People ex rel. Manhattan Life Insurance v. Wells

40 Misc. 555, 82 N.Y.S. 875
New York Supreme Court·Decided May 15, 1903·Published

Opinion

Blanchard, J.

This is a motion by the defendants to quash a writ of certiorari to review an assessment upon real estate of the relator for the purpose of taxation for the year 1902. The petition shows that the relator was a Eew York corporation, with its principal place of business in the borough of Manhattan, and the owner of certain real property in said borough; that by section 893 of the Greater Eew York charter (L. 1901, ch. 466) it is provided that “ The department of taxes and assessments shall cause' to be prepared and kept in the main office of the department of taxes and assessments, books to be called The annual record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations,’ and it shall be the duty of the deputy tax commissioners in the several [556] districts in the several boroughs which may be assigned to them for that purpose by the board of taxes and assessments, to furnish to the department of taxes and assessments, under oath at their main office, at the time such statement' is filed in any office of the department of taxes and assessments in any borough other than the main office in the borough of Manhattan, a duplicate detailed statement of the assessable property of corporations, both real and personal, which said statements of said deputy tax commissioners shall be entered upon the books to' be kept in the main office of the department of taxes and assessments, to be known as the ‘ Annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate or corporations,’ ” and that by section 894 of said charter it is provided that “ The assessed valuation of all real and personal property of corporations.shall be entered in duplicate in the office of the borough where the same is assessed and in the main office of the department of taxes and assessments in the borough of Manhattan;” that a deputy tax commissioner valued and assessed the property of the relator and that the board of taxes and assessments illegally caused said assessment to be entered in a book required to be kept in the main office of said department in the borough of Manhattan, called “ The annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate of the Borough of Manhattan ” for the year 1902, when the same should have been, but was not, entered in said “Annual record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations” for the year 1902; that the “Annual record of the assessed real and personal estate ” was open for examination and correction in accordance with the requirements of the law, and was properly advertised, but that the board failed to advertise that the “ annual record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations ” was open for examination and correction; that the board delivered as required by law, to the board of aldermen an assessment-roll prepared from the annual record, which included the relator’s real property, but that the board failed to deliver the “ annual record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations ” containing an assessment against relator’s real property; that the board of aldermen confirmed said assessment-roll, and that the tax imposed on relator’s real property will become an apparent lien on its property and that said assessment is illegal and void.

[557] The contention of the relator, as the petition shows, is that the relator’s real property was not entered in what it claims is the proper record, to wit, “ the annual record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations ” in accordance with section 893 of the charter, before quoted.

In order to comprehend properly the situation as it is here presented, certain other sections of the charter should be considered. Section 892 provides that There shall be kept in the ■several offices established by the department of- taxes and assessments books to be called ‘ the annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate of the borough of..........’ in which shall be entered in detail the assessed valuations of such property within the limits of the several boroughs of The City of Eew York as established by this act, which said books shall be open for public inspection, examination and correction from the ■second Monday in January until the first day of April in each year; but on said last mentioned day the same shall be closed to ■enable the board of taxes and assessment to prepare assessment-rolls of the several boroughs for delivery to the board of aider-men. The said board previous to and during the time said books •are open as aforesaid for inspection shall advertise the fact in the City Record; ’ and in such other newspaper or newspapers published in the several boroughs created by this act as may be authorized by the board of city record.”

The petition shows that the relator’s real property was properly-Assessed in accordance with law, provided it need not be entered an the record of corporations called for by section 893 of the •charter.. It will be observed that the record which section 892 requires to be kept, “ the assessed valuation of real and personal estate,” makes no exemption of the property of corporations. This record, it will be further observed, is required to be kept in the various boroughs in which the property is located, and this is the record which must be kept open for public inspection after ^notice is given by advertisement. When we take up section 893 for examination we find that the record of the assessed valuations of real and personal estate of corporations ” there provided to be kept at the main office of the board of taxes and assessments is made up of duplicate records from the various boroughs. It will be observed that this record is not required by this section to be kept open for public inspection, nor must notice be pub[558] lished as section 892 requires of the more general and comprehensive records required to be kept by virtue of that section. The purpose of having this corporation record complete in the main office is apparent from a perusal of section 898, which requires applications for revision and cancellation of assessments of corporations to be made at the main office of the board, whereas other applications of a similar character are addressed to the deputy tax commissioners for the various boroughs.

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People ex rel. Manhattan Life Insurance v. Wells, 40 Misc. 555, 82 N.Y.S. 875 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1903).

40 Misc. 555 (People ex rel. Manhattan Life Insurance v. Wells) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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