De Mott v. Notey

4 Misc. 2d 996, 159 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1956 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1211
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedDecember 28, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 4 Misc. 2d 996 (De Mott v. Notey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Mott v. Notey, 4 Misc. 2d 996, 159 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1956 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1211 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1956).

Opinion

Mario Pittoni, J.

The defendants, Dr. Anton Notey, Dr. William Lannik, Dr. Bernard Weinberg, Dr. Michael Livack, Dr. E. J. Michaleson, Dr. James Weitzner, Dr. Paul Lichtblau, [998]*998Dr. Steven Wahl, Dr. Joseph Szoo, doing business in partnership as ‘ ‘ Doctors Hospital ’ ’, hereinafter called the defendants, appeal from judgments of the Police Court of the Village of Freeport, Nassau County, New York, convicting them of violating Village Ordinance No. 10.1 (§ 6, subd. [A], par. 4) which states in part that ' ‘ not more than two rooms may be rented for lodging or boarding purposes in any one dwelling, and to not more than a total of four persons ”. The premises involved were located at 83 Washington Street and 107 Washington Street, both in Freeport, New York. The defendant, West Merrick Boad Bealty Corp., was found not guilty.

It appears that West Merrick Boad Bealty Corp. built a structure known as “Doctors Hospital” and later purchased the two contiguous properties, 83 Washington Street and 107 Washington Street. The buildings located on these two parcels, that is 83 and 107 Washington Street, adjoined the parking area connected with the hospital and tended to form part of a unit. The West Merrick Boad Bealty Corp. thereafter leased to the defendants the main structure known as “ Doctors Hospital ” and also the contiguous parcels, 83 and 107 Washington Street, together with a dwelling on each of those parcels: 83 and 107 Washington Street occupy an area zoned as residential “ A ”. No license has been obtained to conduct lodging houses in those premises. The house on parcel 83 Washington Street was occupied by four employees of the hospital. Each occupied separate rooms. These occupants were paid a salary and received their meals at the hospital and the use of the rooms in premises 83 without payment of “ rent ” or additional payments to the hospital. The building at 107 Washington Street was occupied by five persons, each of whom was employed by the hospital and each of whom occupied a room in the building. One, a laboratory technician employed at the hospital, had $10 deducted from her salary as part-payment for the use of the room. The other four occupants at 107 Washington Street were nurses employed at the hospital. One paid $30 per month rent, and the others received the accommodations without the payment of any “rent”. Two of these, however, said that there was some salary adjustment, unknown to them in dollars and cents, for these accommodations.

The “ jugular vein ” of this appeal consists of the contentions that the persons who occupy the buildings involved herein were part of a family unit and that the use of these buildings by the employee occupants constitutes an “ accessory use ” under section 5 (subd. [A], par. 7) of Ordinance No. 10.1.

[999]*999The pertinent provisions of the Village of Freeport ordinances involved herein are as follows:

“ Ordinance No. 6.8 —
“ Sec. 1 — License Required. It shall be unlawful for any person either as owner or agent, to maintain a lodging house, * * * without first obtaining an annual license therefor.
“Sec. 2 — Definitions. * * * the term ‘ lodging house’ * * * shall be deemed to include any establishment which accommodates for hire more than four guests or which rents out more than two rooms.”
Ordinance No. 10.1 of the Zoning Ordinances (§ 2) defines: “ ‘ Accessory Use ’ means a use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use or building.
‘ ‘ ‘ Family ’ means any number of individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit, and doing their cooking as a unit on the premises.”
Zoning Ordinance No. 10.1 (§ 6) provides as follows:
“ Sec. 6 — Residence 1 A ’ District
‘ ‘ The following regulations shall apply in all Residence ‘ A ’ districts.
“ (A) Uses Permitted:
‘ ‘ The following uses are permitted:
“ 3. Hospitals or sanitariums for the treatment of human ailments, but excluding nursing or convalescent homes and institutions for the insane, feeble minded, epileptic,' drug habit or liquor habit patients.
“4. Not more than two rooms may be rented for lodging or boarding purposes in any one dwelling, and to not more than a total of four persons, provided, however, that such persons do not have separate cooking facilities; nor shall they be permitted to do independent cooking on the premises.”

The defendants’ argument, that the employees who lived in the premises involved were part of a family unit as defined by chapter 10, is based primarily upon two decisions: City of Syracuse v. Snow (123 Misc. 568) and Matter of La Porte v. City of New Rochelle (2 A D 2d 710). However, these two cases are distinguishable.

In the City of Syracuse case, a sorority house was occupied by a number of girls who had their meals and rooms there, for which a weekly sum was paid. There the court stated (p. 572): “ They live in common together, under the supervision of a chaperone, one of the teachers of the college; employ a cook, their meals being served together; they study and perform their several duties in living rooms together; and each one pays [1000]*1000into the hands of the treasurer a certain stated sum, and this sum is used by the treasurer for the general purpose of common support, thus bringing themselves under the exact wording of the term ' family ’ as above defined.”

The court further stated (pp. 572-573): “ A college sorority is a family, a college family, perhaps, but nevertheless its membership not only live together and cook together, but are bound together by fraternal ties; ties that, in many instances, are more binding and enduring than those of kinship.”

In the La Porte case, Iona College, conducted by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, a Roman Catholic religious order, filed plans to construct a building on its land for a residence for upwards of 60 student members of that order. The court said that there was nothing to show that the building would be occupied other than as a “ single, non-profit housekeeping unit ” within the purview of the ordinance. That ordinance defined family as “ one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit as a single, non-profit housekeeping unit.”

In the case at bar, the record is devoid of the elements as found in the City of Syracuse or in the La Porte cases. In fact, the record in the case at bar states nothing except that one nurse would not have taken employment unless she was also given housing facilities.

In their brief the defendants sum up their argument as follows : “In the case at bar, the people who occupy the two dwellings likewise are tied together by a common bond — their employment in a hospital. The hospital is a necessary and integral part of the community. The health and welfare of the community cannot be served without a hospital, and their occupancy of these two dwellings is essential and necessary to such service to the community. ’ ’

It seems to this court that the City of Syracuse and La Porte

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Bluebook (online)
4 Misc. 2d 996, 159 N.Y.S.2d 101, 1956 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-mott-v-notey-nycountyct-1956.