Nelson v. Hajek

67 Misc. 128
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1910
StatusPublished

This text of 67 Misc. 128 (Nelson v. Hajek) 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
Nelson v. Hajek, 67 Misc. 128 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1910).

Opinions

Dayton, J.

This is an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien, brought by plaintiff as a subcontractor against Joseph [129]*129and Josefa Bernascheff, principal contractors, and the other defendants as .owners of the property. The complaint demands a money judgment against the principal contractors under the contract with them and for extra work and material, and the establishment of the same as a lien on the owners’ title or interest in the property. There was a jury trial, and the court submitted to the jury the issue as to the liability of the principal contractors for a personal judgment and left it to them to declare the sum which might be found in plaintiff’s favor a lien on the owners’ interest in the property. The jury returned the following verdict: “We find a verdict for the plaintiff, Mr. FTelson, for $309 and interest and costs against Mr. and Mrs. Bernascheff, and we grant- a lien on the Hiajeks’ property for the amount of the verdict.” On this verdict the court finally entered a personal judgment against the defendants sued as contractors, and the amount was “ adjudged and declared a valid lien against the interests of defendants Frank Hajek, William Hajek and John Zahradnik (the owners), on the 2d day of February, 1907, in the property described in the -complaint in this action; and that plaintiff have execution therefor,” etc. The owners appeal. Appellants first challenge the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court of an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien, except it be an action in which a personal judgment- is sought against the owner. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the precise question is not discussed and has not been determined in any previous decision reported, although the jurisdiction has heretofore been assumed. At one time it was held that the Municipal Court had no jurisdiction of an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien in any event, because the action was an equitable one and the Legislature could not confer such jurisdiction upon inferior courts of its own creation. But Worthington v. London G. & A. Co., 164 N. Y. 81, destroyed the force of such decisions by establishing that the Municipal Court was not a new court of the Legislature’s creation, hut a continuation of the former district court. This is the extent to which some of the authorities relied on by respondents go. [130]*130They merely sustain the jurisdiction in an action for a personal judgment against the owner and do not relate to actions by subcontractors in which a personal judgment against the owner is not asked and could not be rendered. Such are the cases of Kotzen v. Kathanson, 33 Misc. Rep. 299; Eadie v. Waldron, 64 App. Div. 424. So of the late case of Weinstock v. Clarendon Imp. Co., 119 N. Y. Supp. 604. It was in Kotzen v. Kathanson, supra, that the distinction between the methods provided for the enforcement of mechanics’ liens in courts of record and in courts not of record was pointed out, as indicating that the equitable remedy for the foreclosure of such liens was confided to courts of records and that a distinct remedy was given in courts not of record; and it was in this connection that the court used the language that in courts not of record the action' is not an equitable one but is against the owner only to enforce payment of the debt secured by the lien. Before the enactment of the Greater Kew York charter, in 1897, the district court assumed jurisdiction of actions by subcontractors under the Mechanics’ Lien Law (Act 1885), by virtue of provisions giving to courts not of record power to enforce mechanics’ liens and declaring the method of enforcement in such courts. These provisions were substantially similar to those of the Mechanics’ Lien Law of 1897; and this court seems to have sustained such jurisdiction in a case in which the question does not appear to have been presented as here. See Egan v. Laemmle, 5 Misc. Rep. 224. And since the act of 1897 jurisdiction has been assumed by the Municipal Court, and such assumption apparently recognized by this court. See Siegel v. Ehrshowsky, 46 Misc. rep. 605. So, in Drall v. Gordon, 51 Misc. Rep. 618, this court said that the Municipal Court was “limited to rendering a simple money judgment against the defendant to be enforced by an execution authorizing the sheriff to sell the right, title and interest which the judgment debtor had in the property at the time the lien was filed;” but this language was used upon affirming a personal judgment against the principal contractor, and dismissing the complaint as to the owner because no lien was established, and as to another [131]*131lienor joined as defendant because it was improper to join other lienors in such actions in the Municipal Court. In Daxe v. Hajek, 56 Misc. Rep. 673, an action by a subcontractor, no personal judgment was sought; and this court modified the judgment by striking out that part which was against the parties for a sum of money and affirming it in so far as it merely declared a lien on the owners’ property. The court refers approvingly to the language quoted from Drall v. Gordon, supra; but the result of the decision seems not to be entirely consistent with that language, since it is not clear how a lien against the owners’ property should be declared if the court is limited to the rendering of a money judgment to be declared a lien. The meaning of the statutory provisions relating to the subject is not to be ascertained from any one clause or expression alone, but from all of the provisions, considered together, as well as from the general scope of the statutes and the purpose in view. Kelly v. Bloomingdale, 139 N. Y. 348. The Mechanics’ Lien Act provides for the enforcement of the lien in “ an action hy the lienor in a court which has jurisdiction in an action founded on a contract for a sum of money equivalent to the amount of such debt.” This does not require an action for a money judgment against the owner. The limitation intended by the provision is only as. to the amount of the claim on account of which the lien is sought to he enforced. Raven v. Smith, 139 N. Y. 418. Any other construction might exclude the jurisdiction of a court of record as well as of a court not of record. By the act the lien may be enforced " against such property and against the person liable for the debt” etc. This contemplates a judgment against the property and also against the person liable for the debt, whethér that person be the owner or some other person, so long as the liability to the plaintiff gives rise to a lien under the previous provisions of the act. The provision which gives jurisdiction to courts not of record as well as to courts of record makes no distinction in respect of the particular lienors who may resort to the former court; on the contrary, the first section of the article which deals with the remedy expressly declares that the provisions of the arti[132]*132ele are to be considered in connection with the prior article which creates the liens.

The Municipal Court Act gives that court jurisdiction of “ an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien on real property, in which the court shall have power to render judgment for the sum due, with interest,” etc., “ and to declare the amount a valid lien against the interest of the defendant in the property described in the complaint at the time of the filing of the lien, where the amount does not exceed five hundred dollars,” etc., but provides that said court cannot render judgment for the foreclosure and sale of the property.” This would seem to be in aid of the jurisdiction conferred' by the Lien Law.

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Related

Worthington v. London Guarantee & Accident Co.
58 N.E. 102 (New York Court of Appeals, 1900)
Kelly v. . Bloomingdale
34 N.E. 919 (New York Court of Appeals, 1893)
Eadie v. Waldron
64 A.D. 424 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1901)
Weinstock v. Clarendon Improvement Co.
134 A.D. 598 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1909)
Kotzen v. Nathanson
33 Misc. 299 (New York Supreme Court, 1900)
Drall v. Gordon
51 Misc. 618 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1906)
Daxe v. Hajek
56 Misc. 673 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1907)
Cheney v. Beals
47 Barb. 523 (New York Supreme Court, 1867)
Egan v. Laemmle
25 N.Y.S. 330 (New York Court of Common Pleas, 1893)

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Bluebook (online)
67 Misc. 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-hajek-nysupct-1910.