Opinion
October 18, 1938.
Appeal from the City Court of the City of New York, County of New York.
Herman S. Fried, for the appellant.
Robert J. Farrington, for the respondent.
The language of section 234 Real Prop. of the Real Property Law, providing that agreements exempting lessors of real property from liability for negligence "shall be deemed to be void as against public policy and wholly unenforceable," embraces prior as well as future agreements and we have no right to engraft an exception not made by the Legislature. ( Louisville Nashville R.R. Co. v. Mottley, 219 U.S. 467.) The application of the section to prior leases is not precluded by constitutional prohibitions. ( People ex rel. Durham Realty Co. v. LaFetra, 230 N.Y. 429.)
Order reversed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements, and motion granted, with ten dollars costs.
All concur. Present — LYDON, FRANKENTHALER and SHIENTAG, JJ.