City, property lawyers collide over tax assessment software.City officials say they will file suit against certiorari certiorari In law, a writ issued by a superior court for the reexamination of an action of a lower court. The writ of certiorari was originally a writ from England's Court of Queen's (King's) Bench to the judges of an inferior court; it was later expanded to include writs lawyers who allegedly coerced Genesis Computer Consultants into backing out of a deal to sell property-assessment software to the New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. Department of Finance. The possible lawsuit comes in the wake of the City's assessor's office employees being convicted of criminal charges after admitting to taking more than $10 million in bribes to lower some property owners' tax assessments. In late May, Genesis approached the City and made a presentation to sell software that would allow the finance department to perform quick audits of how the City calculates property values, making it easier to catch errors and detect corruption. A week later, Genesis reneged on its offer due to pressure from property attorneys who use the software to gather evidence in lawsuits against the City, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Martha Stark Martha Stark is the Finance Commissioner of New York City. A tax attorney, she has served as Finance Commissioner in the Cabinet of Mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2002. She previously worked for the Manhattan Borough President and for the Finance Department before becoming , head of the City's Finance Department. "They approached us," Stark said. "The next thing we were told was that they couldn't sell to us because certain certiorari lawyers were threatening to pull business from them. They told it to me and a couple of my staff members." The news was a blow to the City, Stark said. "I was shocked," she said. "The City should have state-of-the-art technology available to them." The lawyer and the computer company could be guilty of "tortious interference Tortious interference, in the common law of tort, occurs when a person intentionally damages the plaintiff's contractual or other business relationships. This tort is broadly divided into two categories, one specific to contractual relationships (irrespective of whether they with business relations," as well as other New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State laws, said Michael Cardozo, City corporation counsel. "They don't have to sell to anybody," Cardozo said. "However, they entered into a conspiracy with the certiorari lawyers not to sell to us. That's a violation of anti-trust laws. The certiorari lawyers entered into an agreement with Genesis probably putting pressure on them 'saying don't sell to the city.'" The computer companies denied the allegations in a letter to the City penned by their attorney's, Heller, Horowitz & Feit, P.C. "As counsel to Genesis, we write to advise you that Genesis rejects the claims that you purport To convey, imply, or profess; to have an appearance or effect. The purport of an instrument generally refers to its facial appearance or import, as distinguished from the tenor of an instrument, which means an exact copy or duplicate. PURPORT, pleading. to assert against it in your letter dated June 24, 2003 and that Genesis disputes your recitation rec·i·ta·tion n. 1. a. The act of reciting memorized materials in a public performance. b. The material so presented. 2. a. Oral delivery of prepared lessons by a pupil. b. of facts," the letter said. Real Estate Weekly contacted four law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
An attorney that once worked for a firm that used the Genesis software said there are other companies that offer similar software. "Genesis is just one of a number of different companies to be able to provide these services," said Jeffery Golkin, who is representing 1,300 property owners suing the city for over-assessed property taxes. "They are not the end all in real estate tax software. Why the city is wasting their time is beyond me." Officials from the Real Estate Board of New York said the software could help the City, so they don't understand why the company isn't cooperating. "I don't understand why the software wouldn't be made available to the City," said Michael Slattery, REBNY's senior vice president. "I think it would be an asset to the city that would make assessments as accurate as possible." The City is still trying to negotiate with Genesis and if doesn't find a solution soon, they will fight the matter in court, Cardozo said. "We don't have a specific deadline, but we hope to take steps to take action; to move in a matter. See also: Step that in our best interest," he said. "They have this information that they can use and argue to City that their clients property was over assessed. If the city had the same information, the city could insure that the information was accurate in the first place." No deadline was set for the filing of a lawsuit. "If we can't get cooler heads to prevail and if we don't get this resolved, we really have no other choice," he noted. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion