Clara M. Jones v. Banner Moving & Storage, Inc.

78 Misc. 2d 762, 358 N.Y.S.2d 885, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1489
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 12, 1974
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 78 Misc. 2d 762 (Clara M. Jones v. Banner Moving & Storage, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clara M. Jones v. Banner Moving & Storage, Inc., 78 Misc. 2d 762, 358 N.Y.S.2d 885, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1489 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

Frank J. Pino, J.

This is an action involving a lien of warehouseman (Uniform Commercial Code, § 7-209) iand enforcement of warehouseman’s lien (Uniform Commercial Code, § 7-210) of the New York Uniform Commercial Code. The code provides that “ A warehouseman has a lien against the bailor on the goods covered by a warehouse receipt * * * for charges for storage or transportation * * * and for expenses necessary for preservation of the goods or reasonably incurred in their sale pursuant to law ” (Uniform Commercial Code, § 7-209, subd. [1]). The code further provides for the enforcement of the lien by public sale of the goods. Prior thereto “ all persons known to claim an interest in the goods must be notified * * * in person or sent by registered or certified letter to the last known address ” (Uniform Commercial Code, § 7-210, subd. [2], pars, [a], [b]). The requirements for sale as to the contents of the notice are set forth, as is the required advertisement of sale, and its contents, and the procedure to be followed if the demand for payment is not met within the time specified in the notification. “ Before any sale pursuant to this section any person claiming a right in the goods may pay the amount necessary to satisfy the lien and the reasonable expenses incurred under this section. In that event the goods must not be sold, but must be retained by the warehouseman subject to the terms of the receipt and this Article ” (Uniform Commercial Code, § 7-210, subd. [3]).

At the outset, as the court reads the statutory language, it commands no notice of anything whatsoever before the lien will attach; that the only notice required is that unless the claim is paid the goods will be advertised for sale; that the advertisement of sale requires only a description of the goods, the name of the lienee and the time and place of sale; and that the sale can be avoided by payment of the amount necessary to satisfy the lien and reasonable expenses of the sale. The discussion following is also based on the court’s conclusion that under the statute the existence of a lien and consequent detention, as well [764]*764as the amount of the lien and reasonable expenses, may all be created and fixed by the warehouseman, unilaterally, without affording the lienee an opportunity to be heard as to any of these matters, and without any judicial control.

Plaintiff, whose property is being detained and the sale of which is threatened (although not at the present time), brings this action for replevin and for a declaratory judgment, urging that the foregoing provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code are violative of her constitutional rights. Plaintiff now moves for partial summary judgment and defendants cross-move for an order dismissing the pleading for failure to state a cause of action.

I.

Plaintiff alleges that, while she was without the State of New York for 11 days, she was evicted from her apartment in Brooklyn. Upon her return on June 4, 1973 she found that all of her furniture and household possessions had been removed by the defendants and taken to their warehouse for storage on or about June 1, 1973. At the time of the removal, plaintiff’s daughter, then 18, was in the apartment. A Marshal and agents of defendants came to the apartment to move plaintiff’s possessions. Plaintiff alleges, upon information and belief, that her daughter signed a Department of Sanitation Movers’ Inventory Record completed by defendants’ agents, at their request; was told the possessions were to be placed in defendants’ storage house; was not told of the charges for storage or the cost, nor was she informed as to possible alternatives. Plaintiff also alleges that even if her daughter gave an informed and knowing consent to storage with defendants, which plaintiff maintains she did not, that plaintiff never authorized her daughter to act as her agent and that plaintiff, herself, has not agreed to the storage with defendant Banner. Defendant Frichano’s affidavit alleges that the daughter was in possession, clothed with authority to authorize his agents to take plaintiff’s goods into private storage and her apparent authority being asserted, defendants’ agents had her sign an inventory and warehouse receipt and took the goods into storage at her request.

Plaintiff further alleges that she had been abandoned by her husband more than four years ago and since that time has been forced to rely on an allotment from the Department of Social Services to provide for herself and her daughter. Upon learning of the removal of her possessions, plaintiff contacted the department which, in turn, contacted defendant Banner. Its [765]*765efforts to negotiate for the return of plaintiff’s possessions were unsuccessful and it referred her to the Legal Aid Society. On June 20,1973 plaintiff’s daughter received a bill from defendant Banner for $697.05 for handling and storing plaintiff’s property. On August 2, 1973 a representative of the society was advised by the defendant Banner that the property would not be released until all charges had been paid and that the property would be held for payment until August 31, 1973 after which her possessions would be sold at public sale.

The present suit was then instituted and an order to show cause for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order were obtained. By stipulation, the personal property detained by defendants is being held and preserved without selling, offering to sell or otherwise disposing of such property, and there was delivered by defendants certain property which plaintiff claims would be exempt from execution under CPLB 5205. A very substantial portion of plaintiff’s household possessions and furniture is still in the possession of the defendants and is being detained by them pursuant to section 7-209 of the Uniform Commercial Code, the section presently under consideration.

The complaint demands, inter alia, the following relief: (a) a judgment for possession of plaintiff’s chattels; (b) a judgment declaring sections 7-209 and 7-210 of the New York Uniform Commercial Code unconstitutional as violative of the requirements of due process, both on their face and as applied to the plaintiff under the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York; (c) monetary damages as compensation for the unwarranted detention of plaintiff’s property and for emotional and mental distress suffered as a result.

The answer asserts a general denial and a counterclaim for charges.

Plaintiff now moves for an order pursuant to CPLR 3212 striking part of defendants’ answer and directing partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendants, declaring sections 7-209 and 7-210 of the New York Uniform Commercial Code to be violative of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and of section 6 of article I of the New York State Constitution on their face and as applied to an individual whose property is detained and threatened to be sold thereunder without a prior due process hearing, and permanently enjoining the operation, execution and enforcement of said statutes.

[766]*766Defendants cross-move for an order pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd. [a], par. 7) dismissing the pleading on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action.

The Attorney-General of the State of New York appears pursuant to section 71 of the Executive Law and has submitted an affidavit in opposition to the motion for partial summary judgment.

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78 Misc. 2d 762, 358 N.Y.S.2d 885, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clara-m-jones-v-banner-moving-storage-inc-nysupct-1974.