197 F. 371 | N.D.N.Y. | 1912
On or about November 19, 19Ó6, the Interstate Paving Company, now bankrupt, entered into two contracts with the city of Niagara Falls for the paving of Fifth street, in said city, and February 9, 1906, another contract was entered into between the same parties for the paving of Niagara street, in said city, and on the 25th day of February; 1906, the same parties entered into a contract for the paving of Eleventh street, in said city. The Interstate Paving Company completed the performance of said contracts according to the terms thereof on or before August 1, 1908, except that the petitioner, after the assignment hereinafter mentiónéd, performed certain work on one of the streets for which he was paid $158.74 iii completion of such contract. Certain final payments thereon were deferred according to the terms of such contracts for reasons not necessary to state. During the performance of such contracts one Irvin A. Williams advanced large sums of money to said Interstate Paving Company, and also indorsed the notes of said company to a large amount, and, same not having been paid, said Williams was duly -charged with and became liable for their payment. The liability of the said Paving Company to said Williams on account of advance1 mbnts and such indorsements prior to October 12, 1907, was the sum Of $113,819.99, exclusive of interest. Thereafter said Williams continued to indorse notes for said Paving Company on which he was charged and made liable and to make advancements to it amounting, exclusive of interest, to the sum of $118,189.67, total $232,009.66, all before the bankruptcy. On the 27th day of May,- 1909, said Interstate Paving Company was.duly adjudicated a bankrupt, and June 15, 1909, John H. Grant was duly appointed trustee of the estate and qualified as such.
On said 12th day of October, 1907, said Interstate Paving Company made, executed, acknowledged, and delivered to said Williams four •separate assignments of the moneys earned, due, and to become due to it on the said contracts for paving, respectively. These assignments are absolute in form, and clearly refer to the contracts. One assignment relating to-one of the Fifth street contracts purports to assign $4,-700 as due, owing, and to become due thereon, and the other relating to Fifth street purports to assign $14,000 as due, owing, and to become
“Local Assessment Fund, No. 68.
"$218.37. The City Treasurer No. 625.
of the City of Niagara Falls, N. Y.
“Pay to the order of Interstate Paving Company two hundred eighteen 37/- dollars out of local assessment fund No. 68, being for retained % on paving contract No. 68. A. C. Douglass, Mayor.
“Dated Niagara Falls, Aug. 25, 1909.
“Thos. H. Hogan, City Clerk.”
The same day another like the above, except it was for $722.32 and refers to another of the contracts, was drawn ánd delivered. October 13, 1909, a warrant for the sum of $1,979.08, the same in all other respects as the one quoted except as it referred to another contract, was drawn and delivered, and December 29, 1909, another warrant the same in all respects, except as it referred to another of the contracts and was for $2,486.72, was drawn and delivered, all to the petitioner herein. These are the warrants in question. After the adjudication in bankruptcy and the appointment of the trustee, said Irvin A. Williams duly filed a proof of his claims in the bankruptcy court for the amounts stated, $113,819.99 and $118,189.67, exclusive of interest, and in same gave and allowed a credit of $5,766.16, consisting of the amounts due on -and under the said warrants $5,404.49 and certain additional items, making $5,766.16 in all. It is conceded that in such proof of claim it “does not appear that such claims [of Williams] were for materials furnished or services rendered the Interstate Paving Company in the prosecution of the paving contracts in the city of
Chapter 418 of the Laws of N. Y. 1897, “An act in relation to liens, constituting chapter 49 of the General Laws,” and known as-the “Lien Law,” relates to “mechanic’s liens” and provides in section 2 that the term “public improvement,” when so used, means “an improvement upon any rpal property belonging to the state or municipal corporation.” Section 5 provides for a lien on the agreed price of the work, etc., to be done by the contractor. Section 12 provides for the filing of such lien. Section 14 provides for the assignment of such lien, and section 17 for the duration of such lien, and section 20 for the discharge by lapse of time.
Section 15 provides as follows:
i_ “Assignments of contracts and orders to be filed. No assignment of a contract for the performance of labor or the furnishing of materials for the improvement of real property or of the money or any part thereof due or to become due therefor, nor an order drawn by a contractor or subcontractor upon the owner of such real property for the payment of such money shall be valid, until the contract or a statement containing the substance thereof and such assignment or a copy of each or a copy of such order, be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county wherein the real property improved or to be-improved is situated, and such contract, assignment or order shall have effect and be enforceable from the time of such filing. Such clerk shall enter the facts relating to such assignment or order in the ‘lien docket’ or in another book provided by him fof such purpose.”
