Appleton v. City of New York

163 A.D. 680, 148 N.Y.S. 870, 1914 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6994
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 10, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 163 A.D. 680 (Appleton v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appleton v. City of New York, 163 A.D. 680, 148 N.Y.S. 870, 1914 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6994 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1914).

Opinion

Laughlin, J.:

The plaintiffs are the owners as tenants in common of premises situate on the northwesterly comer of Broadway and Cortlandt street, borough of Manhattan, New York, known as No. 173 Broadway; and they claim to be the owners of the fee to the center line of Cortlandt street adjacent thereto, subject to the public easements for street purposes. They concede that the city has the right to regulate their use of the street in front of their premises to the center line thereof for vaults or otherwise, but they contend that it has no right to compel them to pay for [682]*682such use. The only theory on which the learned counsel for the respondents attempts to support the judgment is that his clients own the fee of the street to the center line thereof.

The trial court found that plaintiffs own such fee, hut that the construction of the vaults has not been authorized, and that they have no right to construct and maintain vaults under the street without obtaining a permit therefor. The learned counsel for the city contends that the court erred in finding that the city does not own the fee, and even though it does not, in deciding that plaintiffs own it; and he also argues that the judgment cannot be sustained in any event, for he argues that if the fee be in the abutting owners, the city has a right to make a reasonable charge for permitting the construction of vaults, and that the amount exacted by the city ordinance is reasonable.

The uncontroverted evidence shows that there is a building on the premises of the plaintiffs, and that there are vaults under Cortlandt street adjacent thereto and used therewith, occupying a superficial area of 1,097.85 feet of said street. The premises of the plaintiffs are now occupied by a tenant under a lease of the entire building, and the tenant uses the vaults for the storage of merchandise and for toilets. In the year 1859 there were in force and effect municipal ordinances duly adopted requiring the written permission of the Croton aqueduct board and the payment to the city of fifteen cents per square foot for the right to construct and maintain vaults or cisterns in any public street; and records of permits for vaults were kept in the bureau of highways since about the month of May, 1857. The only application for a permit for the construction of a vault in Cortlandt street in front of the plaintiffs’ premises is one made in the year 1887 by Tice & Jacobs. That application shows that the premises now owned by the plaintiffs were then owned and used for business purposes by the New York Steam Company, and that the vault which the applicants for the permit desired to build was to he four feet ten inches in width and nineteen feet one and one-half inches in length outside measurement, and to occupy ninety-two and forty-two one-hundredths square feet, for which they offered to pay the amount of sixty-nine dollars and thirty-two cents, [683]*683which was at the rate of seventy-five cents per square foot; and that application was granted. The evidence does not show what rights, if any, Tice & Jacobs had, or whom they represented. The trial court found, and the evidence sustains the findings, that the building now standing on the premises of the plaintiffs was erected prior to the year 1861, and perhaps as early as the year 1857,” and that the vaults in question were constructed since the year 1859, and that no permit for the construction or use of the vaults was ever applied for by the plaintiffs or by their predecessors in title. Those findings and evidence of no record of the granting of a permit overcome any presumption that might otherwise arise from the great lapse of time. (Deshong v. City of New York, 176 N. Y. 475; Title Guarantee & Trust Co. v. City of New York, 205 id. 496.)

An inspector in the bureau of highways discovered that the vaults under Cortlandt street adjacent to the plaintiffs’ premises were more extensive than authorized by the permit granted on the application of Tice & Jacobs; and thereupon the consulting engineer of the commissioner of public works on the 3d day of July, 1912, wrote one of the plaintiffs drawing his attention to the fact that the vault space used by the plaintiffs had not been fully paid for, and stating that unless payment was promptly made for the additional space, it would be necessary to place the matter in the hands of the corporation counsel for collection, and that unless payment for the additional space was made, the amount of space for which payment- had not been made would be cut off. On the sixteenth day of December thereafter this action was brought to enjoin the city from interfering* with the vaults, or the plaintiffs’ use thereof, and to have it adjudged that the city has no right to interfere therewith.

The city contemplated putting in a hydrant in part of the space occupied by the vaults. The trial court found that the use of a portion of the vault space for a hydrant was a street use; and it is manifest that the trial court did not intend by the decision or by the judgment authorized thereby, to enjoin the city from constructing the hydrant. The decision and judgment, however, do enjoin the city from exacting from [684]*684the plaintiffs compensation fixed by ordinance duly adopted in the year 1906, and “from interfering in any manner with plaintiffs’ use of said vaults by reason of plaintiffs’ failure or refusal to pay such compensation.” Said ordinances of 1906 were in force at the time the action was brought and at the time of the trial. (See Code of Ordinances, pt. 1, §§ 169-172; Cosby’s Code of Ordinances [Anno. 1913], 36, 37, §§ 169-172.) Section 169 thereof authorizes the presidents of the respective boroughs, among other things, to give permission for the construction of vaults in the streets in their respective boroughs, provided in their opinion the public will not suffer injury thereby. Section 170 prohibits the construction of vaults without a written permit from the borough president, under penalty of $100. Section 171 provides as follows: “ Every application for permission to erect such vault or cistern shall be in writing, signed by the person making the same, and shall state the number of square feet of ground which is required for the same,- and the intended length and width of the same.” Section 172 provides as follows: “ After obtaining permission to construct or make such vault or cistern, and previous to the commencement thereof, the person so applying shall forthwith pay to the Borough President granting the permit therefor such sum as he shall certify in the said permission to be a just compensation to the City for such privilege, calcu lated at the rate of not less than 30 cents, nor more than $2 per foot, for each square foot of ground mentioned as required for such vault or cistern, under,the penalty of $100.” These are the only provisions of the ordinances material to the question presented for decision.

The premises now occupied by Cortlandt street and adjacent premises were vested in the Dutch government as the sovereign, and were granted by Governor Kieft to one Damen by a “ -Dutch ground brief ” on or about the 25th day of April, 1644. The Dutch capitulated to the English in 1664, and the articles of capitulation were signed on the twenty-seventh day of August (old style), or the sixth day of September (new style), of that year, and by them the inhabitants were confirmed in the possession of their property. (2 R. L. Appendix No. 1.) These articles were ratified on August 29 (old style), or Septem[685]*685her 8 (new style), 1664. (2 O’Callaghan’s Hist.

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Bluebook (online)
163 A.D. 680, 148 N.Y.S. 870, 1914 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appleton-v-city-of-new-york-nyappdiv-1914.