New York Civil Service Attorney Law Blog : New York Civil Service Lawyer & Attorney : Kevin P. Sheerin : Article 78 : Serving New York City, Long Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island

Both parties have started separate legal proceedings to have the Town Land Use Board of Appeal decision thrown out. The Land Use Board of Appeals determined which ruled that the “addition of an asphalt batch plant to a nonconforming quarry is an expansion of mining and requires a special use permit from the Planning Board of the town of Russia.” 

The first petition was filed in early March by 14 residents living near the proposed asphalt plant. The “citizens’ petition” is requesting the court prevent the town planning board from making a decision based on the appeals board’s determination. Also, they are requesting that Respondents, Material Sand and Troy Sand and Gravel, be prohibited from constructing and operating a plant there.

The second petition, “the company’s petition,” was filed on behalf of Material Sand and Troy Sand and Gravel requesting that the Land Use Board of Appeals’ decision be dismissed due to “pre-existing nonconforming use consisted not only of ‘mining’ bt also related aggregate product manufacturing” and for the court to allow the construction of an asphalt plant without the issuance of a special use permit.

Read full article here.

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Matter of Michael MacLeod v Robert l. Megna, as Commissioner of Taxation and Finance

 In this Article 78 case, the court reviewed a decision of the Tax Appeal Tribunal which uphold sales and use tax assessment required under Tax Law articles 28 and 2.

Petitioner was the president and sole shareholder of MJM Studios of New York, Inc. This was a New Jersey company that specialized in creating architectural enhancements of buildings in numerous states.

Respondent informed petitioner that they would be conducting a field audit and required access to all MJM’s records. Petitioner could not provide access to the records because they were in possession of a bankruptcy trustee. The auditor made several attempt to contact the bankruptcy trustee and also made several more requests of petitioner to provide the records. After the unsuccessful attempts, the auditor calculated an estimated sales and use tax based on deposits in MJM’s bank records and he adjusted through MJM’s franchise tax returns to include only New York sales. Following a conference, the assessed amount was reduced. In addition to a hearing, the Department agreed to further reduce the assessed amount.

The Tax Appeal Tribunal affirmed the tax assessment. Due to a statutory presumption that all money received by MJM for products and services were taxable, petitioner has the burden of establishing by “clear and convincing evidence” that the money was not taxable and the assessment was erroneous. He failed to prove that the capital improvement exemption applies.

Even though the records were in possession of the trustee, there was no evidence that petitioner attempted to retrieve the records for the auditor.Due to the lack of documentation from petitioner, the auditor needed to come up with its own method to determine the tax assessment.

The determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.

Read more about this Article 78 case here.

To read about more Article 78 cases go to http://www.sheerinlaw.com/?id=78.

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Brian Ball, a former Greece Police Sergeant, was accused of falsifying a document in a fatal car crash back in 2005. He allegedly closed the case before the toxicology report on the driver in question was completed. The toxicology test came back positive for marijuana.

Ball appealed and the judge ruled that Ball was not given adequate opportunity to testify on his own behalf in front of the grand jury that indicted him. The judge also found that the people’s case was lacking in substance and that the evidence presented was not sufficient to establish a prima facie case that Ball committed the alleged crimes.

The District Attorney plans to appeal this decision and the family of the 18-year-old woman who was killed in the crash is angry, devastated, and disheartened by the ruling.

Read full article here.

To read about more Article 78 cases go to http://www.sheerinlaw.com/?id=78.

For other interesting information in the personal injury file go to www.negligenceatty.com.

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