84 N.Y.S. 326 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1903
Plaintiff sued to foreclose a mechanic’s lien, and in the same action sought to.set aside certain conveyances of the real property against which the lien was filed. The court at Special Term determined that the conveyances were made with intent to hinder, delay and defraud creditors of the defendant Samuel W. B. Smith, with whom,' it was alleged in the complaint, the plaintiff originally contracted to furnish the materials and do the work for which the lien was asserted. The conclusion of the court concerning the fraudulent character of the conveyances was fully sustained by the evidence, which is in every material respect the same as that which was before this court in the case of St. John Woodworking Co. v. Smith (82 App. Div. 348), in which the same conveyances were held to be fraudulent and void. The record in this case, so far as it relates to that subject, contains precisely the same evidence that was before the court in the case referred to, and, indeed, the proof now before us was read from the record of the trial in that case.
But while the conveyances are adjudged to have been fraudulent and void, the question' remains as to the validity and enforcibility of the lien filed against the property. It was filed not only against Samuel W. B. Smith, but also against Herbert Ooope and Edwin Shuttleworth, to affect their interest which in the notice of lien is said to be, so far as known, that of owners in fee; and in the complaint it is alleged that although the contract for work and materials was originally made between the plaintiff and Smith, yet' he, the plaintiff, at the request of the defendants Ooope and Shuttle-worth, continued under the contract to furnish materials for the building in pursuance of the terms of such contract, and it was shown in evidence that materials were so furnished and that allegation of the complaint was supported by some proof.
The effort of the plaintiff, therefore, is to charge a responsibility upon the defendants Ooope and Shuttleworth in connection with the contract. The conveyances by which the title to the premises became vested in Shuttleworth are good as, against Smith, although the property is subjected to the claims of judgment creditors at whose suit they were declared to he fraudulent and void. (Jackson v. Caldwell, 1 Cow. 622 ; Anderson v. Roberts, 18 Johns. 527.) Coope and Shuttleworth, therefore, have an interest in defending against the lien, and it is open to them to question its validity.
It was held in McKinney v. White (15 App. Div. 423) that, to entitle a claimant to the benefit of the Mechanics’ Lien Law, its directions must be substantially observed, such compliance being necessary to confer jurisdiction upon the court, and also that the statute requires that the notice shall state the nature and amount of labor and services performed or of materials furnished or to be furnished. That case was affirmed by the Court of Appeals (162 N. Y. 601). Here, as there, we are unable to find a statement of the nature and amount of the labor and services performed, or the nature and amount of the materials furnished or to be furnished. The notice is absolutely silent, as to those matters. - There is no direct mention of the character of the work or the nature of the materials, and nothing is presented in connection with the notice by a reference to which that information could be obtained. The cases cited by the respondent to sustain the sufficiency of -the notice of lien do not apply. In Reeves v. Seitz (47 App. Div. 267) the intimation is plain that the notice contained all that was requisite under
Unless the defendant Shuttleworth has no legal right to contest the validity of this lien it must be adjudged in this action that the notice was insufficient to bind him. We think that he was so situated. with reference to the property- as to entitle him to raise the question.
The judgment must be reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to appellant to abide the event.
Van Brunt, P. J., Ingraham, Hatch and Laughlin, JJ., concurred.
Judgment reversed and new trial ordered, with costs to appellant to abide event.