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict in an action to recover for an alleged breach of promise to marry. The complaint alleged a promise of marriage in August or September, 1907, and a breach by the defendant by his marriage to another in the month of March, 1912, and that in- reliance upon defendant’s promise the plaintiff lived and cohabited with the defendant in and after 1907 and up to the time of the defendant’s marriage. The answer admitted the defendant’s marriage, denied all of the other allegations of the complaint and set up, as an affirmative defense, that in or about October, 1908, the plaintiff and defendant mutually agreed to rescind the contract to marry and as a partial defense and in mitigation of damages that prior to and about the time of the agreement alleged in the complaint and subsequent thereto, the plaintiff accepted money for her maintenance and support from other men, lived in different apartments in the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and borough of Brooklyn, under the protection of these men, falsely represented to the

defendant the sources of her income, associated with evil characters and lived under names other than her true and proper name.