§ 165. Procedure on review. No action or proceeding shall be
maintained to set aside, vacate, cancel, annul, review, reduce or
otherwise question, test or affect the legality or validity of any
assessment or tax for a local improvement, except in the form and manner
and by the proceedings herein provided. If, in the proceedings relative
to an assessment or tax, entire absence of jurisdiction on the part of
the officers, board or body authorized by law to levy or assess the same
or to order the improvement on account of which the assessment was made
or tax imposed, is alleged to have existed or in case any fraud or
substantial error, other than the errors or irregularities specified in
the preceding section, by reason of which substantial damages have been
sustained, are alleged to have existed or to have been committed, any
party aggrieved thereby, who shall have filed objections thereto within
the time and in the manner specified by law therefor, may apply to the
supreme court at any special term thereof, held within the judicial
district in which the city is situated, for an order vacating or
modifying such assessment as to the lands in which he has an interest,
upon the grounds in said objections specified, and no other, and upon
due notice of such application to the corporation counsel. Each such
application shall be made within twenty days after the confirmation of
the assessment. Thereupon such court may proceed to hear the proofs and
allegations of the parties and determine the same, or may appoint a
referee to take the proof and report thereon, or to hear, try and
determine the same. If it shall be determined in such proceeding that
the officers, board or body had no jurisdiction to make the levy or
assessment complained of or to order the improvement, the court may
order such assessment or tax vacated. If it shall be determined therein
that any such fraud or substantial error has been committed and that the
party applying for such relief, has suffered substantial damages by
reason thereof, the court may order that the assessment or tax be
modified as to such party and as so modified that it be confirmed. A
like application may be made to secure a modification or reduction of
any such assessment or tax on account of fraud or such substantial error
occurring in the performance of the work of the improvement on account
of which such assessment or tax is made or levied, and it shall be
determined in like manner. If, in any such proceeding, it shall be
determined that such fraud or substantial error has been committed, by
reason of which any such assessment or tax upon the lands of any such
aggrieved party has been unlawfully increased, the court may order that
such assessment or tax be modified by deducting therefrom such amount as
is in the same proportion to such assessment or tax as the whole amount
of such unlawful increase is to the whole amount of the assessment or
tax for the improvement. An order so made in any such proceeding shall
be entered in the clerk's office of the county in which the city is
situated, and shall have the same force and effect as a judgment. The
court may, during the pendency of any such proceeding, stay the
collection of any assessment or tax involved therein as against the
parties thereto. Costs and disbursements of any such proceeding may be
allowed in the discretion of the court. No appeal shall be allowed or
taken from the order made in any such proceeding, but the determination
so made therein shall be final and conclusive upon all parties thereto.
No assessment or tax shall be modified otherwise than to reduce it to
the extent that the same may be shown by the parties complaining thereof
to have been in fact increased in dollars and cents by reason of such
fraud or substantial error. In no event shall that proportion of any
such assessment which is the equivalent of the fair value or fair cost
of the improvement be disturbed for any cause. No money paid on account
of any assessment or tax shall be recovered for any cause, except the
amount of the excess of such assessment or tax over and above the fair
value and cost of the improvement. In case of the failure of any
assessment or tax for any cause, the comptroller shall certify such fact
to the common council and it shall be its duty to forthwith cause the
same to be relevied and reassessed in a proper manner.