Opinion

Tomaso, Feitner and Lane, Inc. v. Brown

  • 4 N.Y.2d 391
  • 175 N.Y.S.2d 73
  • 151 N.E.2d 221
  • 1958 N.Y. LEXIS 979
Court
New York Court of Appeals
Filed
May 16, 1958
Status
Published
On the bench
Conway and Judges Desmond, Dye, Fuld, Froessel, Van Voorhis and Burke Concur
Cited by
12 cases
Authority
More cited than 90.5%

no intent to confer benefit on plaintiff could be inferred from agreement

How later courts described this case

  • no intent to confer benefit on plaintiff could be inferred from agreement

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

*393

Per Curiam.

In this action by plaintiff advertising agency to recover from defendant, stockholder of a corporation, the unpaid balance owing for advertising services (and expenses in connection therewith) rendered to the corporation, the Statute of Frauds (Personal Property Law, § 31, subd. 2) is no defense. The oral promise by defendant to make moneys available to the corporation was made not to plaintiff but to the corporation debtor

(O’Connor

v.

Bankers Trust Co.,

159 Misc. 920, 932 , affd. 253 App. Div. 714 , affd. 278 N. Y. 649 ;

Barker

v.

Bucklin,

2 Denio 45, 60 ; 2 Corbin on Contracts, § 357; 2 Williston on Contracts [Rev. ed.], § 460; 49 Am. Jur., Statute of Frauds, 438 — 439; Restatement, Contracts, § 180, comment

c;

see, also,

Tighe

v.

Morrison,

116 N. Y. 263, 270 ;

Barker

v.

Bradley,

42 N. Y. 316 ;

Block

v.

Greenfield,

137 Misc. 573 ;

Eastwood

v.

Kenyon,

11 A. & E. 438, 445; 32 N. Y. U. L. Rev. 1395). Since, however, plaintiff is at best an incidental beneficiary rather than a third-party creditor beneficiary, it may not enforce the agreement made between defendant and the corporation.

Chief Judge Conway and Judges Desmond, Dye, Fuld, Froessel, Van Voorhis and Burke concur.

Judgment affirmed, with costs.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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