Tropp v. Knickerbocker Vill.

• Citation: 205 Misc. 200
• Parties: Simon Tropp et al., Plaintiffs,<BR>v.<BR>Knickerbocker Village, Inc., et al., Defendants.
• Decision Date: 24 March 1953
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (New York)

205 Misc. 200

Simon Tropp et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Knickerbocker Village, Inc., et al., Defendants.

March 24, 1953.

William L. Messing for plaintiffs.

Nathaniel L. Goldstein, Attorney-General (Philip Watson of counsel), for Herman T. Stichman, as Commissioner of Housing of the State of New York, defendant.

Kenneth C. Newman, Harry Loeb Mostow, Joseph A. Weinberger and Stanley P. Seigel for Knickerbocker Village, Inc., defendant.

Abraham Pruzan for Brooklyn Garden Apartments, Inc., defendant.

MATTHEW M. LEVY, J.

This is an action for a declaratory judgment brought by two tenants, one a resident of the housing project of the defendant Knickerbocker Village, Inc., and the other a resident of the project of the defendant Brooklyn Garden Apartments, Inc. The complaint consists of two causes of action, one on behalf of each plaintiff as against his respective landlord and against the defendant Stichman, as Commissioner of Housing of the State of New York. The defendant landlords are limited-dividend housing corporations organized pursuant to the State Housing Law (now the Public Housing Law). The defendant Knickerbocker's housing project was constructed in 1934, and the plaintiff Tropp became a resident there in 1941; the project of the defendant Brooklyn was constructed in 1929, and the plaintiff Deyo became a resident there in 1942.

The Public Housing Law upon its enactment in 1939, limited occupancy in this type of residential project to those tenants whose income, generally speaking, was not in excess of a specified ratio to the rent prescribed for the particular apartment involved (Public Housing Law, § 182, subd. 3); and, in the event the tenant's income exceeded the allowed ratio, he was obligated to vacate the premises (§ 156, subd. 4). On April 4, 1951, an amendment, among others, was enacted, by which clause (3) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 182 of the Public Housing Law, provided in effect that a tenant whose income exceeds the statutory ratio — but not beyond a certain point — might nevertheless be permitted by the housing company to remain in possession of his apartment, where the company is convinced that eviction of the tenant would result in undue hardship to him or that other appropriate housing accommodations are unobtainable; but, in such event, the tenant would be charged a rental increased in proportion to his ability to pay, as determined by the housing company, with the approval of the commissioner. Pursuant to this statute the commissioner promulgated a schedule of rent increases, graduated in accordance with fixed categories of excesses in allowable incomes of various classifications of tenants and applicable to tenants whose incomes exceed the statutory ratio.

The present income of each of the plaintiffs concededly exceeds that ratio (but is within the limit of the permissible excess), and each was notified by his respective landlord that the rent to be paid by him was to be in the scheduled increased amount. Both tenants refused to pay the additional sums, not upon the ground that their income increases did not make them factually subject to the rent increases within the terms of the schedule, but because of their contentions (as presented in this action) that clause (3) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 182 of the Public Housing Law, is violative of the Federal and State Constitutions; that the subdivision is inapplicable to them; and that the new rent schedule is in excess of the defendants' statutory authority and unlawful. The plaintiffs urge that the statutory provision was passed after these housing developments had been constructed and after these plaintiffs had been in possession; that it impairs the obligation of contract; that it deprives them of property without due process of law; that it constitutes an unlawful delegation of authority; and that the acts of the defendants in fixing the rent increases were arbitrary and capricious.

The plaintiffs in their complaint pray for a judgment declaring the statutory enactment unconstitutional and inapplicable, the administrative schedule unlawful and ineffective, and the landlords' demands improper. Each of the defendants in this action has appeared and answered. The defendant commissioner's answer consists of technical denials together with a defense alleging, in effect, the same material facts as are set forth in the complaint, and his answer demands affirmative judgment of a declaration of constitutionality of the statute and validity of the scheduled increases. The answer of the defendant Brooklyn is similar. That of the defendant Knickerbocker in effect (although not in language) raises the same issues. The defendant commissioner moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to section 476 of the Civil Practice Act and rule 112 of the Rules of Civil Practice. The plaintiffs, as well as the defendant Brooklyn, cross-moved for judgment on the pleadings under the same section and rule. The defendant Knickerbocker similarly moved for judgment on the pleadings under the same provisions and for a dismissal of the complaint pursuant to rule 212 of the Rules of Civil Practice, and for other relief not now significant.

