New York Court of Appeals, 1982

Granada Buildings, Inc. v. City of Kingston

New York Court of Appeals · Decided December 2, 1982

58 N.Y.2d 705; 444 N.E.2d 1325; 458 N.Y.S.2d 906; 1982 N.Y. LEXIS 3920

Cases that cite this one

57 later published cases cite this decision. The 24 that cite it most often are listed here.

PHL Variable Ins. Co. v. Town of Oyster Bay (2d Cir. 2019)
Field Day, LLC v. County of Suffolk (District Court, E.D. New York 2011)
NRP Holdings LLC v. City of Buffalo (2d Cir. 2019)
American Tel. & Tel. v. NYC DEPT. OF HUMAN RES. (District Court, S.D. New York 1990)
American Telephone & Telegraph Co v. New York City Department of Human Resources (District Court, S.D. New York 1990)
Embee Corp. v. Ringler (New York Supreme Court 2002)
In re Dayton Seaside Associates 2, L.P. (United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York 2000)
United States v. Schmitt (District Court, E.D. New York 1998)
In re Yachthaven Restaurant, Inc. (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. New York 1989)
TSNB, Inc. v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 1985)
Genesco Entertainment, a Div. of Lymutt v. Koch (District Court, S.D. New York 1984)
McKee v. City of Cohoes Board of Education (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1984)
NRP Holdings LLC v. City of Buffalo (2d Cir. 2019)
Michael R. Gianatasio, PE, P.C. v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 2016)
Michael R. Gianatasio, PE, P.C. v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 2016)
328 Owners Corp. v. 330 West 86 Oaks Corp. (N.Y. 2007)
Gladsky v. City of Glen Cove (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1991)
Town of Babylon v. N. Racanelli Associates (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1991)
Syracuse Orthopedic Associates v. City of Syracuse (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1988)
City of Zanesville v. Mohawk Data Sciences Corp. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1983)
Great Swamp Conservancy Inc. v. Town of Lenox (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2021)
Mans Construction Oversite, Ltd. v. City of Peekskill (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Mans Construction Oversite, Ltd. v. City of Peekskill (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2014)
Rossi v. New York State Office of Children & Family Services (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and judgment granted in defendants’ favor declaring that the February, 1977 resolution passed by the City of Kingston limiting the tax levy on plaintiff’s housing project is a nullity, and is not, and has never been, binding on defendants.

*708Municipal contracts which violate express statutory provisions are invalid (Seif v City of Long Beach, 286 NY 382; Kelly v Cohoes Housing Auth., 27 AD2d 463, affd 23 NY2d 692; Albany Supply & Equip. Co. v City of Cohoes, 25 AD2d 700, affd 18 NY2d 968). Applying this principle, the city’s 1977 resolution granting respondent a partial tax exemption was a nullity since it was not authorized under the express terms of section 125 (subd 1, par [a]) of the Private Housing Finance Law, which allows municipalities to contract for such exemptions only with “any redevelopment company”; concededly, respondent was not a “redevelopment company” at that time. Furthermore, because a governmental subdivision cannot be held answerable for the unauthorized acts of its agents (Albany Supply & Equip. Co. v City of Cohoes, supra; People v Baldwin, 197 App Div 285, 291, affd 233 NY 672), we have frequently reiterated that estoppel is unavailable against a public agency (e.g., Public Improvements v Board of Educ., 56 NY2d 850; Matter of Hamptons Hosp. & Med. Center v Moore, 52 NY2d 88).

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur.

Order reversed, with costs, and judgment granted in favor of defendants in accordance with the memorandum herein.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.