Under Section 187 of NY Lien Law, every person or entity engaged in “carting or trucking property shall have a lien upon such property and may retain such portion of the property in his possession” to help ensure payment for the truckman or drayman. See NY Lien Law § 187[1]. Possession of the property is required for this lien. Please note that …
New York Agriculture Liens: Lien on Stray Animals
Under NY Town Law § 310, if a person has any strayed horses, cattle, sheep, swine, goats or other livestock animal upon their property which is not adjoined to the livestock owner’s property (in other words, not your immediate neighbor), then that person may have a lien claim against the stray animals. The livestock must have caused property damage and the escape of the …
New York Agriculture Liens: Liens for Service of Stallions or Bulls
Under Section 160 of NY Lien Law, the “owner of a stallion or bull shall have a lien on each mare or cow served together with the foal or calf of each mare or cow from such service, for the amount agreed on at the time of service. . .” However, said lien will not be able to be enforced if the owner falsely states the …
New York Agriculture Lien Law: Landlord’s Lien
A landlord’s lien used to be superior to other creditors’ claims; however, in New York, it does not arise automatically because a landlord-tenant relationship is created. Landlords who want to retain title to the products of the land against the tenant’s other creditors must explicitly include a provision to that effect in the lease. Both the landlord and tenant should memorialize their …
New York Agriculture Liens: Background
The scope of the revised Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) Article 9 is newly expanded to cover the perfection, priority, and enforcement of nonpossessory “Agricultural Liens” in the farm products of those borrowers involved in farming operations. The definition of “agricultural liens” is different than the broader and more general category of “secured interest”. UCC Article 9 does not supersede any existing statutory …
How to Make a Freedom of Information Act Request – Part 5
This is Part 5 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 5: Pay Fees There is no initial fee to file a FOIA request; however, federal agencies are allowed to request “reasonable standard charges for document search, duplication, …
How to Make a Freedom of Information Act Request – Part 4
This is Part 4 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 4: Wait for Government Response Federal governmental agencies are required to respond to FOIA requests within twenty business days, excluding weekends and holidays, beginning from receipt of …
Transcript from Keynote Presentation and Direct Farm Marketing Roundtable
Last fall, I had the pleasure of giving the Keynote address at the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Agriculture Law & Policy Symposium. My presentation from my “National Agriculture Law Update” is found here. I was also on a roundtable discussing direct farm marketing. The presentation materials are found here. Recently, the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy published …
How to Make a Freedom of Information Act Request- Part 3
This is Part 3 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 3: Draft and Mail Your Written FOIA Request Letter You cannot make a FOIA request to a federal agency over the telephone. All FOIA requests must be …
Alleged Violation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)? Overview of a “Charge Letter”
Retailers who accept SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, are subject to random inspections by undercover United State Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) inspectors. The undercover inspectors check to see if retailers are selling unauthorized items or if the retailer is involved in trafficking, which is the exchange of money for food stamps. In the event that the undercover investigator …
How to Make a Freedom of Information Act Request- Part 2
This is Part 2 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 2: Choose The Government Agency or Agencies To Request Documents On either the federal or state level, there is not one central office that manages all …
How to Make a Freedom of Information Act Request – Part 1
This is Part 1 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 1: Decide If It Is Necessary To File a FOIA Request Not all agency records require a written FOIA request. In 1996, Congress passed the Electronic Freedom of Information …