N.Y. Rapid Transit Law § 58: Order granting application to condemn

§ 58. Order granting application to condemn. At the time and place

mentioned in such notice, unless the court shall adjourn such

application to a subsequent date, and in that event at the time to which

it may be adjourned, the court, upon due proof to its satisfaction of

the publication aforesaid and upon filing the petition, shall enter an

order granting the application, which order shall be filed in the office

of the clerk of the county in which the property to be acquired is

situated. The corporation counsel shall cause to be published in two

public newspapers published in the city twice a week for two weeks a

notice containing a general description of the property to be acquired

or affected and requiring every owner of or person in any way interested

in any property taken or extinguished in such proceeding to file with

the clerk of the court of the county in which such property is situated,

on or before a date specified in the notice, a written claim or demand

duly verified in the manner provided by law for the verification of

pleadings in an action, setting forth the property owned by the claimant

and his post office address, together with an inventory or itemized

statement of the fixtures, if any, for which compensation is claimed. In

case such claim or demand for compensation in respect of any fixtures is

made by a lessee or tenant of the real property to be acquired, a copy

of such verified claim or demand, together with such inventory or

itemized statement, shall be served upon the owner of such real property

or his attorney. The claimant or his attorney shall at the same time

serve on the corporation counsel a copy of such verified claim. The

proof of title to the property to be acquired or extinguished in all

cases where it is undisputed, together with proof of liens or

encumbrances thereon, shall be submitted by the claimant to the

corporation counsel or to such assistant as he shall designate. Such

corporation counsel shall serve on all parties or their attorneys who

have served on him verified claims a notice of the time and place at

which he will receive such proof of title. In all cases where the title

of the claimant is disputed, it shall be the duty of the court to

determine the ownership of such property upon the proof submitted to the

court during the trial of the proceeding. The court shall also have

power to determine all questions of title incident to the trial of the

proceeding. After all parties who have filed verified claims as herein

provided have proved their title or have failed to do so after being

notified by the corporation counsel of the time and place when and where

such proof of title would be received by him, the corporation counsel

shall serve upon all parties or their attorneys who have appeared in the

proceeding a notice of trial thereof and file a notice of issue with the

clerk of the court of the county in which the trial is to be had. The

trial shall be had in such county within the judicial district in which

the property affected by the proceeding is situated as the corporation

counsel shall designate in the notice of trial. The notice of trial

shall be served at least ten days before, and the note of issue shall be

filed at least eight days before the date for which the same is noticed

for trial. The note of issue shall briefly state the title of the

proceeding, the date and place of the entry of the order granting the

application to condemn, the names and addresses of the parties who have

filed claims, the names and addresses of their respective attorneys, and

a brief statement as to the extent of the property to be acquired. The

clerk of the court must thereupon enter the proceeding upon the proper

calendar according to the date of the entry of the order granting the

application to condemn. When notice of trial has been served and note of

issue filed, the proceeding must remain on the calendar until finally

disposed of. It shall be the duty of the justice trying any such

proceeding to view the property to be thereby acquired or extinguished

and if he shall deem a view of the property in the vicinity of the

property to be acquired or extinguished necessary or useful, he shall

make such view. Where title to real property being acquired in a

proceeding shall have been vested in the city, and buildings or

improvements situated thereon shall have been removed or destroyed by

the city or the board of transportation or pursuant to the authority of

either the city or the board prior to the trial of the proceeding, and

thereby the justice trying the proceeding is deprived of a view of the

buildings or improvements so removed or destroyed, the fact that the

justice did not have a view thereof shall not preclude the court from

receiving on the trial of the proceeding testimony and evidence as to

the damage sustained by the claimant by reason of the taking thereof

when offered on behalf of either the claimant or the city.