Mishkind-Feinberg Realty Co. v. Sidorsky

111 A.D. 578, 98 N.Y.S. 496, 1906 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 224
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided March 9, 1906·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinions

Clarke, J.:

This is a submission ■ of a controversy upon an agreed statement of facts, pursuant to the provisions of sections 1279-1281 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The parties entered into a contract in writing and under seal, under which the defendant agreed to sell and the plaintiff agreed to buy a certain piece of land with - the buildings thereon situated in the city of Hew York and known as 217 East One Hundred and Second street. The defendant agreed to deliver a proper deed containing the usual full covenants and warranty for the conveying and assuring to the party of the second part, or the assigns of the party of the second part, the fee simple of the said premises free from all incumbrance except as herein stated.” The plaintiff raised certain objections to defendant’s title, and the sole question here is: Is the title marketable ?;

The defendant acquired title through mesne conveyance.from one Donald, who was. the purchaser upon a foreclosure sale. Oñ the 29tli of June, 1897, one Pollock, the then owner of the fee, executed and delivered his bond and mortgage to Peter Donald for the payment of $14,000 on the 29th day of June, 1902, with interest at five per cent, payable semi-annually. Said mortgage was duly recorded. Thereafter said Pollock conveyed said premises to one Rickerson, and on May 24, 1899, Rickerson conveyed to Herman Rosenblum, who became the owner subject to said mortgage. On July 3,1899, said Rosenblum executed. a mortgage to Sigmund Cohn for $500. On October 31, 1899, Herman Rosenblum executed a mortgage to Simon Rosenblum for $3,000. This mortgage was assigned to Mollie Weinberg, and on Hovember 2, 1900, Mollie Weinberg assigned said mortgage to Mary Rabinovitch, the assignment, being recorded Hovember 7,-1900. On Hovember 14,1900, Peter Donald commenced an action to foreclose the first mortgage for $14,000 for non-payment of interest. The- owner of the equity, Herman Rosenblum, and his wife, Sigmund Cohn, the owner of the second mortgage for $500, and Mary Rabinovitch, the assignee of record of the third mortgage, as well as other parties, were made parties defendant. On December 4,-1900, an order was made and entered [580]*580directing that the summons and complaint be amended- by striking out two unnecessary defendants and by adding twenty-eight others, "all of whom were tenants of the premises sought to be foreclosed, and accordingly a supplemental and amended summons and complaint were on that day issued. The said supplemental and amended .summons named all .the old defendants, except those two stricken out, and all the new defendants, but was directed to the new defendants only, Thereafter, and on January 29, 1901, an order was made directing that the. summons be - served upon the defendant Mary Rabinovitch by publication- The affidavits upon which the order was made sufficiently showed the nón-residence of said defendant, and that her then address was No-. 12 Fair street, Paterson, R. J. ' The order provided “ that service of' th'e' summons in the above-entitled action upon the said, defendant Mary Rabinovitch be made by publication thereof-in two newspapers. * * * That on or before the day of tlie first publication as aforesaid plaintiff deposit in the general post office hi- the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of Rew York, a copy of the summons and notice of object of action hereto- annexed 'and of this order contained iñ a securely enclosed, postpaid wrapper 'directed • to the said Mary Rabinovitch at R0.-T2 Fair Street, Paterson, Rew Jersey.” There was deposited in the- post' office, directed as requited, on the 16th day of February, 1901, the summons as originally made and served on .the other defendants, that- is,- containing the name, of Mary Rabinovitch and others, but not including tlie twenty-eight. tenants as to whom the supplemental summons was-, directed to be issued. To this summons was attached a.notice - directed to the defendant Mary Rabinovitch-as follows: “ The' foregoing summons is served upon you by publication, pursuant to an order of the ¡Horn P. Henry Dugro, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Rew York, dated the 29th day of January, 1901, and filed with the complaintdn the office of the clerk of the' Countyof Rew York, on the 5th- day of February, 1901, at the Court House in the Borough of Mam hattan, Rew York.” There was also unclosed and mailed notice of object of action, notice of order of publication, complaint,-affidavits and .order of publication, and order amending-order of publication.

Thereafter and on May 3, 1901, judgment of foreclosure and sale wás entered and a referee appointed to sell, who, on May 28, [581]*5811901, after due notice.of sale-, sold the premises to the plaintiff in said action, Peter Donald,, for $13^400, resulting in a judgment for deficiency for $3,061.52. .

The first objection raised was that at the time- of the order of. publication of the summons, as against Mary Rabinovitch, a supplemental and amended summons had been ordered to be issued containing the names of'the twenty-eight tenants of the premises; that the publication and depositing in the post office of the original summons was not the publication of the summons in the action. It seems sufficient to say that, so far as -she was concerned, she was named in the original summons, and, being summoned to defend the action on her own account, it does not seen! a matter of moment that- the names of the tenants of the property, made parties only for the purpose of foreclosing their rights, if any, under their tenancies, could in any way affect her.

The second objection was that the order of publication did.not conform to the provisions of section 440 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The part of that section material to this objection is as follows: “ It (the order) must also contain * * * a direction that on or before the. day of the first publication the plaintiff deposit in a specified post-office one or more sets of copies of the summons, complaint and order, each contained in a securely closed postpaid wrapper directed to the defendant at a place'specified in the order.” The order complied with that provision, with the- exception that, instead of the word “ complaint,” it said “ notice of object of action hereto annexed.” As matter of fact, the order was complied with byr mailing the notice'of object of action, and the purpose of the statute was complied with by mailing, also the complaint. Subsequent to this,’ objection'being taken, and on August 19, 1904, on notice to all the parties who had appeared-, an order was made and entered in said action amending said order “nuno fro tuno” as of the original date by striking out the words “ notice of object of action ” and inserting the- word “ comjplaint,” upon proof being presented that a complaint as well as notice of object of action was mailed to the defendant Mary Rabinovitch, and that the words “notice of object of action” were used-in said order by oversight and mistake, and were due to a 'clerical error, and that the word “complaint” was intended to be used.

[582]*582PlaintifE claims that no jurisdiction was ever acquired over Mary Rabino’vitch because the order of publication' was jurisdieticnally defective. • Two recent cases in this court are cited by plaintifE. In Eleventh Ward Bank v. Powers (43 App. Div. 178) 'it appeared that the order did not specify the post office in which the copy of the summons, complaint and order were to be deposited. It did not direct that a copy of the order be mailed to the'defendant to be served, It did not direct that the order be served on or before the day of the first publication of the-summons.

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Mishkind-Feinberg Realty Co. v. Sidorsky, 111 A.D. 578, 98 N.Y.S. 496, 1906 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 224 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1906).

111 A.D. 578 (Mishkind-Feinberg Realty Co. v. Sidorsky) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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