“Assignments of contracts and orders to be filed. No assignment of a contract for tbe performance of labor or the furnishing of materials for the improvement of real property or of the money or any part thereof due or to become due therefor, nor an order drawn by a contractor or subcontractor upon the owner of such real property for the payment of such money shall be valid, until the contract or a statement containing the substance thereof and-such assignment or a copy of each or a copy of such order, be filed in tbe office of the county clerk of the county wherein the real property improved or to be improved is situated, and in case of a contract with a municipal corporation, also with the comptroller or chief fiscal officer thereof, and such contract, assignment or order shall have effect and be enforceable from the time of such filing. Such clerk shall enter the facts relating to such assignment or order in the ‘lien docket’ or in another book -provided by him for such purpose.”
I doubt whether the original or amended section (15) had any application whatever to the assignment of contracts for public improvements on the .streets in a city.
In Brace v. City of Gloversville, 167 N. Y. 452, 60 N. E. 779. the Court of Appeals held differently, however, while it affirmed the judgment of the court below. But that case was one for the erection of a building on lands owned by the city.
It is evident that the Legislature had doubt, for after the enactment of the amendatory section of May 23, 1907, and on the 22d day of July, 1907, it enacted the following (Laws of 1907, c. 692):
“Section 1. Chapter four hundred and eighteen of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, entitled ‘An act in relation to liens, constituting chapter forty-nine of the genera] laws,’ is hereby amended by inserting therein, after section fifteen, a new section to be section fifteen-a thereof, to read as follows: § 15-a. Assignment of contracts and orders for public improvements to be filed. No assignment of a contract for the performance of labor or the furnishing of materials for a public improvement, or of tbe money, or any part thereof, due, or to become due, therefor, nor an order drawn by the contractor or subcontractor upon the municipal corporation, or the head of the department or bureau having charge of the construction of such public improvement, or the financial officer of the municipal corporation, or other officer or person charged with the custody and disbursement, of. the corporate funds applicable to the contract for sxxeh public improvement, shall be valid until such assignment or order, or a copy thereof, be filed with the head of the department or bureau having charge of such con-st,rxiction, and with the financial officer of the municipal corporation or other officer or person charged with the custody and disbursement of the corporate funds applicable to the contract for such public improvement, and such assignment or order shall have effect and be enforceable from the time of such filing. The financial officer of the municipal corporation, or other officer or person with whom the assignment or order, or copy thereof, is filed, shall enter the facts relating to the same in the lien book or other book provided for such purpose.”
This new section amendatory of the act itself, and not of section 15, was in force when the Interstate Paving Company made the assignments to. Williams of the moneys, etc., due and to grow due on the paving contracts referred to. To make such assignments good as against payments by the city to the Interstate Paving Company on such contracts, or either of them, or to assignees of the money due, etc., thereon who should have recorded their assignments in the man
Section 15, above quoted, as amended May 23, 1907, in terms ap-, plies to assignments of contracts for the performance of labor or the furnishing of materials for the improvement of real property, or of the money, or any part thereof due or to become due therefor, and orders drawn by a contractor or subcontractor upon the owner of such real property for the payment of such money and evidently relates to improvements on real estate as such whether owned by private parties, individuals, and corporations or municipalities. In-such cases there is reason for requiring the assignment to be‘filed in the county clerk’s office like a deed or mortgage, as it, in a way,, becomes a lien on the real estate, and affects the title, and here is the place to look for liens on land'. But in the case of mere public improvements, such as the paving of public streets, where the title to real -estate is not affected, where the street may or may not be-owned by the municipality, but where in either event the payment- or nonpayment of the amount due for the improvement can in no way affect the street or the title thereto, or the rights of the municipality or public therein and thereto, there is no reason for filing the assignment in the office of the county clerk. In the Brace Case the-contract was for the erection of a schoolhouse on land owned by the-city. Having all this in mind, the Legislature added a new section to the Lien Law, viz., section 15a, which follows section 15, and relates to the “assignment of contracts and orders for public improvements,” such as paving streets and cured the -defect in the statute, if
“Be filed with the head of the department or bureau having charge of such construction and with the financial officer of the municipal corporation or other officer or person charged with the custody and disbursement of the corporate funds applicable to the contract for such public improvement,” etc.
