Matthews v. Schusheim

36 Misc. 2d 918, 235 N.Y.S.2d 973, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2699
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 7, 1962
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 36 Misc. 2d 918 (Matthews v. Schusheim) 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
Matthews v. Schusheim, 36 Misc. 2d 918, 235 N.Y.S.2d 973, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2699 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1962).

Opinion

Anthony M. Livoti, J.

By a notice of motion dated May 25, 1962, the plaintiff moved for an order appointing a receiver pendente lite of the properties which are subject to this action, pursuant to article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law, on the ground that there is danger that said properties will be removed beyond the court’s jurisdiction during the pendency of the action and will be materially injured or destroyed before a final judgment can be obtained.

The complaint in this consolidated action contains three causes of action. The first cause of action is against defendant Mark Matthews, etc., for damages resulting from fraud. Plaintiff did not discover the facts constituting the fraud until June 11, 1958. The second cause of action is against all of the individual defendants herein for damages resulting from the fact that they conspired together, willfully, intentionally and knowingly, to assist and abet defendant Mark Matthews, etc., to make intentional false and fraudulent representations regarding his true net worth, consisting of real estate, stocks, bonds, investments and businesses throughout the United States, to the plaintiff, for the purpose of inducing said plaintiff, relying upon such representations made by said defendant Mark Matthews, etc., to accept the terms of property settlement agreements which are attached to the complaint, all to her damage, and plaintiff did convey to said defendant, pursuant to said agreements, real estate owned solely by plaintiff which was valued at approximately $50,000 at the time of said conveyance. The third cause of action herein is in the nature of a creditor’s action. It alleges an indebtedness of defendant Mark Matthews, etc., to the plaintiff which he has intentionally failed to pay, and alleges transfers of properties by defendant Mark Matthews, etc., to one or- more of the defendants, and “ [t]hat the defendants, other than the defendant ~ivr at?.tt matthews eto. received and accepted the aforesaid properties and funds described in paragraphs ‘ thirty-second ’ through ‘ thirty-eifth ’ inclusive herein, with knowledge of the wrongful intent and purposes of defendant mark matthbws etc.” and “were made with the intent and purpose * * * to place the properties and funds of defendant mark matthbws [920]*920etc. beyond the reach of the plaintiff and to hinder, delay and defraud the plaintiff ’ ’.

The first cause of action is set forth in the allegations numbered “First” through “Fourteenth”; the second in paragraphs numbered “ Fifteenth ” through “Eighteenth”; and the third in paragraphs numbered ‘ Nineteenth ’ ’ through “ Thirty-Ninth Paragraph “ Fifteenth ” of the second cause of action realleges as part thereof paragraphs “ First ” through “ Fourteenth ” of the first cause of action, and paragraph “Nineteenth” of the third cause of action realleges as part thereof paragraphs “First” through “Fourteenth” of the first cause of action and paragraphs “Fifteenth” through “Eighteenth” of the second cause of action. The complaint further seeks the appointment of a receiver pendente lite and that each of the defendants be restrained from transferring, incumbering, and in any way disposing of the properties and moneys aforesaid.

The sufficiency of these causes of action has been adjudicated by an order of this court dated December 2, 1960, which denied defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaint under subdivision 4 of rule 106 of the Rules of Civil Practice (26 Misc 2d 864), and no appeals have been taken by defendants from said adjudication. Thus, this is the law of the case.

The plaintiff undoubtedly has a right to assert her third cause of action under article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law (§§ 270-279) notwithstanding that her claim against defendant Mark Matthews, etc., was unliquidated and not matured to judgment (American Sur. Co. v. Conner, 251 N. Y. 1; Enthoven v. Enthoven, 167 Misc. 686, affd. 256 App. Div. 813; Buttles v. Smith, 281 N. Y. 226, 236) and, in connection with such causes of action, she is empowered by statute (Debtor and Creditor Law, art. 10, § 279, subd. b) to seek the appointment of a receiver pendente lite to take charge of the real and personal property alleged to have been fraudulently conveyed for the purpose of placing the said properties and funds of said defendant beyond the reach of the plaintiff and to hinder, delay and defraud said plaintiff. Moreover, the said conveyances are sought to be set aside, pursuant to article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law, upon the ground that they were transferred fraudulently and without true and equitable consideration.

In a dictum by Judge Cardozo in American Sur. Co. v. Conner (supra), on page 7, is the following language: “ The act is explicit that a creditor may now maintain a suit in equity to annul a fraudulent conveyance, though his debt has not matured. It is not believable that a creditor with a debt already due was [921]*921to be placed in a less favorable position, or beset by greater obstacles. For the one as for the other, the path is to be cleared of harassing impediments to the swift pursuit of justice. * * * He [the creditor] may seek the aid of equity, and without attachment or execution, may establish his debt, whether matured or unmatured, and challenge the conveyance in the compass of a single suit.” This the plaintiff has chosen to do in asserting her third cause of action under article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law.

Fraudulent transfer or conveyance is an old device for the purpose of cheating creditors. To destroy its efficacy as much as possible a new article to the Debtor and Creditor Law was enacted by chapter 254 of the Laws of 1925, known as article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law (§§ 270 to 281), entitled ‘ ‘ Fraudulent Conveyances ’ ’. Section 276 declares invalid every conveyance made with an actual intent to defraud creditors. By sections 278 and 279 creditors whose claims have matured or have not matured may have a fraudulent conveyance set aside. But though these remedies were given to the creditor they proved inadequate to discourage indulgence in fraudulent and dishonest practices of this kind. 1 ‘ A conveyance is fraudulent when the grantor, even though solvent, is motivated by an intent to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors ” (emphasis supplied) (Pattison v. Pattison, 301 N. Y. 65, 73-74; Gunsberg v. Takabi Corp., 20 Misc 2d 640, 641).

Section 270 of the Debtor and Creditor Law contains various definitions. The word ‘1 Conveyance ’ ’ is defined as ‘ every payment of money, assignment, release, transfer, lease, mortgage or pledge of tangible or intangible property, and also the creation of any lien or incumbrance ”. The word Creditor ” is defined as “ a person having any claim, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, absolute, fixed or contingent ”.

The crux of this cause of action, by the very nature of the language used in the complaint, is placed squarely within the province of sections 276, 278 and 279 of the Debtor and Creditor Law. It further revolves around the allegations that the disposition and transfer of the assets of the individual defendant Mark Matthews, etc., were made to one or more of the other defendants herein with actual intent and purpose to place such assets of defendant Mark Matthews, etc., beyond the reach of the plaintiff and to hinder, to delay and to defraud her.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 Misc. 2d 918, 235 N.Y.S.2d 973, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2699, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-schusheim-nysupct-1962.