In 2009, Defendant Paul Tauber (“Tauber”) obtained a judgment for $217,245 including interest of $16,050 and an amount for costs and disbursements. The judgment was mistakenly docketed by the Kings County Clerk in the amount of $16,050. The Plaintiff, which took title to the property in 2016 subject to the judgment, sought a judgment declaring that the judgment lien as against the property, be deemed to be for $16,050 and for injunctive relief against the judgment creditor and the Sheriff’s Office of the City of New York to enjoin a sale of the property following satisfaction of the alleged $16,050 lien.

The Supreme Court, Kings County, held that the parties with interests in the property arising after the judgment was docketed, which also included the holder of a restated and consolidated mortgage executed in 2012, acquired their interests subject to the judgment lien in the amount of $217,245 plus accumulating interest. The Court denied the Plaintiff’s motion for injunctive relief, denied the Plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment against the Sheriff, and granted the branch of Tauber’s cross-motion for summary judgment dismissing the claim as against him. According to the Court,

“[o]nce a potential purchaser is given notice that a cloud on title exists on the property by reason of a judgment lien, the purchaser would not then have to rely solely on the information contained in the docket index as to the amount of the judgment, as this information would be readily available from other sources such as the clerk’s records or from the attorney of the judgment creditor whose name and address appears in the docket entry…[T]his court declines to hold that a validly issued and entered judgment is trumped by a mere erroneous data entry, particularly in this case where the docket was otherwise accurate and gave proper notice that a judgment lien existed on the subject property, where the true judgment amount was readily and easily verifiable and where holding otherwise would inequitably vitiate Tauber’s ability to collect on his duly awarded judgment”.

Myrtle 684 LLC v. Tauber, 2018 NY Slip Op 30579, decided April 2, 2018, is posted at http://nycourts.gov/reporter/pdfs/2018/2018_30579.pdf.