Le Boeuf v. Gray

42 Misc. 632, 87 N.Y.S. 597
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 42 Misc. 632 (Le Boeuf v. Gray) 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
Le Boeuf v. Gray, 42 Misc. 632, 87 N.Y.S. 597 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1904).

Opinion

Kellogg, John M., J.

The defendant Gillette, the owner of a judgment recovered August 16, 1893, against the plaintiff’s grantor, asks that provision be made in the judgment of partition herein for the payment of said judgment, to which the plaintiff objects on the ground that he is a subsequent purchaser of the premises from the judgment debtor, and that [633]*633said judgment ceased to be a lien August 15, 1903. Administration was had upon the estate of the judgment debtor March 16, 1900, and by virtue of section 1380 of the Code of Civil Procedure the statutory lien of the said judgment, which otherwise would have expired August 15, 1903, was continued three years and six months from the date of such administration and terminated September 15,1903. In partition it is optional with the plaintiff, under section 1540 of the Code of Civil Procedure, whether he will make a party having a lien upon an undivided share or interest in the property a defendant or not. The plaintiff made the then owner of this judgment a party, serving upon him a verified complaint June 6, 1903, alleging the said judgment, that the plaintiff is the owner of an undivided one-sixth of said premises subject to the lien of said judgment, and that the premises consist of a farm which cannot be divided but must be sold, and asks judgment for the sale of the farm, and that the proceeds be divided between the respective parties according to their shares, rights and interests. At the time the summons and complaint were served the owner of the said judgment had 110 days remaining, which gave ample time to collect the judgment by execution before the lien expired. On June 12, 1903, a supplemental and amended complaint was served by the plaintiff containing substantially the same allegations and prayer for relief, and on August first another amended complaint was served containing substantially the same allegations and prayer for relief. When this latter complaint was served there were but forty-five days remaining, not giving time to obtain leave to issue execution and effect a sale on the judgment before the statutory time expired, and an execution ought not to issue against an estate for the sale of real estate unless there is sufficient time remaining before the statutory lien expires in which to make the sale. Darling v. Littlejohn, 35 N. Y. St. Repr. 516.

So we must conclude that at that late day, when the owner of the judgment had no legal remedy by which he could collect out of this real estate before the expiration of the lien, the plaintiff was still recognizing that the owner of the judg[634]*634ment was entitled to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale. The defendant Orapser, the owner of the judgment at the time the action was brought, having transferred it to the defendant Gillette, the latter obtained from this court an order dated August 15, 1903, bringing him into the action as a defendant, and upon that date he serves an answer alleging that the judgment has been transferred by the defendant Orapser to him, and that he is the owner thereof, and asks that the same be paid to him. Thereupon the plaintiff serves an amended complaint, verified the 19 th day of August, 1903, alleging said judgment and its transfer to the defendant Gillette, and that after the commencement of this action and on the tenth day of August, the said Gillette applied to the surrogate of Eranklin county for leave to issue an execution, which leave was denied upon the ground that the lien of said judgment would expire on the sixteenth day of August, and that by virtue of said adjudication by said surrogate, the plaintiff being a purchaser in good faith, his interest in said premises is free and clear from the lien of said judgment, to which the defendant Gillette served an amended answer insisting that said judgment should be paid in this action. It is significant that before this action was commenced the defendant Orapser had served on plaintiff and others interested a notice of motion asking leave to issue execution upon this judgment, returnable before this court on the sixth day of June, but said motion for some reason was continued until the sixth day of July, when leave was granted. On the 14th day of July, 1903, Gillette filed a petition with the Franklin county surrogate for leave to issue an execution upon said judgment, which matter for some reason continued along until the 10th day of August, 1903, when the' surrogate denied said application upon the ground that the lien of said judgment would expire before a sale could be had upon execution. The fact that this action was pending and the proceedings therein and the effect thereof do not seem to have been before or considered by the surrogate, so that the decree only adjudges that upon the facts appearing before him an execution ought not to issue because a sale under it [635]*635could not take place until after the statutory lien had expired. But the question here is whether by reason of the particular circumstances existing in this action the plaintiff is precluded from denying that the defendant Gillette is entitled to have his judgment paid out of the proceeds of the sale in this action. With confidence the defendant cites Caswell v. Kemp, 41 Kun, 434, which holds that a defendant in a partition case who holds a judgment against the ancestor of the tenants in common is entitled to have it paid out of the proceeds even though the statutory lien expires during the pendency of the action, saying that the liens existed at the time the suit was commenced, and the interests must be determined with reference to the rights of the parties as they existed at the commencement of the action. With equal confidence the plaintiff refers to Nutt v. Cuming, 155 N. Y. 309, where in an action of foreclosure the owner of a subsequent judgment was made a defendant, and a decree of foreclosure and sale in the usual form was made before the statutory lien expired, but the sale did not take place till five years later, and after the statutory lien had expired, and upon an application for the surplus moneys it was held that the lien having expired the judgment creditor had no claim upon the surplus moneys. The opinion seems to proceed upon the effect of Buie 64, which provides that any person having a lien at the time of sale may apply for the surplus moneys, and also upon the theory that the owner of the mortgage was simply proceeding against the property for the payment of •his debt, and that the surplus arose as an incident to that proceeding, and was not such a bringing of the fund into a court of equity that the owner of the judgment could assert his rights as of the time of the commencement of the action, but must rely upon the situation as he finds it when he seeks his remedy. While a majority of the court do not refer to Caswell v. Kemp, the opinion draws a clear distinction between that case and the one then under consideration. The « dissenting opinion refers to it with confidence. There is a broad distinction with reference to such a judgment between an action of partition and an action of foreclosure, especially [636]*636where the action of partition is brought by the owner of the share in the property against which the judgment is a lien. In such a case he brings all the parties interested in the property and the property itself into a court of equity to be distributed according to the legal and equitable rights and interests of the parties.

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Bluebook (online)
42 Misc. 632, 87 N.Y.S. 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/le-boeuf-v-gray-nysupct-1904.