I conclude, therefore, that in no event was it necessary to file these assignments in the office of the county clerk of the county.
Section 12, of the Lien Law referred to, as amended (chapter 37, Laws of 1902), provides:
“Notice of lien on account of public improvements. At any time before the construction of a public improvement is completed and accepted by the state or by the municipal corporation, and within thirty days after such completion and acceptance, a person performing work for or furnishing materials to a contractor, his subcontractor, assignee or legal representative, may file a notice of lien with the head of the department or bureau having charge of such construction and with the comptroller of the state or with the financial officer of the municipal corporation, or other officer or person charged with the custody and disbursements .of the state or corporate funds applicable to the contract under which the claim is made.”
As no liens were filed by any creditor of. the Interstate Paving Company within three months before or after the completion and acceptance, the right to such lien, if any such right existed, ended in November, 1908, or about five months prior to the bankruptcy.
It is now settled that a trustee in bankruptcy “takes the property of the bankrupt, not as an innocent purchaser, but as the debtor had it at the time of the petition subject to all valid claims, liens and equities.” Zartman v. First National Bank, 216 U. S. 134, 138, 30 Sup. Ct. 368, 54 L. Ed. 418, affirming 189 N. Y. 533, 82 N. E. 1126, and citing Thompson v. Fairbanks, 196 U. S. 516, 25 Sup. Ct. 306, 49 L. Ed. 577, and referring to the cases there cited; and “a trustee in bankruptcy -does not stand like an attaching creditor; he gets no lien by the mere fact of his appointment.” Sexton, as Trustee of Kessler & Co. v. Kessler & Co., Limited, and Frank Youatt, 225 U. S. 90, 32 Sup. Ct. 657, 56 E. Ed. -, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, May 27,1912, not yet officially reported. If, therefore, filing of the assignments was not necessary to carry title to the money to Williams thereunder as between the contractor Williams, and the city, in the absence of equities or liens in favor of other parties, the rights of Williams and his assignee, this petitioner, are superior to those of the trustee, and the order of the referee should be reversed. Where a general assignment is made for the benefit of creditors, the assigned takes his title subject to the rights of creditors entitled to file liens, and who do so within the time limited for the purpose by the statute, even if filed after the assignment is executed and recorded. John P. Kane Co. v. Kinney, 174 N. Y. 69, 66 N. E. 619, reversing 68 App. Div. 163, 74 N. Y. Supp. 260, and overruling Armstrong v. Bordens, etc., 65 App. Div. 503, 72 N. Y. Supp. 1014. A trustee in bankrutcy would take his title subject to the same right, and this petitioner held under his assignment subject to the same right, but the time to file liens expired long before the bankruptcy, and there is no lien in existence.
The question, then, is whether the nonfiling of the assignments (assuming there was no compliance with the statute in that regard) makes the assignments inoperative to create a right to these warrants and the moneys to be paid on same in the petitioner superior to that of the trustee in bankruptcy. It will be noticed that these warrants were sighed by the city clerk, with whom the assignments were filed, and that they were delivered to the assignee, Smith. There is no question that the city and its officers knew of the assignments and of the rights of Smith, if any.
In Van Kannel Revolving Door Co. v. Astor et al., 119 App. Div. 214, 104 N. Y. Supp. 653, the court-gives construction to section 15, and says:
“But, when we concede that there was an equitable assignment ‘of the money or any part thereof due or to become due therefor,’ we bring the case within the letter and spirit of the section- of the statute above quoted, and which was intended to. protect the rights of subcontractors and materialmen*379 in the funds in the hands of the owner or contractor at the time of filing the lien, unless record notice of the existence of such assignment was given. * * * It constituted merely an equitable assignment of a fund for the payment of subcontractors when their work should be completed under Grissler & Sons’ contract, and such an assignment is required to bo filed in the manner pointed out by the statute before it can become operative as against subsequent liens. * * * These cases have dealt with a variety of facts, but they have all recognized the effect of section 15 of the Lien Law, as requiring equitable assignments to be filed in order to become effective as against subsequent liens.”
