Crawford v. Waters

46 How. Pr. 210
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1873
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 46 How. Pr. 210 (Crawford v. Waters) 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
Crawford v. Waters, 46 How. Pr. 210 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1873).

Opinion

Fancher, J.

The plaintiff, in summary proceedings to recover possession for non-payment of rent, was, on the 27th February, 1871, put in possession of Eos. 28 and 30 West Broadway, in the city of Eew York, in pursuance of a warrant issued by the justice of the eighth judicial district of said city.

In April following she leased a portion of the premises to John Terhune, who paid rent to the plaintiff until the 1st of September, 1871.

The defendant, Henry H. Waters, having, in proceedings supplementary to execution, been appointed receiver of the property of James K. Spratt, the tenant of the plaintiff, against whom the dispossession proceedings were prosecuted, brought an action in this court in August, 1871, to regain possession of the forfeited premises, claiming the right to be restored to the benefits of the lease made to Spratt.

That action was tried on the 15th February, 1872, at the Eew York special term, before Hon. Daniel P. Ingraham, presiding justice. The decision in that action was to the effect that the receiver had failed to tender to the lessors, or to the officer who issued the warrant of dispossession, already mentioned, a sufficient sum to cover the rent in arrear, and the costs and charges of the landlords; and had not, therefore, properly redeemed the premises; was not entitled to be let into the possession thereof, and was not entitled to the injunction restraining the collection of the rents, which, at the commencement of the action, he had. obtained.

During the existence of the injunction just mentioned, the receiver went to the tenants' of the premises, and, asserting his authority to receive the rents, succeeded in collecting from' some of the tenants, some part of the. rents. He also instituted a summary proceeding as landlord, against said John [212]*212Terhune, as tenant, to recover possession for non-payment of rent; whereupon the plaintiff, claiming to he the rightful landlord of the premises, and entitled, as against Spratt and the receiver, to the possession thereof, commenced this action, by leave of the court, against the receiver, and applied for an injunction to restrain his interference with the tenants and rents of the premises.

The summons is dated on the 24th October, 1871, and the action was probably commenced on or about that day.

Thereafter, on the 27th day of February, J872, the defendant paid to the justice who issued the above-mentioned warrant of dispossession, $1,300, “in order to be restored to the said premises, under the lease of the same; ’’.and thereupon he verified and caused to be served, under an order of the court, a supplemental answer, setting forth such payment and alleging that the sum so paid exceeds all the rent due and in arrear, and the costs legally and properly chargeable against the said tenant, and interest thereon.”

This supplemental answer alleges, however, that the whole amount to which the plaintiff was entitled was $2,337.15 for rent, about five dollars for costs and some interest thereon; and “ that she has received in rents and profits from the said premises and from the tenants therein, or is properly chargeable with the receipt of $1,600, or about that sum, and from the defendant and from the rents aforesaid, through a receiver in this action,.the further sum of $800, and the aforesaid sum of $1,300, making in the whole aggregate $3,700 or upwards.”

Under the original and supplemental answer, the defendant claims to be entitled to be repaid the said $1,300, or so much thereof as, on a just accounting, shall be found to belong to him, and to have the complaint dismissed. The supplemental answer alleges that the $1,300 were paid over by the justice to the plaintiff, and sets up such payment by way of counterclaim, as well as by way of defense, to the plaintiff’s cause of action. bio reply to the supplemental answer has been served.

[213]*213I think there is a fatal difficulty in the supposed defense set forth in the supplemental answer of the defendant, so far as it is intended to allege therein a redemption under the statute.

It is therein stated that the amount to which the plaintiff was entitled at the time of the payment to the justice of the $1,300, was $2,337.15 for rent, about five dollars for costs, and some interest.

The payment of $1,300 could not satisfy this claim of more than $2,300. The statute (3 Rev. Stats., p. 840, 5 ed.) reads as follows:

Section 54. In case of proceedings under the second subdivision of section twenty-eight, title ten, chapter eight of the third part of the Eevised Statutes, if the- unexpired term of the lease under which the premises are held exceeds five years at the time of issuing the warrant upon such proceedings, the lessee, his assignees or personal representatives may, at any time within one year after possession of the demised premises shall have been delivered to the landlord, pay or tender to the lessor, his representatives or attorney, or to the officer who issued the warrant, all rent in arrear to the time of such payment or tender, and all costs and charges incurred by the landlord; and, in such case, the premises shall be restored to the lessee, who shall hold and enjoy the same without any new lease thereof, according to the terms of the original demise.; and any mortgagee of the lease, or any part thereof, who shall not be in possession of the demised premises, or any judgment creditor of the lessee who shall, within one year after the execution of such warrant, pay all rent in arrear, all costs and charges as aforesaid, and perform all the agreements which ought to be performed by the first lessee, shall not be affected by such recovery; and such judgment creditor may file a suggestion of such payment upon the record, and may issue execution for the amount of the original judgment and of such payment.” (Laws of 1842, chap. 240, § 1.)

The requirements of this statute were not complied with by the defendant when he made payment, to the officer who [214]*214issued the warrant, of only $1,300. The payment should have been equal to all rent in arrear at that time, and all costs and charges incurred by the landlord, bio redemption of the forfeited possession could be effected under the section of the statute already quoted, by anything less than the payment oí all the rent in arrear and the costs and charges.

The statute does not provide that such required payment shall be reduced by so much as the landlord may have received for rents or other income or benefit, during the period of the landlord’s possession, subsequent to the execution of the warrant. If the landlord can be called on to account for the rents and income received from the premises during such interregnum, it could only be done after a redemption under the statute has been effected, and the lessee is restored to the benefits of the lease of which he was deprived by the dispossession proceedings.

But it is claimed that equity will relieve a tenant from the forfeiture of a lease in all cases where it has been incurred by the neglect to pay a sum of money, which, with the interest thereon, can be calculated with certainty, so that by the payment of the same the landlord can be fully compensated. This, no doubt, is the rule, in equity, independent of the statute, and it is a rule which has been frequently applied (Jackson agt. Brownson, 7 Johns. R., 235; Nelson agt. Carrington, 4 Munf. R., 333; Bracebridge agt.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 How. Pr. 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crawford-v-waters-nysupct-1873.