City of Hartford v. Mechanics' Sav. Bank

• Decision Date: 17 April 1906
• Citation: 63 A. 658,79 Conn. 38
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: CITY OF HARTFORD v. MECHANICS' SAVINGS BANK.

63 A. 658

79 Conn. 38

CITY OF HARTFORD

v. MECHANICS' SAVINGS BANK.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

April 17, 1906.

Appeal from City Court of Hartford; John J. McKone, Judge.

Action to foreclose an assessment lien by the city of Hartford against the Mechanics' Savings Bank. From a judgment for defendant on overruling a demurrer to its answer, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Arthur L. Shipman and Charles A. Safford, for appellant. John T. Robinson and Ralph O. Wells, for appellee.

BALDWIN, J. The court of common council of the city of Hartford, having authority by charter to provide that an assessment for benefits to real estate for any public work should be a lien upon such real estate, passed an ordinance that all such assessments should "be a lien on the land on account of which said assessment is made until the same is fully paid," provided a certificate of lien were, within three months after the assessment, lodged for record with the town clerk. Subsequently, in 1876, such an assessment was laid for a sewer in Franklin avenue on a certain lot, and a certificate of lien duly recorded. In 1906 the city brought this action to foreclose the lien. The complaint alleged that the assessment remained due and unpaid. These averments were denied in the "first defense" of the answer. In a "second defense" it was set up that the cause of action did not accrue within 20 years; that for more than 15 years the defendant and its predecessors in title had been in the exclusive, notorious, and continuous possession under a claim of right, and without recognizing the continued existence of the lien; and that for more than 25 years the plaintiff had neglected to attempt to collect the assessment or enforce the lien, and was equitably estopped from maintaining the action.

It is contended that under the principles of construction applicable to municipal charters the court of common council went beyond their powers in undertaking to impose a perpetual lien. Crofut v. Danbury, 65 Conn. 294, 32 Atl. 365. The grant by the General Assembly of the authority under which the ordinance was adopted was not coupled with any limitation as to the time during which credit might be extended to the owner of the land affected by a lien, by postponing its enforcement That to have it continue till payment should be voluntarily made was not contrary to public policy is indicated by a statute passed in 1889, and still in force, providing that liens for assessments of this nature, supported by such certificates as the ordinance required, shall "be and remain a lien upon the land upon which the same have been made, and such cities * * * shall not be required to lodge for record any further certifies of said liens)" and adding: "Such liens may be foreclosed in the manner provided by law for the foreclosure of tax liens." Pub. Acts 1889, p. 25, c. 45; Gen. St 1002, § 1954. Liens for ordinary taxes, also, now hold until they are discharged by payment. Gen. St. 1902, § 2403; Pub. Acts 1903, p. 107, c. 145. An unqualified grant of power to impose an assessment lien naturally carries with it power to impose a lien which shall continue as long as the occasion for it continues. An assessment for benefits puts the owner of the land in the position of a debtor. New Haven v. Fair Haven & Westville R. R. Co., 38 Conn. 422, 9 Am. Rep. 399.

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