People Ex Rel. Ward v. . Sutton
People Ex Rel. Ward v. . Sutton
Opinion of the Court
The petitioners sued out a writ of certiorari for the review of assessments upon real property in the city of New Rochelle (Tax Law, sec. 290; Consol. Laws, chap. 60). They charged both overvaluation and *341 inequality. The respondents moved to quash the writ on the ground that the petition was insufficient on its face. The motion, denied at Special Term, was granted at the Appellate Division, and the writ dismissed. The decision went “ upon the ground that the petition is insufficient as to the claim of overvaluation because the extent of overvaluation is stated in the aggregate for both parcels assessed, not separately for each, and as to inequality because the instances in which said inequality exists are not specified.”
We think that here again there is a substantial compliance with the statutory mandate (Matter of City of New York, 117 App. Div, 811). How many instances there" shall be, the statute does not say. Some of the cases hold that the attack will be ineffectual if the instances are few (Matter of Corwin, 135 N. Y. 245, 252; People ex rel. Fiske v. Feitner, 95 App. Div. 217; 180 N. Y. 536). These petitioners have cut the ground for controversy away by enumerating as instances every parcel on the roll. The effect is the .same as if they had annexed a copy of the roll itself (People ex rel. N. Y., O. & W. R. Co. v. Wakeman, 143 App. Div. 816, 818; People ex rel. Erie R. R. Co. v. Webster, 49 App. Div. 556, 565; People ex rel. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co. v. Budlong, 25 App. Div. 373, 375). The respondents might have ground for complaint if the number of instances had been too small. We think they have none because it is extravagantly large.
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, and that of the Special Term affirmed, with costs in the Appellate Division and in this court.
His cock, Ch. J., Hogan, Pound, McLaughlin, Crane and Andrews, JJ., concur.
Order reversed, etc.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People of the State of New York Ex Rel. Mary C. Ward Et Al., as Executors of Robert B. Ward, Deceased, Appellants, v. George W. Sutton, as Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation of the City of New Rochelle, Et Al., Respondents
- Cited By
- 18 cases
- Status
- Published