HamiltonAir Co. v. Gould

17 Misc. 3d 222
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedAugust 3, 2007
StatusPublished

This text of 17 Misc. 3d 222 (HamiltonAir Co. v. Gould) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HamiltonAir Co. v. Gould, 17 Misc. 3d 222 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Anil C. Singh, J.

Defendant moves for a judgment summarily dismissing plaintiffs notice of mechanic’s lien, contending that the lien was not timely filed in accordance with section 10 of the Lien Law. Plaintiff opposes.

Defendant Bernard Gould entered into a contract with plaintiff HamiltonAir Company, Inc., in August 2005. The agreement provided that plaintiff would furnish and install air-conditioning units in defendant’s cooperative apartment at 16 Sutton Place in Manhattan. The parties agreed on a contract price of $20,785, which included an $8,000 down payment. Plaintiff delivered and installed the air-conditioning equipment in September 2005.

Soon thereafter, defendant began to experience moisture accumulation problems on four units. Plaintiff attempted to solve the problem without success in September, October and November 2005. The defendant — who still had a balance of $12,785 — retained an attorney in November 2005, who in turn held the balance in escrow pending the resolution of the problem. Plaintiff returned to defendant’s apartment to attempt repairs again in July, August and September 2006.

On January 12, 2007, plaintiff filed a notice of mechanic’s lien against defendant’s cooperative apartment in the amount of $15,022.38 (notice of motion, exhibit B). The notice states that the last item of work was performed — and the last item of material was furnished — on September 22, 2006. Plaintiff commenced the instant action for breach of contract and unjust enrichment on February 16, 2007. Issue was joined with service of defendant’s answer on March 7, 2007.

Defendant contends that a notice of lien must be filed within four months after the date of the last work performed or material furnished pursuant to Lien Law § 10 (1). According to defendant, installation of the air-conditioning units was completed in September 2005. Plaintiffs bill for services rendered provides that the invoice date was September 20, 2005, and that the bill’s due date was October 20, 2005. Defendant contends fur[224]*224ther that plaintiff did not issue any other statements for services rendered after September 20, 2005. Therefore, plaintiff was required to file the notice of mechanic’s lien no later than January 2006. Since plaintiff filed the notice one year after it was due to be filed, defendant contends that the lien is untimely and, thus, invalid on its face.

In response, plaintiff contends that defendant’s motion to discharge the lien should be denied for two reasons. First, plaintiff contends that, under Lien Law § 19 (6), the Civil Court of New York City does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the instant application. Rather, a motion of this nature must be brought in Supreme Court. Second, plaintiff contends that defendant may not submit evidence to contest the facial validity of the notice of mechanic’s lien. According to plaintiff, an evidentiary challenge to a lien’s validity, such as the one brought by defendant, must be raised during a foreclosure proceeding.

Section 19 (6) of the Lien Law states in pertinent part as follows:

“Where it appears from the face of the notice of lien that the claimant has no valid lien . . . the owner or any other party in interest, may apply to the supreme court of this state, or to any justice thereof, or to the county judge of the county in which the notice of lien is filed, for an order summarily discharging of record the alleged lien.”

The New York City Civil Court Act enumerates the various actions involving real property over which the court has jurisdiction (Siegel, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 29A, NY City Civ Ct Act § 203, at 62). The Civil Court of New York City has jurisdiction of an action for the establishment, enforcement, or foreclosure of a mechanic’s lien on real property where the lien asserted does not, at the time the action is commenced, exceed $25,000, provided that the real property involved or part of it is situated within the county in the City of New York in which the action is brought (NY Const, art VI, § 15; NY City Civ Ct Act § 203 [e]).

The question presented is whether Lien Law § 19 (6) preempts this court from having jurisdiction over defendant’s motion to summarily discharge the mechanic’s lien, notwithstanding the language in CCA 203 (e) ostensibly conferring jurisdiction on the court over actions to establish, enforce or foreclose such liens.

[225]*225Plaintiff relies primarily on the “plain text” in section 19 (6) of the Lien Law, which states that a property owner may apply to the Supreme Court, any justice thereof, or to a county judge for an order summarily discharging a notice of mechanic’s lien. In addition, plaintiff cites Matter of Lowe (4 AD3d 476 [2d Dept 2004]) in support of its contention that Civil Court lacks jurisdiction over an application to summarily discharge a mechanic’s lien. However, Lowe is clearly distinguishable from the instant matter in that the petition to discharge the lien was filed in Supreme Court, not in Civil Court.

In Geiger Roofing Co. v Thompson (54 Misc 2d 718 [Civ Ct, NY County 1967]), this court held that the Civil Court of New York City lacked jurisdiction over a motion to vacate a mechanic’s lien because Civil Court does not have general equity powers. However, we decline to follow Geiger because the reasoning of A.R.T. Ltd. v Simpson (114 Misc 2d 662 [Civ Ct, NY County 1982]) is more persuasive.

In A.R.T. Ltd., an architect and cabinet work contractors filed a mechanic’s lien and commenced an action to foreclose on the lien. The defendant/apartment owner moved to dismiss the complaint, contending that there were fatal defects in the notice of lien and, therefore, the lien should be vacated and discharged pursuant to section 19 (6) of the Lien Law. The court held that the motion to discharge the lien was properly before New York County Civil Court despite the jurisdictional limitations imposed by the Civil Court Act. The court wrote:

“Plaintiff has submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the Civil Court by reason of the commencement of a foreclosure action. It would be illogical for a party faced with a foreclosure action to be barred from raising the issue of the defects in the notice of lien and be forced to bring on a separate proceeding in Supreme Court to discharge the very same lien that is the subject of the foreclosure action.
“Section 905 of the CCA provides: ‘The court may consider any defense to a cause of action or claim asserted by any party, whether such defense be denominated or deemed legal or equitable in nature.’
“The alleged defects in the notice of lien under section 9 of the Lien Law constitute an equitable defense in an action to foreclose on a mechanic’s lien and the owner of the premises may move in such an action to discharge the lien under subdivision (6) section 19 of the Lien Law. Therefore, the [226]*226motion to discharge the lien under subdivision (6) section 19 for the alleged failure of the notice of lien to comply with section 9 of the Lien Law is properly before this court.” (114 Misc 2d at 665.)

To the extent that plaintiffs’ cause of action in A.R.T. Ltd. was to foreclose on a mechanic’s lien, it is distinguishable from the instant action.

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Related

In re Lowe
4 A.D.3d 476 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
Di-Com Corp. v. Active Fire Sprinkler Corp.
36 A.D.2d 20 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1971)
Geiger Roofing Co. v. Thompson
54 Misc. 2d 718 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1967)
A.R.T. Ltd. v. Simpson
114 Misc. 2d 662 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1982)
Risicato v. Lumberyard Supply Corp.
194 Misc. 2d 770 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
17 Misc. 3d 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamiltonair-co-v-gould-nycivct-2007.