“I met you at the strip club
I left you at the strip club”
— from “Strip Club” by PartyNextDoor
(But Klass Found Me!)
She was an exotic dancer at a strip club. At the strip club, patrons would throw cash tips towards the stage in a manner that forced the dancers and bartenders to fight over who would get to keep them. She alleged this was designed to encourage scenes of dancers and bartenders crawling around to the entertainment of the patrons. Sexual advances towards the exotic dancers were alleged to be constant, flagrant and offensive; entertainers who capitulated to them were rewarded with more frequent and better shifts. Sometimes, she claimed that managers or promoters would “make it rain” by throwing large amounts of dollar bills over her head while she engaged in a sexual act. She alleged that the strip club created a hostile work environment.
He was the owner of the strip club. He was managing the strip club the night that she was brought to him by the security guard with a complaint that she brought a water bottle into the club (since, apparently, staff were not permitted to bring any food or drinks to the club). He was accused of playing with her slingshot outfit and fishnet stockings and then fondling her. After she refused his sexual advances, she left the building. The next time she tried to work at the club, she was told she was terminated.
Action brought by Exotic Dancer
The exotic dancer retained a law firm to sue the strip club and the owner for battery and infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiff claimed she was entitled to money damages for the harmful and offensive contact and suffered mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, and economic damages. Additionally, she claimed that there were various violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including minimum wage violations, unpaid wages, unlawful deductions and failure to provide wage statements. Ultimately, a large Judgment was entered against the strip club (which was already closed down) and owner in favor of the plaintiff. But, as many of you know, a Judgment without enforcement is only a piece of paper!
Docketing the Transcript of Judgment
The plaintiff’s law firm retained Richard A. Klass, Esq., Your Court Street Lawyer, to enforce the Judgment. The judgment debtor resided in a different county other than where the lawsuit took place and had owned a house. Since the lawsuit was filed in a county other than the one where the house was located, a lien had to be “docketed” against the house. This was done by filing a Transcript of Judgment with the County Clerk’s Office in the county in which the debtor owned the property under CPLR 5018. [See Endnote 1]
The Notice of Pendency —
Filed in the Nick of Time
It was discovered that the strip club’s former owner had transferred his house to his wife shortly before the lawsuit was started four years earlier for no consideration. More critically, the house was listed for sale and the real estate broker’s website indicated that it was already “in contract” — there was little time to act.
The next step was to file a lawsuit against the former owner/judgment debtor for fraudulently conveying the house to his wife under New York’s Debtor and Creditor Law. [See Endnote 2] Together with the Summons and Complaint, a Notice of Pendency (also known by its Latin term as a “Lis Pendens”) [See Endnote 3] was filed with the County Clerk’s Office. A Notice of Pendency is a strong filing made by a plaintiff against a defendant’s real estate, which serves as notice to the whole world that the plaintiff is claiming pre-existing rights to the property so that anyone who buys the property takes title subject to those rights being determined first; in effect, alienating and tying up the property from being sold until the litigation is resolved.
Since the judgment debtor and his wife were in contract to sell their house, the plaintiff was able to strike while the iron was hot. Thanks to Your Court Street Lawyer, a swift negotiation resulted in the payment of the Judgment in full.
End Notes
[1]
(a) Docketing by clerk; docketing elsewhere by transcript. Immediately after filing the judgment-roll the clerk shall docket a money judgment, and at the request of any party specifying the particular adverse party or parties against whom docketing shall be made, the clerk shall so docket a judgment affecting the title to real property, provided, however, that where the clerk maintains a section and block index, a judgment affecting the title to, or the possession, use or enjoyment of, real property may be entered in such index in lieu thereof. If the judgment is upon a joint liability of two or more persons the words “not summoned” shall be written next to the name of each defendant who was not summoned. Upon the filing of a transcript of the docket of a judgment of a court other than the supreme, county or a family court, the clerk of the county in which the judgment was entered shall docket the judgment. Upon the filing of a transcript of the docket of a judgment which has been docketed in the office of the clerk of the county in which it was entered, the clerk of any other county in the state shall docket the judgment. Whenever a county clerk dockets a judgment by transcript under this subdivision, he shall notify the clerk who issued it, who, upon receiving such notification, shall make an entry on the docket of the judgment in his office indicating where the transcript has been filed. A judgment docketed by transcript under this subdivision shall have the same effect as a docketed judgment entered in the supreme court within the county where it is docketed.
[2]
These are actions brought under either the former Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act or the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (Debtor and Creditor Law §§ 270 to 281-a), for transactions occurring after April 4, 2020. These are the panoply of remedies available under the current Debtor and Creditor Law § 276:
(a) In an action for relief against a transfer or obligation under this article, a creditor, subject to the limitations in section two hundred seventy-seven of this article, may obtain:
(1) avoidance of the transfer or obligation to the extent necessary to satisfy the creditor’s claim;
(2) an attachment or other provisional remedy against the asset transferred or other property of the transferee if available under applicable law; and
(3) subject to applicable principles of equity and in accordance with applicable rules of civil procedure:
(i) an injunction against further disposition by the debtor or a transferee, or both, of the asset transferred or of other property;
(ii) appointment of a receiver to take charge of the asset transferred or of other property of the transferee; or
(iii) any other relief the circumstances may require.
(b) If a creditor has obtained a judgment on a claim against the debtor, the creditor, if the court so orders, may levy execution on the asset transferred or its proceeds.
[3]
CPLR 6501. Notice of pendency; constructive notice
(a) A notice of pendency may be filed in any action in a court of the state or of the United States in which the judgment demanded would affect the title to, incumbrance of, or the possession, use or enjoyment of, real property, except in a summary proceeding brought to recover the possession of real property. The pendency of such an action is constructive notice, from the time of filing of the notice only, to a purchaser from, or incumbrancer against, any defendant named in a notice of pendency indexed in a block index against a block in which property affected is situated or any defendant against whose name a notice of pendency is indexed. A person whose conveyance or incumbrance is recorded after the filing of the notice is bound by all proceedings taken in the action after such filing to the same extent as a party.
Richard A. Klass, Esq.
Your Court Street Lawyer
Richard A. Klass, Esq., maintains a law firm engaged in civil litigation at 16 Court Street, 28th Floor, Brooklyn, New York. He may be reached at (718) COURT●ST or RichKlass@courtstreetlaw.com with any questions.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
©2024 Richard A. Klass
Credits: Marketing agency: The Innovation Works, Inc.
Image on page one: Shutterstock
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#labor #law #realestate #strip #club #5018 #276 #6501 #pendency #Lis #Pendens
