People v. Staszyn

38 Misc. 2d 100, 237 N.Y.S.2d 463, 1963 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2287
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedFebruary 4, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 38 Misc. 2d 100 (People v. Staszyn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Criminal 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
People v. Staszyn, 38 Misc. 2d 100, 237 N.Y.S.2d 463, 1963 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2287 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1963).

Opinion

Aaron F. Goldstein, J.

The charge against the defendant is that the “ premises are used for business contrary to the last issued Certificate of Occupany. Certificate of Occupancy 35823 was issued September 4,1946 for a one-family dwelling: Premises are being used for business,” in violation of section C26-185.0 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York. This section of the code provides inter alia as follows: “It shall be unlawful to make any changes of occupancy or use of any structure if such change is inconsistent with the last issued certificate of occupancy.”

[101]*101Upon the trial the facts were stipulated to be as follows. The defendant and his wife are the owners of a one-family dwelling at 150-23 99th Place, Ozone Park, Queens County. On March 23, 1962 they had on the roof of the premises a small structure, which was presumably a pigeon coop. There was a window in the coop overlooking the Aqueduct Race Track. There was also a telephone and a pair of binoculars in the coop, and the coop, telephone and binoculars were used in the following manner. An individual would go up on the roof and into the coop when horse races were being run at Aqueduct during the racing season. He would watch the track and races through a pair of binoculars or he would get information pertaining to the races from someone at the track by using the binoculars. The information was as to the winners of the races and, in addition, as stated in defendant’s brief, “ the finish line and tote board could be seen from the roof of the house ”. He would then telephone the information aforesaid from the telephone in the coop, which telephone was an extension of the regular telephone in the defendant’s premises, to the Delaware Sports Service (successor to Delaware Wired Music) in Wilmington, Delaware. For this use that was made of the structure on the roof of the premises, the defendant and his wife were paid a stipulated rental or compensation by Delaware Sports Service, which amount was declared by them in their income tax returns.

It was further stipulated that the telephone in the coop was originally installed and used by the defendant in connection with his raising and flying of carrier pigeons. There is no stipulation or proof in the record as to whether in fact on the day in question there were any pigeons in the coop.

There was received in evidence a certificate of occupancy for the premises issued by the Department of Housing and Buildings of the City of New York which recites that permissible use and occupancy was a two-story one-family dwelling with a residence occupancy classification.

There are two questions to be determined by this court. First, whether there was a business use of the premises, and second, if there was a business use, was it a lawful and proper accessory use of the premises. The questions will be considered in that order.

The facts in each particular case determine whether there was a business use of the premises. Business is an activity with the object of pecuniary gain or profit or engaging in activities in pursuit of gain. In Matter of Steinbeck v. Gerosa (4 N Y 2d 302, 308) the court defined “ business ” as follows: “‘Business ’ has been described as a word of ‘ large * * * import ’, [102]*102a ‘ very comprehensive term It encompasses ‘ That which occupies the time, attention and labor of men for the purpose of livelihood or profit, but it is not necessary that it should be the sole occupation or employment. It embraces everything about which a person can be employed ’. (Bouvier’s Law Dictionary [8th ed.], Vol. I, p. 406; Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U. S. 107,171.) ” To the same effect is Flint v. Stony Tracy Co. (220 U. S. 107, 171) cited in the Steinbeck case.

To explain the nature of the activity of Delaware Sports Service, the defendant refers this court to Tollin v. State (46 Del. 120). An examination of that case discloses that the business of Delaware Sports Service, successor to Delaware Wired Music, is the dissemination of sports news over telephone wires to customers who paid a weekly sum for the information. Most of the news concerned horse racing at various tracks throughout the country. While it was held that the paraphernalia and equipment as used in the premises did not violate the State’s gambling law, the court said (p. 125): ‘ ‘ This information was obviously of great help to those who receive or place bets, since it included not only racing results but also last-minute details prior to a race. Moreover, I am not so naive as to believe that Tollin did not realize the news was being used by others to facilitate gambling.”

In People v. Pollack (204 Misc. 64), cited by the defendant, it was held that the activities involved in that case did not violate sections 580, 974, 986 and 1372 of the Penal Law. That issue is not before this court. The Corporation Counsel in his brief states: defendant argues that the type of service here in question is not of itself an illegal activity. We do not here charge that it is.” But see report of Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau that, ‘ ‘ illegal book-making cannot exist on a large scale without prompt information by bookmakers on races being run throughout the United States ” and testimony of Spencer Drayton that, “ I don’t think there is any more corrupting influence than the bookmaking wire service ”, both quoted in the opinion in the Pollack case (supra, p. 70).

In the opinion of this court, the Delaware Sports Service was engaged in the business of disseminating information relating to and the results of horse races at Aqueduct Race Track. The obtaining of such information was an essential part of the said business. The activities of the person using the pigeon coop were in furtherance of the conduct of the business. The defendant’s rental or license of his premises for an agreed compensation resulted in his premises being used for a business purpose.

[103]*103The court will now pass to a consideration of the question of whether this was a proper accessory use of the premises. Under the Zoning Resolution of the City of New York, dated December 15, 1961 the defendant’s premises are in R4 district. Section 11-12 of the Zoning Resolution establishes R4 as a general residence district. Section 21-00 contains the General Purposes of Residence Districts. Section 22-00 of chapter 2 is entitled: “Use Regulations” and states: “General Provisions — In

order to carry out the purposes and provisions of this resolution, the uses of buildings or other structures and of tracts of land have been classified and combined into Use Groups. A brief statement is inserted at the start of each Use Group to describe and clarify the basic characteristics of that Use Group.” Section 22-10 deals with “Uses Permitted as of Right section 22-11 states that Use Group No. 1 consists of single-family detached residential dwellings, and section 22-12 states that Use Group No. 2 consists of other types of residential developments. The permitted uses of both groups are (A) Residential uses, and (B) Accessory uses.

We are not dealing with a zoning resolution which sets forth prohibited uses thus making permissible uses that are not prohibited.

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Related

People v. Kaufmann
129 Misc. 2d 1052 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
38 Misc. 2d 100, 237 N.Y.S.2d 463, 1963 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-staszyn-nycrimct-1963.