Jewish Child Care Ass'n v. City of New York

129 Misc. 2d 871
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedAugust 23, 1985
StatusPublished

This text of 129 Misc. 2d 871 (Jewish Child Care Ass'n v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jewish Child Care Ass'n v. City of New York, 129 Misc. 2d 871 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Benjamin F. Nolan, J.

Petitioner, the Jewish Child Care Association, a not-for-profit corporation and fee owner of the premises located at 1250 East 229 Street, Bronx, New York, brings this summary proceeding under RPAPL 713 (7) for a judgment removing respondents, the City of New York, the Human Resources Administration, and others, from occupancy of the said premises on grounds that they have continued to remain in possession after their license to occupy the premises was terminated.

The most recent agreement of occupancy authorized petitioner to terminate respondents’ use and occupancy upon 60 days’ written notice. On October 26, 1984, the Jewish Child Care Association served respondent (hereinafter the City) with a written notice terminating the City’s occupancy in 65 days. The City did not remove from the premises in response to the 65-day notice; nor, has it since removed from the premises. Four months after the 65-day notice expired, the Jewish Child [872]*872Care Association served the City with a 10-day notice to quit, which the City also ignored. As a result, petitioner Jewish Child Care Association brought this summary proceeding for repossession of its property.

Instead of answering the petition, the City brought this prejoinder motion which seeks an order pursuant to CPLR 404, CCA 1002, and CPLR 3211 (a), dismissing the petition for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter of this summary proceeding on the ground that respondents are tenants, not licensees, and were thus entitled to a 30-day statutory notice to vacate. A further ground that the court also lacked in personam jurisdiction because of the manner of service of the process was subsequently withdrawn.

CCA 1002 makes CPLR 3211 applicable in the Civil Court. CPLR 3211 (a) includes lack of subject matter jurisdiction as a ground upon which a party may move to dismiss a cause of action. CPLR 404 authorizes a respondent in a special proceeding to raise an objection in point of law by a motion to dismiss the petition, made upon notice within the time allowed for answer. If the motion is denied, the court may permit the respondent to answer upon such terms as are just.

The City entered into initial occupancy after accepting the following offer of use and occupancy contained in a letter which the Jewish Child Care Association wrote to the Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York on May 26, 1977: "The Jewish Child Care Association of New York is concerned that the City’s fiscal crisis may have had an adverse impact on the delivery of needed child care services in the City particularly in regard to your Department’s child care program. The Jewish Child Care Association, therefore, proposes to aid the City by herewith offering to the City, as a gift, the use and possession of our building, Edenwald Center at 1250 East 229 Street in the Bronx, for a period ending on November 30, 1981, to be used by the City as a residential facility for dependent, neglected and other children in connection with your Department’s Special Services for Children program. In addition, as part of this gift, the Jewish Child Care Association offers to contribute toward the operating cost of such a child care program in Edenwald Center the sum of $40,000 for each year that the program continues, commencing from the time of the City’s initial occupancy”.

Continuing, the letter specified that "this gift is subject to the following conditions.” That, "although the City is to pay [873]*873no rent or other payment,” the City would bear all costs of maintenance. That, additionally, the Jewish Child Care Association would "at its own expense keep in force a fire insurance policy at the cost of $1,400 annually” which would "be a credit against the $40,000” to be contributed annually by the Jewish Child Care Association. And further, that "it is the intent of this gift that the relationship between the City and the Jewish Child Care Association in regard to the City’s use and occupancy of the premises for the operation of child care programs and the obligations of one to the other be as if the City were the owner with no obligation on the Jewish Child Care Association to maintain the premises or be liable for anything during the City’s use and occupancy of the premises”.

The City accepted the gift and entered into occupancy, and conducted its child care program at the premises for the balance of the term. By letter of November 10, 1981, the Jewish Child Care Association granted the City’s request for continued use and occupancy, providing that it would continue "under the same terms and conditions except that having thus far contributed $120,000 toward the operating cost of the City’s program (the Jewish Child Care Association) shall no longer make any payments toward the said operating costs for past or future periods of time.”

Before the Jewish Child Care Association terminated the City’s occupancy, the City negotiated with the Association to purchase the property. The City negotiator accepted the offering price but when requisite budget approval took too long the Jewish Child Care Association entered into a contract to sell the property to Rome Knitting Mills, Inc. Thereafter, the City attempted to purchase the property from Rome Knitting Mills, Inc. (as the contract vendee), but Rome’s demand was so high that the City rejected it as excessive and then initiated a proceeding under New York City Charter § 197-c to acquire the property in condemnation. Accordingly, should its motions to dismiss be denied, the City requested as alternative relief that this court stay the summary proceeding until the condemnation process is completed.

The Attorney-General of the State of New York — although not a party or possessor of any formal standing in this summary proceeding — filed an affidavit on this motion in support of the City stay application, but for a different reason, namely, because he is the statutory representative of ultimate and indefinite charitable beneficiaries under EPTL 8-1.1 (h) in [874]*874a New York County Supreme Court proceeding brought by the Jewish Child Care Association against the City seeking an order approving or disapproving its contract of sale to Rome Knitting Mills, Inc. Approval by a court of competent jurisdiction is an express condition of the contract of sale, and is also required under Not-For-Profit Corporation Law § 511 when as here a not-for-profit corporation seeks to dispose of a substantial asset. The Attorney-General’s affidavit claims that since the petition in the Supreme Court raises a substantial question whether the Jewish Child Care Association is receiving fair market value from the purchaser, Rome Knitting Mills, Inc., there should be a stay of this summary proceeding until final disposition of the Supreme Court proceeding, because "if the contract of sale is disapproved and invalidated in its present form, then the summary proceeding initiated by Rome Knitting Mills, Inc. (the contract vendee) will be moot as there will be no contract to enforce.”

However, the Attorney-General’s reasoning is both factually and logically in error. The fact is that Rome Knitting Mills, Inc., did not initiate this summary proceeding and ,is not a party to it. While the summary proceeding may well have been brought for the incidental benefit of Rome Knitting Mills, Inc., it is misleading to say that it was initiated by Rome when it was not.

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Bluebook (online)
129 Misc. 2d 871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jewish-child-care-assn-v-city-of-new-york-nycivct-1985.