Devlin v. Mayor

• Decision Date: 09 February 1892
• Citation: 131 N.Y. 123,30 N.E. 45
• Parties: DEVLIN v. MAYOR, ETC., OF CITY OF NEW YORK.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

131 N.Y. 123

30 N.E. 45

DEVLIN

v.MAYOR, ETC., OF CITY OF NEW YORK.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Feb. 9, 1892.

Appeal from supreme court, general germ, first department.

Action by Margaret Devlin against the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New York, for interest on an award of damages to plaintiff for the taking of her land by the city for a school site. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the general term reversing a judgment in her favor. Reversed.

Souther & Stedman, (Chas. Edward Souther, of counsel,) for appellant.

Wm. H. Clark, Corp. Counsel, ( D. J. Dean and Theodore Connoly, of counsel,) for respondents.

PECKHAM, J.

The award made by the commissioners to estimate the damages to the plaintiff as owner for land taken was confirmed on the 5th of July, 1889, and on the 20th of the following September the city comptroller paid to the owner of the land the amount of such award, without interest. The owner received the same under protest, and claimed interest from the date of confirmation to the date of payment. The question is whether the plaintiff is entitled to such interest.

The provisions regarding interest, which are found in the fourth section of chapter 191 of the Laws of 1888 providing for the acquisition of sites for school purposes in New York city, are somewhat ambiguous and confusing, yet, upon a careful reading, we think they can be reconciled. As soon as the report of the commissioners to estimate damages is confirmed by the court, section 3 of the act enacts that the mayor, etc., shall become and be seised in fee of the lands included in the report, the same to be used for the purposes already stated in the act. From that moment, therefore, the city becomes the owner of the lands, and the former owner becomes at once entitled to his just compensation for the lands thus taken. That compensation, by this statute, consists in the amount allowed by the commissioners, with interest from the date of the confirmation of the report. This interest is part of the compensation which the statute itself provides shall be paid to the owners for their lands, and is not in any sense damages for the failure to pay. In this respect the statute differs from that referred to in Cutter v. Mayor, 92 N. Y. 166; for in the case cited the statute provided for the payment to the owners, within four months from the confirmation of the report, of the amount of the sum reported by the commissioners,or, in case of neglect or default for such time, the owner, after application for payment, might sue for and recover the sum reported, ‘with lawful interest from and after the said application therefor.’ The statute referred to does not provide for the payment of interest as any part of the compensation for the land taken, because it allows the city four months in which it has the right to pay the sum awarded, simply, and without any interest whatever. The interest which is given thereafter is allowed by way of damages for the default, and runs only from the time of a...