New York Probate and Estate Administration Lawyer Blog
In this estate case, New York Probate Lawyer said that a hybrid proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review real property tax assessments for tax year 2008 and action for a judgment declaring that certain undeveloped parcels of real property owned by the petitioner/plaintiff were unlawfully assessed at nine times their values, the petitioner/plaintiff appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Orange County, dated July 15, 2009, as granted the motion of the respondents/defendants, as Assessor for the Town of Goshen, and the Town of Goshen, in which the respondent/defendant School District joined, pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) and 7804(f) to dismiss the petition/complaint insofar as asserted against each of those respondents/defendants, and dismissed the proceeding and action insofar as asserted against each of them.
A New York Will Lawyer said that, also in an action pursuant to General Municipal Law § 205-e to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant 1299 Eastern, LLC, appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, as granted that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was for leave to renew his opposition to its prior motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it, which had been determined in a prior order dated August 11, 2006, and upon renewal, vacated the order dated August 11, 2006, and denied the motion for summary judgment.
Long Island Probate Lawyers said the issue in this case is whether the subject property of the estate were unlawfully assessed.
Ordinarily, the proper method for challenging real property tax assessments on the grounds that they are illegal, irregular, excessive, or unequal is by the commencement of a tax certiorari proceeding pursuant to article 7 of the Real Property Tax Law. Where the challenge, however, is based upon the method employed in the assessment of several properties rather than the overvaluation or undervaluation of specific properties, a taxpayer may forego the statutory certiorari procedure and mount a collateral attack on the taxing authority’s determination through either a declaratory judgment action or a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78. Although the petitioner/plaintiff (hereinafter the petitioner) styles its challenge as one regarding the method of assessment, it is, in actuality, a claim that its property was over assessed. Accordingly, the petitioner is required to pursue any remedy it may have in a proceeding pursuant to RPTL article 7, and the Supreme Court properly dismissed the hybrid CPLR article 78 proceeding and declaratory judgment action insofar as asserted against respondents/defendants, as Assessor for the Town of Goshen, the Town of Goshen, and Goshen Central School District.
Long Island Probate Lawyers said in general, a motion for leave to renew must be based upon new facts not offered on the prior motion that would change the prior determination, and must set forth a reasonable justification for the failure to present such facts on the prior motion. A motion for leave to renew is not a second chance freely given to parties who have not exercised due diligence in making their first factual presentation. The Supreme Court lacks discretion to grant renewal where the moving party omits a reasonable justification for failing to present the new facts on the original motion. Here, in support of that branch of his motion which was for leave to renew, the plaintiff submitted additional facts known to him at the time of the prior motion without demonstrating a reasonable justification for failing to submit them on the earlier motion. Thus, that branch of the motion should have been denied.
Accordingly, Brooklyn Probate Lawyers said the court ordered that the order and judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs to the respondents/defendants, as Assessor for the Town of Goshen, and the Town of Goshen. The court further, ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was for leave to renew his opposition to the prior motion of the defendant 1299 Eastern, LLC, for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against it is denied, and the order dated August 11, 2006 is reinstated.
If you wish to challenge the validity of tax assessment on your property, you will need the help of a New York Estate Litigation Attorney or New York Estate Attorney at Stephen Bilkis and Associates, Call us.