Opinion
January, 1920.
New York county is where the contract was made and the services performed. Plaintiff himself is the only witness who will be favored by a Rockland county trial. As, however, his office is in New York city, a trial there will not inconvenience him, or his witness, Eden, who resides in Montclair, N.J. Apparently defendant has three witnesses from New York. The rule retaining the venue in rural counties is modified by considering the place where the transactions involved took place. ( Pierce v. Moore, 181 App. Div. 885; Veeldorano v. Union Railway Co., 183 id. 575; Broderick v. De Mesa, 178 id. 669.) Under the special rules in the First Judicial District (Rule VI, subd. 3), an action on contract may be preferred. The convenience of witnesses and the ends of justice will, therefore, be promoted by changing the place of trial to the county of New York. The order of the Special Term is, therefore, reversed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements, and defendant's motion granted, with ten dollars costs. Rich, Putnam, Blackmar, Kelly and Jaycox, JJ., concur.