[Amended by L.L. No. 4-1929; L.L. No. 5-1932; L.L. No. 1-1956; L.L. No. 6-1969; 11-23-2021 by L.L. No. 2-2021, approved 12-6-2021]
The Corporation Counsel shall be the head of the Department of Law. The Corporation Counsel shall appoint, to hold office during his pleasure, a Deputy Corporation Counsel, a Second Deputy Corporation Counsel, and assistant corporation counsels and staff as the Department of Law may require and as may be prescribed by the Board of Estimate and Contract In case of the absence or disability of the Corporation Counsel, or a vacancy in the office, the Deputy Corporation Counsel may discharge the duties of the office until the Corporation Counsel returns, his disability ceases, or the vacancy is filled. In case of the absence or disability of both the Corporation Counsel and the Deputy Corporation Counsel, or a vacancy in both offices, the Second Deputy Corporation Counsel may discharge the duties of the Corporation Counsel, until either the Corporation Counsel or the Deputy Corporation returns, such disabilities, or one of them, cease or vacancies, or, one of them are filled.
The Deputy Corporation Counsel and the Second Deputy Corporation Counsel shall each possess a juris doctor degree from an accredited law school and a license to practice law as an attorney and counselor at law in the state of New York and must also possess at least five years experience as an attorney. Said deputy corporation counsels shall have and perform legal, supervisory and administrative duties and additional duties as may be from time to time assigned to them by the corporation counsel.
[Amended by L.L. No. 31-1961; by L.L. No. 1-1972]
The Corporation Counsel shall be and act as the legal advisor of the City Council, of the Mayor, and of the several officers, boards and departments of the City. He shall appear for and protect the rights and interests of the City in all actions, suits and proceedings brought by or against it or any of the City officers, boards or departments, and such officers, boards or departments shall not employ other Counsel, except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter. He shall attend to all the law business of the City and discharge such other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance of the City Council.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 42, Notices of Claims.
Neither the Corporation Counsel, his Assistant nor any of his subordinates shall receive any fee or compensation of any kind for services rendered in an official capacity, other than the salary fixed by law or by the Board of Estimate and Contract.
The Corporation Counsel shall pay over at once to the Comptroller all moneys collected by him for or in behalf of the City, including fines and penalties; and he shall annually, on the 31st day of December in each year, file with the Mayor of the City an inventory of all the books and property belonging to the City in his custody. He shall keep a docket in which he shall enter at length all actions and proceedings in which he shall appear for the City, and in which docket shall be shown at all times the condition of all such actions or legal proceedings.
No written contract providing for the payment of $500 or more, entered by the City or any of its officers, boards or departments shall become effective or be acted under until there shall be endorsed thereon by the Corporation Counsel, or his Assistant a certificate to the effect that the City officer, board or department which has executed the same on behalf of the City, had authority and power to make such contract, and that such contract is in proper form and properly executed; he shall approve all deeds, conveyances, leases and abstracts of title affecting property acquired, conveyed to or leased by the City.
The Corporation Counsel shall whenever he considers that the interests of the City will be subserved thereby, enter into an agreement in writing, subject to the approval of the Board of Estimate and Contract, to compromise and settle any claim against the City; and the amount shall constitute a valid obligation against the City; and the amount therein provided to be paid shall, with interest thereon from its date, be included in the next City tax budget; and be collected and paid the same in all respects as a judgment against the City.
The Corporation Counsel, with the written consent of the Mayor, may employ counsel and experts at such compensation as may be agreed upon by the Board of Estimate and Contract, to assist him in the argument and conduct of important cases or proceedings in which the City is interested or a party.
[Amended by L.L. No. 8-1933]
Whenever any unpaid taxes and assessments levied against any property in the City and remaining unpaid more than three years shall have been certified by the Comptroller to the Corporation Counsel as herein provided the Corporation Counsel shall forth-with bring an action or actions in a court of record having jurisdiction of actions for the foreclosure of mortgages in the name of the City for the foreclosure of the lien of such unpaid tax or taxes and assessment or assessments upon such property. Such action or actions shall be brought and presented in the same manner as is provided for the foreclosure of mortgages and the provisions of law relating to actions for the foreclosure of mortgages shall apply to such actions, except as hereinafter provided.
A conveyance upon a sale made pursuant to the final judgment in an action brought under this article for the foreclosure of the lien of the tax or assessment shall vest in the purchaser all the right, title and interest or equity of redemption in and to said premises so sold of all the parties to said action and of all parties claiming under them, or any of them, whose conveyance or encumbrance is executed or recorded subsequent to the filing of the notice of pendency of action.
