T. G. W. Realties, Inc. v. Long Island Bird Store, Inc.

151 Misc. 918, 272 N.Y.S. 602, 1934 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1395
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 5, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 151 Misc. 918 (T. G. W. Realties, Inc. v. Long Island Bird Store, Inc.) 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
T. G. W. Realties, Inc. v. Long Island Bird Store, Inc., 151 Misc. 918, 272 N.Y.S. 602, 1934 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1395 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1934).

Opinion

Rosenman, J.

Samuel Altman and his wife Bertha had been tenants by the entirety of 107 Flatbush avenue, Brooklyn, since 1913. During that period and through 1925 Samuel Altman conducted his very prosperous business in the premises. He paid no rent therefor to his cotenant.

In December, 1925, he made an outright gift of his business, free from all Labilities, to his two sons, Benjamin and Irving. On January 1, 1926, the sons went into possession of the business as owners, and have conducted it ever since in the same premises. They agreed, at the time of the gift, to pay Samuel Altman rent for the premises at the rate of $625 monthly. This rent was paid until November, 1932, when payment was discontinued.

Samuel Altman in 1929 had purchased another parcel of property on Lafayette street, Brooklyn, subject to two mortgages. The facts surrounding this purchase are in dispute. He claims that it was bought on the express agreement of his sons that they would pay all of the carrying charges on the property on the theory that it was contemplated that the sons would eventually move their business into the new building. The sons deny the making of this agreement, although their books of account indicate that they continuously paid these charges, not as a loan to their father but as a regular expense. The time came when the sons announced that [920]*920they would no longer continue to pay them. Foreclosure of the mortgage on the property was commenced. Samuel Altman, in order to avoid paying the deficiency judgment which was imminent, thereupon proceeded to dispose of his attachable property and also to remove a great deal of it out of the State of New York. On December 3, 1932, he conveyed to this plaintiff his right, title and interest as a tenant by the entirety in the Flatbush avenue property, together with other assets. It is claimed by the plaintiff and by Samuel Altman that the consideration for this conveyance was $16,000 in cash. The defendants contend that no consideration was passed, and that the $16,000 was in fact the property of Samuel Altman used to lend color to a wholly fictitious transaction.

The plaintiff served notice of the assignment on the sons. Upon their refusal to pay the rent of $625 per month, this action was commenced by the plaintiff for several months’ rent. The defendant corporation, Long Island Bird Store, Inc., for the purposes of this action, stands in the shoes of the sons by assignment from them and by assumption of their liabilities. The defendant Bertha Altman is joined as a party defendant because she is the other tenant by the entirety, and has refused to become a party plaintiff. No affirmative claim is made against her for any money. Defendant alleges that immediately upon receiving notice from the plaintiff of the assignment, the sons went to their mother, Bertha Altman, the other tenant by the entirety, and without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff, entered into an agreement with her reducing their rent to $350 per month. One-half of this amount, or $175 per month, has been paid by the defendant Long Island Bird Store, Inc., to Bertha Altman, but the plaintiff has received no rent whatsoever.

After this action was commenced, the defendants by motion brought in the impleaded defendant, Samuel Altman, and demanded equitable relief as against him. The Long Island Bird Store, Inc., demands that the assignment of his one-half interest in the premises be set aside as fraudulent, and that he be compelled to pay to it all of the advances which the sons claim to have made for the carrying charges of the Lafayette street property. It also claims that Samuel Altman owes it money by reason of certain transactions connected with another piece of property on Buffalo avenue in Brooklyn, the details of which are not necessary to this opinion. Bertha Altman demands that her husband, Samuel Altman, account to her for her one-half share of all of the rent which he has received from the Flatbush avenue property as a tenant by the entirety. She also demands that the conveyance of her husband’s moiety be set aside as fraudulent, and that a lien attach thereto for the share of the rent which she claims is due her.

[921]*921I find as a fact that nothing was due from Samuel Altman to his sons on December 3, 1932, the date of the assignment, arising either from the Lafayette street property or the Buffalo avenue property. The claim of indebtedness is made as an afterthought by ungrateful sons, wholly forgetful of their father’s generosity to them, eager if possible ultimately to insure for themselves their father’s interest in the property which he has conveyed away. On the other hand, I find as a fact that the conveyance by Samuel Altman was made fraudulently with the actual intent of preventing Dayton, the holder of the mortgages on the Lafayette street property, from recovering his deficiency judgment.

Since Irving and Benjamin Altman were not creditors of their father on the date of the conveyance, the counterclaim of their assignee, Long Island Bird Store, Inc., against Samuel Altman cannot prevail. Only creditors may avail themselves of the remedies provided in article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law.

The same conclusion is reached with respect to the defendant Bertha Altman. Her status as a creditor is to be determined by the validity of her claim for her share of the rents collected from the Flatbush avenue property by Samuel Altman since January 1, 1926. Her rights as a tenant by the entirety were those of a tenant in common with the right of survivorship. (Matter of Goodrich v. Village of Otego, 216 N. Y. 112.) Although she and her husband had been tenants by the entirety since 1913, she had never received or made any legal demand for her share of the rents. While her husband was conducting his own business in the premises, he paid no rent. She at no time asked for that which was due her. Wdien he gave his business to his two sons she was apprised by him of the arrangement under which they were to pay him a rental of $625 per month. She acquiesced in the plan. She made no claim for any portion of the agreed rent; nor did she indicate any intention of doing so in future. In fact she did not even assume to have any right to participate in the matter or to fix the amount to be paid.

Until April, 1930, they lived together in a common household. He paid all the expenses of maintaining their home on a scale admittedly consonant with bis financial condition and general station in life. In April, 1930, marital difficulties arose which resulted in a separation. Thereafter he made provision for her maintenance by turning over to her all of the monthly rents of other property which he owned individually. She continued to remain silent as to her share of the rent of the Flatbush avenue property. She was obviously content to permit the old arrangement to continue, relying on the willingness of her husband to provide her with everything she was reasonably entitled to require from him.

[922]*922On December 3, 1932, her husband made the conveyance complained of in these counterclaims. Then, for the first time, Mrs. Altman decided to make claim for her share of all the back rent. It is not necessary to discuss the reasons which induced her suddenly to assert her rights which she had ignored during all these years of common ownership. Her long period of acquiescence has resulted in a waiver of her claims.

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

Related

Lawson v. Liberty National Bank & Trust Co.
18 B.R. 384 (W.D. New York, 1982)
In Re Paolini
11 B.R. 317 (W.D. New York, 1981)
Levin v. Ruby Trading Corp.
279 F. Supp. 386 (S.D. New York, 1967)
United States v. Lester
235 F. Supp. 115 (S.D. New York, 1964)
Henry v. Field
205 F. Supp. 197 (S.D. New York, 1962)
Sterns v. Stevans
20 Misc. 2d 417 (New York Supreme Court, 1959)
Sica v. Gimma
12 Misc. 2d 699 (New York Supreme Court, 1958)
Lohmann v. Lohmann
141 A.2d 84 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1958)
Wynne v. Boone Boone v. Boone
191 F.2d 220 (D.C. Circuit, 1951)
Kawalis v. Kawalis
183 Misc. 896 (New York Supreme Court, 1945)
Cornell v. Golder
179 Misc. 757 (New York Supreme Court, 1943)
Cary v. Cary
80 P.2d 886 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
151 Misc. 918, 272 N.Y.S. 602, 1934 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/t-g-w-realties-inc-v-long-island-bird-store-inc-nysupct-1934.