The headnote reads:
“Section 15 of tho Lien Law, providing that an order drawn by a contractor or subcontractor for the payment of money shall not be valid as against subsequent liens unless filed in the office of the county clerk, applies to equitable assignments which must be filed in order to become operative against subsequent lienors.”
In Armstrong v. Chisolm, 99 App. Div. 465, 469, 470, 91 N. Y. Supp. 299, the court says, speaking of the' necessity of filing as required by section 15 of the Lien Law:
“Prior to the general assignment, the payee of the orders had acquired inchoate rights, at least, which neither the contractor nor his assignee could prevent his completing and perfecting by filing the orders, as required by section 15 of the Lien Law, even if compliance therewith wei-e necessary as against the owner or his general contractor. If the assignments were not valid even as against the general assignee of the contractor until filed, which is by no means-certain and it is unnecessary to decide, still the assignee took title subject to the right of the payee to file the assignment and perfect his right to the fund.”
In Tolkow v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 73 Misc. Rep. 393, 133 N. Y. Supp. 367, a contractor gave an order to a subcontractor upon a corporation furnishing a building loan to the contractor which directed payment to the subcontractor of money to come due under the building loan agreement. The order was accepted. Held, that section 15 of the Lien Law, requiring the filing of assignments, was applicable, and that the failure to file the order was available to the corporation as a defense in an action based on the assignment, provided it had pleaded the existence of liens prior to the assignment.
In Harvey v. Brewer, 178 N. Y. 5, 70 N. E. 73, the court said of section 15:
“That section indicates that the Legislature was of the opinion that the protection of the laborers and materialmen made it necessary that notice of an assignment of the contract or the moneys duo thereunder or some part thereof, or an order drawn by a contractor upon the owner, ought to be given to those interested,” etc.
All this indicates clearfy the opinion of the courts that this is a remedial statute, and enacted in and as a part of the Lien Law for the protection of laborers and materialmen by giving notice by the filing of assignments of the fund, or orders on the fund, etc. Tt was not designed as a declaration that all such assignments and orders shall be void as between, the owner and contractor, or owner and assignee of the contractor, or contractor and assignee, in the absence of liens or other assignments duly filed, unless filed as di
In this case there was no attempt or intent to evade the law or to conceal the assignments. On the other hand, there was an honest attempt to comply with the law. If the city clerk is not the officer with whom the assignments should have been filed, no harm has come or can come to any creditor by reason of the mistake. As stated, the city has executed the warrants bearing the signatures of the mayor and city clerk. They are made payable to the bankrupt corporation, which corporation did the work, but the city having notice, delivered them to the assignee, Smith, and it is left to the courts to determine whether the assignee under the assignments or the trustee in bankruptcy,'representing general creditors,, is -entitled to the money when paid. The city is protected in any event. It cannot be injured. It had actual notice, the assignments having been filed with its city
It is urged by the trustee in bankruptcy here that, as some of these general creditors might have filed liens during the progress of the work or thereafter within the statutory time for filing liens, it may be inferred that they did not, relying on the fact that money due and to become due on these contracts would come into the hands of the contractor to pay their claims. I do not think such an inference can be justified. The right to a lien was lost by not filing same within the statutory period, and there is no statute which gives a trustee in bankruptcy a lien or priority on such a fund, for the reason he represents some creditors who performed labor and furnished material, but who did not avail themselves of their statutory rights. If this money should be paid to the trustee, it would not be charged with any equity in favor of those creditors who at one time were in a position to file liens but did not. The court in bankruptcy is a court of equity, but it is bound by the usual rules and principles
But here the statute (Lien Law) fails to make the assignment void as to general creditors, or creditors entitled to file liens in case they fail to do so. Hence the assignments were good as between the Interstate Paving Company (the bankrupt) and the assignee thereof and between such assignee and creditors, who did not file liens even if they proceeded to obtain judgments before the assignments were filed, and, being good as between the Interstate Paving Company and the assignee and not declared void as to general creditors, the trustee took the interest of said Interstate Paving Company and nothing more. See cases cited.
It follows that the order of the referee must be reversed, and that the assignee is entitled to an order that the trustee indorse and deliver the warrants to the assignee named, the petitioner here.