[Amended by L.L. No. 8-1933]
Separate taxes or assessments against the same lot or parcel of land, or against two or more lots or parcels of land, so certified to the Corporation Counsel may be foreclosed in one action or in separate actions, at the option of the Corporation Counsel. Whenever a cause of action, defense or counterclaim is made for the foreclosure of a lien for unpaid taxes or assessments, or is in any manner founded upon a lien for unpaid taxes or assessments, the production of evidence of the certification of the Comptroller to the Corporation Counsel as prescribed herein, shall be presumptive evidence that the lien for unpaid taxes or assessments certified by such an instrument was a valid or enforceable lien, and it shall not be necessary to plead or prove any act, proceeding, notice or action preceding the certification of such lien nor to establish the validity of the same. If a party or person in interest in any such action or proceeding claims that the lien for unpaid taxes or assessments is irregular or invalid or that there is any defect therein or that the certification is irregular, invalid, or defective, such invalidity, irregularity or defect must be specifically pleaded or set forth, and must be established affirmatively by the same party or person pleading or setting forth the same. In every action for the foreclosure of a lien for unpaid taxes or assessments, and in every action or proceeding in which a cause of action, defense or counterclaim is, in any manner, founded upon a lien for unpaid taxes or assessments, such lien shall be presumed to be valid, regular and effectual. All taxes and assessments due the City with the interest, fees, penalties and other lawful charges thereon, and which are a lien upon the lands sold, and all sums which the City may theretofore have paid for the purchase of the same lands at any prior sale for the nonpayment of taxes or assessments thereon made under any provisions of law existing at or prior to the time of the passage of this Act, and for which the City may hold a certificate or lease, with interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of every such prior sale, respectively, and all expenses incurred thereon by the City shall be satisfied from the proceeds of the sale of said lands as far as possible, and a judgment for the deficiency, if any, must be granted against any defendant or defendants in said actions personally liable therefor; and the final judgments in said actions may direct the cancellation or satisfaction of record of any lien or liens of any party or parties to the action. No such action shall be discontinued by the court upon motion of any defendant therein, unless it be upon condition that he pay to the City of Mount Vernon all the sums of money it would be entitled to receive in such action if it were prosecuted to judgment and sale, except that the interest and costs shall, in such event, be computed only to the date of the making of the order of discontinuance. The Corporation Counsel may bid for and purchase in the name of the City any lands sold upon sales under judgments in actions to foreclose tax or assessment liens.
[Amended by L.L. 1923, Ch. 617; L.L. No. 8-1933]
Costs in any foreclosure action brought under the provisions of this Charter shall be in the discretion of the court but in no event shall costs exceed the amount allowable in an action to foreclose a mortgage for an equal amount. The award of costs in any action shall carry with it the right to recover taxable disbursements, the amount expended for a search of the title to real property by a title company authorized to do business as such by the laws of the State of New York, together with such amount as the court shall allow for searches and investigation as to necessary parties defendant. In the event that the owners of one or more parcels are joined as defendants, the judgment of foreclosure and sale may provide for an equitable division of the costs and disbursements against each parcel to be sold in said judgment provided.
In any action or proceeding to which the City of Mount Vernon, or any of its officers, is a party, and in which it is claimed that any tax or assessment is due and owing to the City, or in which it is sought to collect the same, the statute of limitations shall not be a bar or defense. No action shall be maintained to recover real estate sold under a judgment in an action brought by the City of Mount Vernon to foreclose the lien of a tax or assessment, nor to recover any right, title, interest or equity of redemption in or to real estate so sold, unless the action therefor is commenced within one year after the entry of judgment of foreclosure and sale. The limitation herein provided applies to and bars nonresident persons temporarily absent from the state, minors, insane persons, persons in prison, and all other persons and corporations whether under disability or not.
Nothing contained in this Act shall in any way interfere with or impair the rights of the City of Mount Vernon in any action pending at the time this Act takes effect to enforce the collection of unpaid taxes and assessments, pursuant to the provisions of any existing law.
[Amended by L. 1943, Ch. 710; L. 1945, Ch. 839; L.L. No. 1-1972]
The amount of any judgment recovered against the City and payable by it, remaining unpaid, with the interest due thereon, in case the time to appeal therefrom has expired and no appeal has been taken, or a certificate of no appeal therefrom has been given by the Corporation Counsel, or in case such judgment is finally affirmed, or an appeal taken and the execution thereon shall not be stayed, shall be reported to the City Council immediately after the same shall have become payable, as aforesaid; and the amount thereof shall be included in the next tax budget. Such judgments shall be paid in the order of their recovery out of the moneys first paid into the City treasury on account of the annual taxes, or prior thereto, out of the proceeds of tax anticipation notes issued in anticipation of the collection of such taxes or out of the proceeds of budget notes. If, however, there be any moneys in the treasury to the credit of any fund derived from City revenues, other than taxation, in excess of the estimated revenues from such source, and not otherwise appropriated, sufficient to satisfy judgments against the City, the Comptroller shall issue warrants for the payment of such judgment out of said funds in the order of their recovery. Until the moneys applicable to the payment of a judgment have been raised and paid into the City treasury and payment of the judgment has been refused, no execution shall issue against the City unless the amount of such judgment shall not have been included in the tax budget.
It shall be the duty of every member of the police force of the City, observing or having any knowledge of an accident from which a cause of action might arise against the City, to report forthwith the fact of such accident to the Chief of Police who shall thereupon report the same to the Corporation Counsel; and upon the request of the Corporation Counsel, the Chief of Police shall detail a member of the force to aid the Corporation Counsel in the investigation of any such accident.