Grace v. Town of North Hempstead

Headnote

Grace v. Town of North Hempstead, 166 App. Div. 844 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered March 22, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor of defendant entered upon a verdict directed by the court. This action was brought for the determination of a claim

to real property under the provisions of section 1638 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The plaintiff is the owner of an estate at Great Neck on the west side of Manhasset bay. On June 24, 1912, the commissioners of the land office made the plaintiff a grant of land under the waters of Manhasset bay in front of and adjacent to her uplands, consisting of approximately seven and eighty-three one-thousandths acres. On or about May 1, 1913, the attorney for the trustees of the town of North Hempstead wrote to the plaintiff stating that he had been instructed by such trustees to notify her to move all stones, piles, structures, etc., which had been placed by her on the land so granted by the state of New York, claiming that such lands under water were part of the common lands of the town. Plaintiff thereupon commenced this action. The defendant interposed an answer denying generally the allegations of the complaint and setting up as a counterclaim title in the town to the land under the waters of Manhasset bay, to which the plaintiff served a reply and issue was joined thereunder.