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123 A.D. 63

Israels v. Macdonald

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · decided 1907-12-23

Appeal by the plaintiffs, Charles H. Israels and another, doing business as Israels & Harder, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor' of the defendants, entered in the office of the cleric of the county of Queens on the 25th day of March, 1907, upon the dismissal of. the complaint by direction of the court at the close of the plaintiffs’ case upon a trial at the Queens County Trial Term. The action is to recover a balance for the fees of the plaintiffs as architects.

Decided 1907-12-23

Gaynor, J.:

¶1The learned trial Judge did not err in excluding the evidence of experts as to what the "cost of such -a building would be. The actual cost could be proved, and therefore, the case was not one for the opinion, calculation or estimate of experts. No case is cited to the contrary. Nor was the statement of one of the plaintiffs before the plans and specifications were drawn, of the amount the building would or was to cost, evidence of the actual cost; it' was only an estimate or opinion. The same is true of the' statement. as to cost in the plans and specifications filed with the building department. There being no evidence of the actual cost, the case called for a non-suit. •

¶2But the plaintiffs now claim that at all events they were entitled to recover some small items amounting to about $233, whereas the action is for $3,298.97. The claim is very obscure, to say the least.But- it suffices that it was not made below. On the contrary, in ' opposing the motion for a non-suit, counsel for the plaintiffs claimed the right to go to the jury on the evidence of the cost of the building only. If, apart from that, lie claimed that the evidence established a right to recover some other item, he should have pointed it out. -

¶3' The judgment should be affirmed.

¶4Jenks, Hooker, Rich and Miller, JJ., concurred.

¶5Judgment affirmed, with costs.

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