Opinion
November, 1915.
Lamar Hardy (John P. O'Brien, and F.E.V. Dunn, of counsel), for appellant.
Jacob Manheim, for respondent.
This action is one to recover a penalty of fifty dollars for the existence of fire escape violations. Despite the fact that item 3 of the violations was proved to exist without any contradiction, the court directed judgment for the defendant. The court's view seems to be that because the defendant filed plans for the improvement of the building, which included doing away with the violations, and because the violations were subsequently removed, it would be harsh and beyond the contemplation of the statute to impose the penalty. It is not within the power of the court to suspend penalties which the legislature has provided for violations of law because in an individual case it may seem unfair and inequitable to enforce the law. There is no force in the argument of the respondent that a tenement house ceases to be a tenement house whenever the number of tenancies drops for the time being below three.
Judgment reversed with thirty dollars costs, and judgment directed in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant for fifty dollars and appropriate costs in court below.
BIJUR and PAGE, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed, with thirty dollars costs, and judgment directed for plaintiff.