Where, as here, all of the parties in the action have appeared and answered, and, with the pleadings in complete form, each has made similar motions on the basis of those pleadings, they thus concede that there exists no question of fact, and that the issues presented to the court for decision are solely questions of law. Where, as is the case here, the material facts are admitted, and only questions of law are to be determined, a motion for judgment on the pleadings under section 476 of the Civil Practice Act and rule 112 of the Rules of Civil Practice is properly made and may be entertained by the court in the exercise of its discretion (Bogart v. County of Westchester, 270 App. Div. 274, motion for leave to appeal denied, 295 N.Y. 934, appeal dismissed, 296 N.Y. 701).

The contention is presented by one or more of the defendants that the plaintiffs' remedy is not by means of a declaratory-judgment action but rather that of an article 78 proceeding. I do not agree, at least with respect to the principal phases of the relief requested. While resort to the use of a declaratory judgment is usually unnecessary when an adequate and complete remedy is already provided by another form of action, no prohibition upon its use has been stated in the statute or attempted to be placed by the decisions. The court may, of course, exercise its discretion and refuse to proceed to a declaratory judgment when other remedies are available and adequate. But the Appellate Courts have never gone so far as to hold that, when there exists a genuine controversy requiring a judicial determination, the Supreme Court is bound — solely because another remedy is available — to refuse to exercise the power conferred by section 473 of the Civil Practice Act and rule 212 of the Rules of Civil Practice, with reference to the remedy of declaratory judgment (Woollard v. Schaffer Stores Co., 272 N.Y. 304). This remedy, moreover, is particularly appropriate where a constitutional question is involved, or the legality or meaning of a statute is in question, and where there is no issue of fact (German Masonic Temple Assn. of City of N. Y. v. City of New York, 279 N.Y. 452; Dun & Bradstreet v. City of New York, 276 N.Y. 198). That is precisely the situation in the case at bar. I hold, therefore, that a declaratory judgment under the facts here presented is the appropriate procedural vehicle. Accordingly, I shall proceed to a consideration of the merits of the several motions. That requires first a resume of the history of the applicable legislation and regulations, in the light of the constitutional provisions.

The first State Housing Law (L. 1926, ch. 823, § 2, as amd.) was enacted not alone to eradicate slum areas but also to provide low-rent housing accommodations for low-income tenants. It did not contain any income-rental ratio provisions. As amended in 1928, it authorized the State Board of Housing to "make, amend and repeal rules and regulations" to effectuate the purposes of the law (§ 15, subd. 6; L. 1928, ch. 722, § 2). In 1936, it was established by regulation of the board that limited-dividend housing corporations must, in renting their accommodations, grant preference to prospective tenants with low incomes. That regulation reads as follows: "Section 31. Low Income Preference. In passing upon applications the Corporation shall grant preference to families of low income and to families with children. The Corporation shall limit approval to families in which the maximum annual household income is not in excess of approximately five times the annual rental. On renewal of existing leases the Corporation shall review the incomes of applicant families."

The 1939 legislation (now termed the Public Housing Law) established the first statutory income-rental ratios as a guide to the State Superintendent of Housing (subsequently the commissioner) in carrying out the duties of his office, by restricting income to five or six times the annual rental, as the specific case may be. The applicable section was in the following language: "The dwellings in a housing company project hereafter constructed shall be available for persons or families whose probable aggregate annual income at the time of admission does not exceed five times the rental (including the value or cost to them of heat, light, water, and cooking fuel) of the dwellings to be furnished such persons or families, except that in the case of families with three or more dependents such ratio shall not exceed six to one. The `probable aggregate annual income' means the annual income of the chief wage earner of the family plus all other income of other adult members of the family, plus a proportion of income of gainfully employed minors, the proportion to be determined...