Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/274

 260 fSDESlX>.'BE?OKr£i&, �. Under the New York Code of Civil Procedure, § 500, an answer may contain a counter claim; that is, a statement of new matter constituting a counter claim. Such counter claim (section 501) must tend in some way to diminish or defeat the plaintiff's. recovery, and must be one of certain specified causes of action. A plaintiff may (sections 494, 495, 496) demur to a counter claim, distinctly specifying the objections, one of which may be that the counter claim is not of the charaoter specified in section 501. Where a counter claim is established which equals the plaintiff's demand, ]udg- ment goes for the defendant. Where it is less than the plan- tiff 's demand the plaintiff has judgment for the residue. Where it exceeds the plaintiff's demand the defendant has judgment for the excess, or so much thereof as is due from the plaintiff. Section 503. The plaintiff, if he does not demur, may reply to the counter claim, denying what he controverts. Section 514. �A counter claim is hel.d to be an affirmation of a cause of action against the plaintiff, in the nature of a cross-action, and upon which the defendant may have an affirmative judg- ment against the plaintiff. As a cross-action, setting forth a cause of action by the defendant against the plaintiffs, and demanding a judgment thereon for $750, in addition to the dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint and the defeat of the plaintiffs' claim, — the claim in which cross-action is disputed by the plaintiffs by the reply, — the counter claim clearly brings into the suit a matter in dispute which exceeds $500 in value. Even if the defendant should have judgment, only for the dif- ference between $195 and $750, that would be more than $500; but he claims $750, and that the plaintiffs shall have no judgment. There may be two actions in one point of view. One may be regarded as an action by the plaintiffs against the defendant torecover the $195. The plaintiffs may f ail to recover any part of that, or they mfiy recover a part of it, or they may recover the whole of it. The answer, and the counter claim in it, may have the effeet, if proved, to diminish or defeat the plaintiffs' recovery. Section 501. If the ����