New York Court of Appeals
In the Matter of the Petition of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank to Vacate an Assessment.
December 10, 187875 N.Y. 388
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals held that the assessment levied for work on 145th Street was void because the charter provision requiring competitive bidding for expenditures over $1,000 was violated and the common council's discretionary power to dispense with that requirement could not be delegated to the commissioner of public works. The Court also held that chapter 313 of the Laws of 1874 does not bar vacating the assessment absent fraud when the error is substantial. Accordingly, the lower courts' orders were reversed and the assessment vacated.