[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]
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.
