Opinion
February 3, 1966
Order vacating the judgment herein entered July 9, 1964 unanimously affirmed, with $50 costs and disbursements to respondents. The assessment of punitive damages is an incident of damages which requires proof of a cause of action; punitive damage does not constitute a separate cause of action. ( Gill v. Montgomery Ward Co., 284 App. Div. 36, 41.) The vacatur of the California judgment removed the basis for the judgment herein because the complaint is grounded solely on the California judgment.
Concur — McNally, J.P., Stevens, Eager, Steuer and Witmer, JJ.