Majority
p. 201FRANKEL BROS. CO. v. SMITH. (Supreme Court, Appellate Term. June 13, 1900.) Argued before BEEEMAN, P. J., and GIEGEBIOH and O’GORMAN, JJ.
Headnote
Witnesses—Officers of Corporation—Competency.Where it was not material whether witnesses were officers of a corporation for which they acted, it was error to exclude their evidence because their title as such officers, had not been satisfactorily established.
Appeal from municipal court, borough of Manhattan, First district.
Action by the Frankel Bros. Company against George Smith. From a judgment in favor of defendant, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
John Bogart, for appellant.
The rulings of the trial justice in excluding the evidence of the plaintiff’s witnesses Frankel because their title to
p. 202
the offices held by them in the plaintiff corporation had not been established to the satisfaction of the court was clearly erroneous. They were acting for the plaintiff corporation, and the competency of their evidence is beyond question. Nor could its force be impaired by disputing the validity of their title to the offices held by them. Indeed, in view of the character of the litigation, it was entirely immaterial whether they were officers of the corporation or not, or, if officers, whether they held by proper title. Abb. Tr. Ev. (2d Ed.) 50.
Judgment reversed, and new trial ordered, with costs to appellant to abide the event.