Simon Kirschbaum, as Executors of Moses May, Deceased, Respondents v. Frederick W. R. Eschmann, Appellant

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s judgment on the pleadings, holding that the defendant’s answer, which relied heavily on denials of knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief, was insufficient to foreclose a jury trial. The Court affirmed that the phrasing "states that he denies" is permissible, but such denials must be either general to all averments or specific to each allegation; where the knowledge is only presumptively within the defendant’s knowledge, the proper remedy is a pre‑trial motion to amend or strike, not judgment on the pleadings.