78 N.Y.S. 336 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1902
On the 18th of March, 1899, one Patrick Gallagher entered into a contract with the city of New York to build for it a school building, and on the twenty-eighth of September following Gallagher entered into a contract with Smith & Ryan, by which the latter, in consideration of $15,200, agreed to do certain work and furnish certain materials, as per Gallagher’s contract with the city. Smith ■& Ryan performed all of the services and furnished all of the materials in accordance with their contract to January 9, 1901, when they were adjudged bankrupts, and the plaintiff was appointed temporary receiver and thereafter trustee of the bankrupts’ estate, and as such, by order .of the court, proceeded to and did carry out the terms of the contract. Before the completion of the school building, and on the 16th day of March, 1901, Smith & Ryan filed, pursuant to chapter 418 of the Laws of 1897, a notice of lien for
The complaint set forth the foregoing facts and designated them two separate causes of action, the first cause of action being based, upon the lien filed by Smith & Ryafi and the other one on the lien filed by the plaintiff as their trustee. Gallagher and the Fidelity and Deposit Company demurred to the complaint upon two-grounds : (1) Because two causes of action were improperly united ;. and (2) that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The demurrer was sustained as to the Fidelity and Deposit Company, but overruled as to Gallagher, and from the; interlocutory judgment sustaining the demurrer as to the Fidelity and Deposit Company the plaintiff has appealed.
The demurrer of the Fidelity and Deposit Company that two-causes of action were improperly united was not well taken. The demurrer itself was defective and did not enable the Fidelity Company to present that question. It did not point out specifically the particular defect relied upon, but only stated the objection in the words of the 7th subdivision of section 488 of the Code of .Civil. Procedure. Section 490 expressly provides that a demurrer taken under this subdivision of section 488 must point out specifically the particular defect relied üpon, and it has been held that to simply state the objection in the words of the statute is not sufficient. (Dodge v. Colby, 108 N. Y. 445; Mitchell v. Thorne, 134 id, 539; Anderton v. Wolf, 41 Hun, 571.) When á pleading is.
Mor is there any force to the demurrer on the ground that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against the Fidelity and Deposit Company. Smith & Ryan performed their contract with Gallagher up to the time the plaintiff was appointed receiver and trustee in bankruptcy, and thereafter, as such receiver and trustee, by order of the court, he completed the contract. When he was appointed by operation of law he stepped into the shoes of Smith & Ryan and was their representative for every purpose so far as the contract was concerned and the enforcement of any claim that might be made under it. He had just as much right to file a lien and enforce it as Smith & Ryan would have had had the plaintiff not been appointed their trustee. The statute under which the lien was filed provides that it shall “ be construed liberally to secure the beneficial interests and purposes thereof. A substantial compliance with its several provisions shall be sufficient for the validity of a lien and to give jurisdiction to the courts to enforce the same.” (§ 22.)
In McDonald v. Mayor (170 N. Y. 409), under a statute (Laws of 1882, chap. 410, § 1825) which provided that a claimant might, under certain conditions, acquire a lien by filing a .notice and verifying the same by “ his oath or affirmation,” it was held that it was a sufficient compliance under the Lien Law that the notice was verified
It follows, therefore, that the judgment appealed from must be reversed and the defendant permitted to withdraw its demurrer, and answer on payment of the costs in this court and in the court below.
Van Brunt, P. J., Patterson, O’Brien and Laughlin, JJ., concurred.
Judgment reversed, and defendant permitted to withdraw demurrer, and answer on payment of the costs in this court and in the court below.