S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc. v. Sweeney

256 A.D. 488, 10 N.Y.S.2d 868, 1939 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4763
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 17, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 256 A.D. 488 (S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc. v. Sweeney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc. v. Sweeney, 256 A.D. 488, 10 N.Y.S.2d 868, 1939 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4763 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Untermyer, J.

The petitioner, S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc., a corporation dissolved in 3935 by proclamation of the Secretary of State, retained the appellant Heffernan, an attorney, to collect a judgment which the corporation had recovered in 3928 against one Frank E. Sweeney in the Supreme Court of New York county. Heffernan succeeded in recovering $600 on the judgment, which was paid to him by Sweeney on May 27, 3938, under an escrow agreement of that date to the effect that it should not be released until a satisfaction of the judgment was delivered. If a satisfaction of thé judgment was not delivered, the sum deposited was to be repaid to Sweeney after deducting any compensation that might be allowed to Heffernan by a court of competent jurisdiction. A controversy arose between the client and the attorney concerning the amount of the attorney’s compensation, resulting in a proceeding in the Supreme Court of New York county instituted by S. M. & [490]*490J. Eisenstadt, Inc., which was dismissed on September 9, 1938, without prejudice to the institution of a new proceeding, on the ground that it was not sufficiently alleged that it was authorized by the former directors of the corporation. There followed a new proceeding in the Supreme Court, Fulton county, begun by Heffernan on September 14, 1938, under section 475 of the Judiciary Law, in which he requested that the amount of his attorney’s lien be determined and another proceeding in the Supreme Court, New York county, instituted by S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc., on September 17, 1938, in which it demanded that the compensation of the attorney be determined and also that the balance of the sum of $600 remaining be paid to the petitioner and another attorney, David I. Michaelson.

In the proceeding in the Supreme Court of New York county, Heffernan raised no issue of fact but interposed the defense that the satisfaction of judgment delivered by S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc., was insufficient, apparently because executed in the name of the corporation, by its president, rather than by trustees in liquidation. He also contended that the pendency of the proceeding in Fulton county precluded the. maintenance of the proceeding m New York county between the same parties and, as he contended, for the same cause. The proceeding in New York county resulted in a decision on September 29, 1938, published in the New York Law Journal on the following day (N. Y. L. J. Sept. 30, 1938, p. 902), which, after allowing Heffernan the sum of $150 compensation for his services, directed that he turn over the balance of $450 to the petitioner and Michaelson. The order on that decision, however, was not entered until October 5, 1938. In the meantime the proceeding in Fulton county had resulted in an order, dated October 3, 1938, fixing the petitioner’s compensation at $298.53, but containing no provision for the payment over to S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc., of any balance, for in that proceeding no such relief had been demanded. It would appear that that court, in making its order of October 3, 1938, was not aware of the decision of the Supreme Court of New York county which had been published in the New York Law Journal three days previously. In consequence of these two proceedings there is now outstanding an order of the Supreme Court, Fulton county, dated October 3, 1938, fixing the lien of the attorney at $298.53 and an order of the Supreme Court, New York county, dated October 5,1938, from which the attorney appeals, fixing his compensation at $150 and further directing payment to the petitioner and Michaelson of $450. The attorney having failed to comply with the order of the Supreme Court of New York county, a motion [491]*491was made to punish him for contempt of court, which resulted in an order, dated November 18, 1938, granting the motion, from which Heffernan also appeals. There is also an order of the Supreme Court, Fulton county, fixing the lien of another attorney, Gordon P. Young, at $135.75, which, however, need not be considered here.

In our opinion the appellant’s contention that the pendency of the proceeding in Fulton county precluded the maintenance of the proceeding in New York county must be overruled. The proceedings were identical only to the extent that both demanded that the attorney’s compensation be determined. They differed in that the Fulton county proceeding would not have adjudicated who was entitled to the fund after the attorney’s lien was satisfied. That was precisely the purpose of the proceeding in New York county, in which it was demanded that the fund be turned over by the attorney to the petitioner subject to the payment of his claim for compensation. The difference in the two proceedings becomes especially important when it is remembered that Heffernan was contending that the petitioner’s failure to deliver a proper satisfaction of judgment required payment of the balance of the fund to Sweeney under the escrow agreement of May 27, 1938, while the petitioner was contending that the satisfaction was sufficient and entitled it to the balance of the fund. It cannot, therefore, be said that the two proceedings, though between the same parties, were for the same cause.” (Avery v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 230 App. Div. 519.)

If it were necessary to hold that the order of the Supreme Court, New York county, dated October 5, 1938, allowing the attorney the sum of $150 for his services remains effective in direct contradiction to the order of the Supreme Court, Fulton county, dated October 3, 1938, allowing him $298.53 for the same services, it is probable that neither order would be entitled to prevail (Shaw v. Broadbent, 129 N. Y. 114), and the question of the amount of the attorney’s compensation would be open for determination in a new proceeding. We are, however, of opinion that for other reasons the order of October 5, 1938, should be reversed.

The action is not maintained by trustees in liquidation, but in the corporate name, upon the theory that section 29 of the General Corporation Law (as amd. by Laws of 1937, chap. 597) applies. The provisions of that section, stated in general terms, allow a corporation, though dissolved, to sue or be sued in its corporate name and likewise in its corporate name to wind up its affairs through agents appointed for that purpose. It is conceded, however, that the corporation S. M. & J. Eisenstadt, Inc., was dissolved in 1935 by proclamation of the Secretary of State under section [492]*492203-a of the Tax Law, on account of non-payment of franchise taxes. Subdivision 10 of section 203-a (as amd. by Laws of 1937, chap. 623) contains provisions concerning corporations so dissolved which seem to be in conflict with section 29 of the General Corporation Law. Even if section 29 may be said not to be in direct conflict with subdivision 10 of section 203-a in that the proceedings contemplated by subdivision 10 are also authorized by section 29, it would inevitably follow that all the provisions of subdivision 10 are rendered meaningless and nugatory.

The problem thus presented is whether section 29, which includes a dissolution for any cause and whether voluntary or involuntary,” applies to a corporation dissolved under section 203-a of the Tax Law, for which special provision has been made. The Appellate Term of this Department, in Seventy-three First Avenue Corp., Inc., v. Braunstein Bros. Carbonic Sales Corp. (168 Misc. 842; affd., 170 id. 657), has held that section 29 of the General Corporation Law does not apply to such a case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harris Investing Corp. v. Sil-Gold Corp.
38 Misc. 2d 549 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)
Trub v. Braunstein
13 Misc. 2d 986 (New York Supreme Court, 1958)
People ex rel. Sabbeth v. Sabbeth
2 Misc. 2d 593 (New York Supreme Court, 1956)
Leiserson & Adler, Inc. v. Keam
266 S.W.2d 352 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1954)
Gerstel v. William Curry's Sons Company
25 So. 2d 560 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1946)
N. Y. Rayon Importing Co. v. United States
64 F. Supp. 684 (Court of Claims, 1946)
Wilner Friends Credit Ass'n v. Scheffres
175 Misc. 909 (City of New York Municipal Court, 1941)
Carpenter & Carpenter, Inc. v. Kingham
109 P.2d 463 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1941)
Wilkins v. Sirael Realty Corp.
174 Misc. 1002 (New York Supreme Court, 1940)
In re Heffernan
257 A.D. 897 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1939)
Young v. Sweeney
257 A.D. 878 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
256 A.D. 488, 10 N.Y.S.2d 868, 1939 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-m-j-eisenstadt-inc-v-sweeney-nyappdiv-1939.