Harway Improvement Co. v. Partridge

220 A.D. 595, 222 N.Y.S. 176, 1927 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9369
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 26, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 A.D. 595 (Harway Improvement Co. v. Partridge) 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
Harway Improvement Co. v. Partridge, 220 A.D. 595, 222 N.Y.S. 176, 1927 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9369 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

Hagarty, J.

This action, begun in 1916 for the partition of real property, resulted in the entry of a judgment on the 9th day of December, 1920, decreeing that plaintiff and the defendant Partridge were the owners of the upland described in the complaint. (Mod. and affd., 203 App. Div. 174; affd., 236 N. Y. 563.) The order from which this appeal is taken denies a motion made under the provisions of subdivision 1 of section 878 of the Civil [596]*596Practice Act, which -provides that Where it appears that the defendant, during the pendency of the action, is doing or procuring or suffering to be done, or threatens, or is about to do, or to procure or suffer to be done, an act in violation of the plaintiff’s rights respecting the subject of the action and tending to render the1 judgment ineffectual, an injunction order may be granted to restrain him therefrom."

In the action the defendant City of New York claimed title to the upland described in the complaint and, for several years prior to the entry of judgment, and afterwards, issued permits for the erection of more than 400 bungalows upon the upland. The bungalows were occupied by many persons, all of whom the plaintiff claims — and its claim is justified by the judgment — were intruders upon the land, without the consent of the owners. On the 24th day of May, 1921, the defendant City of New York was enjoined from the issuance of further permits.

After the entry of judgment, plaintiff made continued but ineffectual efforts to remove the intruders and to demolish the bungalows. It was opposed and prevented from so doing by those to whom the defendant City of New York had issued permits. During all of this time, the squatters refused to pay plaintiff rent for the occupation of the land.

The plaintiff claims that the effect of the actions of the defendant City of New York after the entry of judgment, was to nullify the judgment and, in fact, to secure and continue the possession of the land for the squatters, to the loss and injury of plaintiff, who was thereby unable to secure the benefits of the judgment.

Prior to the entry of judgment, the land was assessed and taxed by the city against the plaintiff. There was, however, no separate or increased assessment or valuation levied or 'assessed on account of "the bungalows erected upon the property. After the entry of the judgment, the assessed valuation of the land was increased by adding thereto a sum representing the value of the bungalows for the years 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1925. The additional tax, resulting from the assessed valuations of the bungalows for these years, amounted to the sum of $18,656.65.

By moving in the action, the plaintiff sought a modification of the judgment wMch would be, in effect, an adjudication by the court of- the validity of the taxes affecting the upland which were imposed after the entry of the judgment. This, I think, it cannot do. In the recent case of Herpe v. Herpe (225 N. Y. 323, 327) it was held that the only errors which the trial court can correct by amendment of the decision are Clerical errors or a mistake in the entry of the judgment or the omission of a right or relief [597]*597to which a party is entitled as a matter of course.” But the right' to further relief does not involve new issues not embraced within the original action. (Parker v. Linden, 59 Hun, 359.) Whether the judgment be considered interlocutory or final, I do not see how it can affect the taxes which were subsequently imposed upon the property adjudicated to belong to the plaintiff. The judgment expressly provides that the taxes and assessments imposed upon the property were valid liens against it. The plaintiff does not contend that the land should not be taxed. Section 3 of the Tax Law provides: “ All real property within this State * * * is taxable unless exempt from taxation by law.”

Taxes and assessments for local improvements are in rem against the real estate, there being no personal liability therefor, and the city can look for payment only to the land which is assessed. So it would seem that the fact that the title to this property was in dispute afforded no reason for suspending the power of taxation until the dispute had terminated. And conceding to plaintiff its strongest position, that is, that the addition of the value of the bungalows to the assessed valuation of the land was in violation of plaintiff’s rights, I think it has mistaken its remedy and cannot prevail upon its present theory. While it seems unfair to tax an owner for improvements placed upon his property contrary to his wishes, in violation of his rights and under a claim of ownership, nevertheless, if we assume that the structures erected were personal property, as claimed by the plaintiff, and the valuation thereof was included in the assessment, such assessment would not be illegal, but at most erroneous in amount for overvaluation, there being jurisdiction to assess the property. In People ex rel. Soeurbee, Inc., v. Purdy (179 App. Div. 748; affd., 222 N. Y. 657) the distinction was clearly shown between an illegal assessment and one erroneous for overvaluation, wherein the claim of illegality was based upon the inclusion in the assessment of valuation for a building which was not taxable, the court saying (p. 750): That the tax commissioners had jurisdiction to assess the real estate in question cannot be doubted. Hence it cannot be said to be ‘ illegal.’ At the most the assessment was erroneous because in assessing the value of the real estate the tax commissioners included an element of value which should have been excluded, to wit, the unfinished building. (Greater New York Charter, § 889a, added thereto by Laws of 1913, chap. 324.) This was error, not illegality, in the sense in which the word 1 illegal ’ is used in the Tax Law.”

The only way, therefore, to question the assessment or to obtain relief under the facts here disclosed is by certiorari proceedings, and not by collateral attack such as the plaintiff attempts. The [598]*598law seems to be settled that no collateral attack can be made, even though it be assumed that the assessments were erroneous and excessive. In U. S. Trust Co. v. Mayor, etc., of New York (144 N. Y. 488) the headnote reads: “ Where taxing officers, in the exercise of an actual jurisdiction over person and subject-matter, commit an error, their action is not void and their assessment may not be attacked collaterally.” And the court said (pp. 492, 493): “ They were acting judicially in assessing the plaintiff and their action had all the force and effect of a judgment; which, while open to review by some direct proceeding prescribed by the law, is secure against collateral attack. In Swift v. City of Poughkeepsie (37 N. Y. 511) it was held that the act of assessment was a judicial act by officers having jurisdiction and could not be questioned by a collateral action. * * * It is necessary for the protection of the taxing officers that an attack upon their action should be limited to that which is direct and in the nature of an appeal from it, where that action has been with jurisdiction; and the irresistible inference seems to be that- when the Legislature has created a system of procedure for the review and correction of assessments, * * * it was intended to be an exclusive one.” (See, also, City of New York v. Vanderveer, 91 App. Div. 303; Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Mayor, etc., of New York, 144 N. Y. 494.)

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Related

Ramot Realty Corp. v. Manetto Holding Corp.
258 A.D. 223 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1939)
People ex rel. Harway Improvement Co. v. Berry
139 Misc. 614 (New York Supreme Court, 1931)

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Bluebook (online)
220 A.D. 595, 222 N.Y.S. 176, 1927 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harway-improvement-co-v-partridge-nyappdiv-1927.