American Consumer, Inc. v. Anchor Computers, Inc.

• Citation: 402 N.Y.S.2d 734,93 Misc.2d 452
• Parties: AMERICAN CONSUMER, INC., Petitioner, v. ANCHOR COMPUTERS, INC., Respondent.
• Decision Date: 12 February 1978
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (New York)

Page 734

402 N.Y.S.2d 734

93 Misc.2d 452

AMERICAN CONSUMER, INC., Petitioner, v. ANCHOR COMPUTERS, INC., Respondent.

Supreme Court, New York County.

Feb. 12, 1978.

Weiss, Rothfarb & Chernofsky, New York City, for petitioner.

Alfred H. Marks, Huntington Station, for respondent.

BERNARD NADEL, Justice.

Petitioner moves for judgment requiring the respondent to transfer to the Sheriff of New York County all computer tapes in which R & S Mehlman, Inc., the judgment debtor, has an interest.

Petitioner recovered a judgment in the amount of $16,009.38 against R & S Mehlman, Inc. ("Mehlman") the judgment debtor which judgment remains wholly unsatisfied. It is uncontroverted that respondent Anchor Computers, Inc. ("Anchor") has in its possession at the present time five magnetic computer tapes on which are encoded Mehlman's mailing list, i. e., a list of thousands of names and addresses, which has commercial value and use in connection with customer solicitation through use of the mails. Mehlman delivered said tapes to Anchor to enable Anchor to perform certain computer services. These services consisted of data manipulation, modificati and assembly so as to create computer tapes which are capable of providing the names and addresses of purchases of books; the subject matters thereof purchased, the date of last purchase, the amount of each purchase, the sex of the purchasers, the frequency of purchases, the customer sources, customer geography factors, including by state, by section centers, by zip code and so on. By reason of this work, labor and services, Anchor claims an artisan's lien pursuant to Section 180 of the Lien Law.

Petitioner contends that Anchor is not entitled to an Artisan's Lien under either Lien Law Sec. 180 or the Common law because Anchor is not an artisan within the meaning of the law. This contention is without merit.

Lien Law Section 180 states as follows: "A person who makes, alters, repairs or performs work or services of any nature and description upon, or in any way enhances the value of an article of personal property, at the request or with the consent of the owner, has a lien on such article, while lawfully in possession thereof, for his reasonable charges for the work done and materials furnished, and may retain possession thereof until such charges are paid."

Park Place-Dodge Corp. v. Collins, 75 Misc.2d 25, 346 N.Y.S.2d 949, aff'd 43 A.D.2d 910, 352 N.Y.S.2d 415, cited by Petitioner in support of its position is...