Starburst Realty Corp. v. City of New York

131 Misc. 2d 177, 498 N.Y.S.2d 673, 1985 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3298
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 131 Misc. 2d 177 (Starburst Realty Corp. v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starburst Realty Corp. v. City of New York, 131 Misc. 2d 177, 498 N.Y.S.2d 673, 1985 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3298 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Alfred H. Kleiman, J.

This motion to dismiss opens yet another chapter in the seemingly endless saga of New York City’s attempt to bring cable television to the Borough of Queens. Once again the principal parties involved in Orth-O-Vision v City of New York (101 Misc 2d 987 [Sup Ct, NY County 1979]) are before this court. Mr. Alfred Simon, the vice-president of Starburst Realty, is also the principal of Orth-O-Vision, Inc. And once again the court must decide serious and novel issues of law: whether local community boards and the public at large were adequately involved in the award of cable television contracts and the role of the New York State Commission on Cable Television in determining such issues.

First, however, a brief review of the Orth-O-Vision decision (supra), along with the subsequent history of the franchising process for cable television in Queens, is necessary.

Like the case at bar, Orth-O-Vision v City of New York (supra) was a taxpayer action maintained under General Municipal Law § 51. Plaintiff there alleged that a franchise contract between the city and Knickerbocker Communications Corporation for a cable television system in Queens was illegal due to noncompliance with certain provisions of the New York City Charter. Specifically, City Charter § 368 (a) requires a public hearing before the Board of Estimate on a petition for franchise and section 371 mandates a further public hearing before the Board on the proposed final contract. Sections 366-a (b) and 197-c, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) Charter amendments adopted by referendum in 1975, provide that any proposal respecting the use of real property subject to city regulation shall be reviewed by the community boards of the districts in which the land use will occur and that county’s borough board.

In a thorough opinion by my respected colleague, Justice Bentley Kassal, the Orth-O-Vision court held that the alleged illegalities in the Knickerbocker agreement were the proper [179]*179subject of a taxpayer’s action under the General Municipal Law. The court also found that a cable television franchise involved the use of real property subject to the city’s control thus necessitating local community board review under ULURP. Knickerbocker’s proposed franchise had not been subjected to ULURP review. The court further found that certain terms of the franchise contract with Knickerbocker, as ratified, differed in a material and substantial way from the terms set forth in the petition for franchise which was the subject of the public hearing before the Board of Estimate pursuant to section 368 (a). The court therefore held that the plaintiff had demonstrated a clear likelihood that it would succeed in showing at trial that the contract was illegal and granted the application for a preliminary injunction barring construction on a Queens cable system by Knickerbocker.

Following the injunction, steps were taken to correct the defective proceedings and an accelerated ULURP process began. Cable television for Queens seemed close at hand. But while the community board hearings took place, the city, pursuant to a provision in the injunction order which was consented to by Knickerbocker, changed course and began accepting new proposals for the Queens franchise. On March 24, 1980, the Board of Estimate approved a new "Request for Proposals” (RFP) which set down the minimum standards the city expected for the Queens system. Proposals were received from, among others, Warner-Amex Cable Communications Company of Queens and American Cablevision of Queens, defendants in the present action (hereinafter cable defendants) and Queens Inner Unity Cable Corporation, the third cable company named in plaintiff’s complaint. Queens Inner Unity did not join in the motion presently before this court.

The cable defendants’ proposals were reviewed by the community and borough boards pursuant to ULURP in late 1980 and early 1981 and the Board of Estimate held the public hearing mandated by Charter § 368 (a). Then, in April 1981, the Board of Estimate issued a supplemental information request (SIR) revising the standards set down in the 1980 RFP. The various applicants, including cable defendants, responded with new proposals by July 1, 1981. Further public hearings were held before the Board and its cable working group committee but no more ULURP hearings took place before the community boards. The three defendants named in this suit were targeted for further negotiation in December 1981. The Board held a public hearing on the proposed con[180]*180tracts on June 21, 1983, and the Mayor approved the adopted agreements and executed the franchise contracts for Queens on July 19, 1983.

The contracts were then reviewed by the New York State Commission on Cable Television as required by Executive Law § 821. The Commission held a public hearing of its own on August 30, 1983, and issued certificates of confirmation on December 16, 1983.

To date, the Borough of Queens is still without cable television.

On May 9, 1984, plaintiff Starburst Realty commenced this taxpayer’s action pursuant to General Municipal Law § 51 seeking a declaration that the franchise agreements entered into between the City of New York and cable defendants are illegal, null and void and further seeking to enjoin defendants from constructing any cable television systems. Plaintiff’s supplemental complaint sets forth what this court will treat as seven distinct "causes of action”, although the complaint does not refer to them as such. Two allege that substantial and material differences between the requests for proposals and the final contracts, and between the supplemental information requests and the final contracts, render the contracts invalid. One alleges fraud on the part of the cable defendants and various city officials. Two allege noncompliance with the franchise procedure provisions of the City Charter § 368 (a) and the ULURP. Two allege that the final contracts were improperly amended.

Defendants now move under CPLR 3211 (a) (7) to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action or in the alternative for summary judgment under CPLR 3212. The motion is addressed to the entire complaint and sets out two basic arguments.

I.

Defendants’ threshold contention is that plaintiff lacks standing to sue under General Municipal Law § 51. Section 51 allows actions "to prevent any illegal official act * * * or to prevent waste or injury to * * * any property, funds or estate of * * * [the] municipal corporation”. Defendants argue that plaintiff does not complain of an "illegal official act” or official "waste” within the meaning of the statute. I find, however, that plaintiff’s allegations raise more than a simple disagreement with public officials on a matter of public policy (cf. [181]*181Talcott v City of Buffalo, 125 NY 280 [1891]). Aside from fraud, plaintiff alleges fundamental illegalities in the contracts and that these illegalities would result in a detriment to the city through a waste of its funds and/or imminent and possible irreparable public injury (Altschul v Ludwig, 216 NY 459 [1916]; Kaskel v Impellitteri, 306 NY 73 [1953]). Also confronted with this issue, the Orth-O-Vision court (101 Misc 2d 987, 991, supra)

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Related

Starburst Realty Corp. v. City of New York
132 Misc. 2d 878 (New York Supreme Court, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
131 Misc. 2d 177, 498 N.Y.S.2d 673, 1985 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starburst-realty-corp-v-city-of-new-york-nysupct-1985.