Townsend v. City of Brooklyn

Headnote

These were actions to vacate assessments upon, and sales of lands of plaintiffs in the city of Brooklyn, and to restrain conveyances by the city. Defendants demurred to the complaints, the demurrers were sustained and judgments perfected in favor of defendants.

The cases involved the same statutes and assessment proceedings as those in question in the case of Quest v. Oity of Brooklyn ( 69 N. Y., 506 ). The court state that most of the grounds set forth in the complaint upon which relief is sought here are disposed of adversely to plaintiffs by that case. It was claimed by plaintiffs, however, that there were irregularities connected with the tax-roll, levy, sale and proceedings relating thereto, which do not appear upon the face of the record, and would have to bo shown by evidence aliunde, as

the conveyances are by the statute made presumptive evidence of the regularity of the proceedings. The court held that, as the facts connected with these points were not só clearly developed in the complaint as to render it safe to pass upon them in the form in which they were presented, and as the amount and questions involved were great and important, a proper disposition of the case was to reverse the judgment, overrule the demurrer and give defendant an opportunity to answer, and thus have the questions presented upon facts established by evidence. The court, therefore, made this disposition of the case, without intimating an opinion upon any of the questions involved.