Landlord Challenged Water Bills on Time

Facts: Landlord of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village housing complexes challenged the Water Board's bill for water and sewer charges. Landlord claimed that the Water Board should have performed metered billing, not frontage billing. Because the Water Board continued frontage billing after landlord's request to switch, landlord claimed an overcharge of $850,000. The Water Board ruled against landlord and landlord appealed. The Water Board ruled against landlord, finding that landlord's appeal was untimely. The time limit for appeals had been changed from six years to four years, and landlord's appeal was filed more than four years after the Water Board's decision. Landlord appealed, arguing that the Water Board's decision to retroactively apply a shorter time limit for challenging water and sewer charges was illegal. Court: Landlord wins. The four-year time limited was adopted by the Water Board on July 1, 2002. It should apply only to water and sewer bills issued after that date. The bills landlord was appealing were issued in 1997 and 1998. The six-year time limit applies. The regulations changing the time limit didn't state that it applied retroactively. Since the time limit to appeal was shortened, landlord must be given a reasonable time before the new rule takes effect. Landlord's appeal was filed within two weeks after the time limit was changed and so must be considered as timely.

Metropolitan Insurance and Annuity Co. v. N.Y.C. Water Board: NYLJ, 1/5/05, p. 19, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. NY; Lippmann, J)