In re City of New York

10 Misc. 3d 749
New York Supreme Court·Decided November 16, 2005·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

[750]*750OPINION OF THE COURT

Abraham Gerges, J.

Claimants Joseph Ligotti and John Freno move for an order directing the City of New York to pay them the remaining balance alleged to be due pursuant to the settlement agreement entered into between the parties, together with 6% interest thereon up to the date of payment.

Facts and Procedural Background

Claimants and Anthony Dacchille are the former fee owners of property described as block 2263, lots 11, 15, 16, 62, 74 and 78 in Richmond County. Freno and Ligotti owned a 50% interest in the fee of lots 11, 15, 16, 74 and 78; Freno owned a 50% interest in the fee of lot 62 and Ligotti and Dacchille each owned a 25% interest. Title to the subject property vested in the City on August 10, 1994 pursuant to a judgment entered in this eminent domain proceeding. Subsequent to the vesting, the City tendered an advance payment in the amount of $64,368.14, plus $9,480.80 in interest, for a total of $73,848.90, to claimants with respect to lots 11, 15, 16, 74 and 78. The City also tendered an advance payment in the amount of $18,031.56, plus $2,655.86 in interest, for a total of $20,687.42, to claimants with respect to lot 62.

By order to show cause dated February 10, 2003, claimants sought an order determining the ownership interests of Ligotti, Dacchille and Freno with regard to lot 62. On August 13, 2003, the City and claimants entered into a stipulation that recited that the final award with respect to all lots (11, 15, 16, 62, 74 and 78) would be $825,000, plus interest at the rate of 6% from the date that title vested to the date of the availability of the payment (the stipulation). By order and decision dated September 12, 2003 and entered on October 9, 2003 (the October 9, 2003 order), the court ordered that, pursuant to a correction deed recorded on July 14, 2003, lot 62 was owned 25% by Ligotti, 25% by Dacchille and 50% by Freno. As is relevant herein, that order further provided that “the City of New York shall make payment of the condemnation award for Block 2263, Lot 62 in accordance with the corrected ownership interests of Joseph Ligotti, Anthony Dacchille and John Freno.” A final decision and decree was signed on October 3, 2003.

By separate notices of award that the City alleges were sent on November 21, 2003, each claimant was notified that his award would be available on November 26, 2003 and that Lig[751]*751otti would be awarded $215,865 in principal and $120,470.41 in interest; Freno would be awarded $371,300 in principal and $207,215.92 in interest; and Dacchille would be awarded $155,435 in principal and $86,745.51 in interest. Subsequently, a dispute ensued with regard to the amount of money to be paid to each of the claimants. By letter dated April 20, 2004, claimants advised this court that since the agreed upon settlement amount was $825,000 and the total area of lot 62 was 19,000 square feet, the value of the lot was argued to be $242,820 ($825,000 divided by 64,579 [the total number of square feet of the property taken from Ligotti, Freno and Dacchille by the City], or $12.78 per square foot, multiplied by the area of lot 62). The letter also stated that:

“The above matter has been settled with the City of New York, but we have been advised that they will not make the settlement payment unless a further Order is entered which specifies the exact dollar amount to [b]e held by the City for Anthony Dacchille’s portion.
“We respectfully submit that had the City had any opposition to the Order which was signed by Your Honor resolving this matter, it should have submitted a counter-proposed Order. To refuse to pay now while substantial interest continues to accrue is unreasonable.”

By letter to the court dated April 21, 2004, the City responded, stating that:

“Although claimants suggested an allocation of the final award in their moving papers, their attorneys never submitted a proposed order which included any such allocation. The order merely included the ownership interests of the claimants. Contrary to [counsel’s] assertions, the City was not responsible for submitting a counter-proposed order to protect his clients’ interests.
“In any event, the City has no objection to claimants’ proposed allocation of the final award. However, the City requires that claimants obtain a modified order, on notice, to include the proposed allocation of the final award. The Comptroller’s Office cannot make specific allocations without such a court order.”

Accordingly, by notice dated May 17, 2004, claimants submitted a proposed resettled final order, which valued lot 62 at [752]*752$180,537.61. In her affidavit in support of that order, counsel for Ligotti and Freno averred that:

“The [October 9, 2003] Order was defective in that it did not specify that of the $825,000 condemnation award for the six parcels of land acquired from Claimants, $180,537.61 was attributable to Block 2263, Lot 62, thus payment therefor could not be properly apportioned between Joseph Ligotti, Anthony Dacchille and John Freno. The instant application to resettle the October 9, 2003 Order seeks to clarify same.”

The resettled final order, which was signed by this court on June 7, 2004, provided in pertinent part that $180,537.61 of the $825,000 settlement amount was attributable to lot 62 and that Ligotti and Dacchille would each be paid 25% of that amount and Freno would be paid 50% plus interest from the date that title vested in the City.

On September 14, 2004, the City paid Freno a total of $578,515.92, of which $371,300 was attributable to principal and $207,215.92 was attributable to interest due through November 26, 2003. On the same date, the City paid Ligotti a total of $515,216.59, of which $330,673.56 represented principal and $184,543.03 represented interest due through November 26, 2003. Claimants make the instant application, arguing that they are entitled to interest for the period from November 26, 2003 through August 24, 2004, the period of time during which payment was not available.

The Parties’ Contentions

In support of their application, claimants contend that to the extent that the City has underpaid the amount due to them, the City’s payment must first be applied to interest, and then to principal. Hence, Freno is owed additional interest in the amount of $16,479.60 through August 25, 2005 (the date of the affirmation); applying that amount to principal, additional interest in the amount of $1,004.97 is due thereon, for a total of $17,754.57. Ligotti is owed an additional payment in the amount of $14,674.41 in interest; applying that amount to principal, additional interest in the amount of $880.46 is due thereon, for a total of $15,554.87.

The City opposes claimants’ demand for relief, asserting that claimants are not entitled to any additional interest in this proceeding, since the City paid them interest at the statutory [753]*753rate from the date of vesting of title through the date that the payment was made available, i.e., November 26, 2003. The City further argues that it should not be ordered to pay any additional interest, since the error that is alleged to have occurred was caused by the order submitted by claimants, which failed to address the issue of the allocation of the $825,000 as between the three parcels of property owned by Ligotti, Freno and Dacchille.

The Law

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In re City of New York, 10 Misc. 3d 749 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2005).

10 Misc. 3d 749 (In re City of New York) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

In re the City of New York
18 Misc. 3d 945 (New York Supreme Court, 2008)