The Carlstadt National Bank v. The Borough of Hasbrouck Heights

• Decision Date: 11 November 1912
• Citation: Carlstadt Nat. Bank v. Borough, 84 A. 1069, 83 N.J.L. 383 (N.J. 1912)
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Parties: THE CARLSTADT NATIONAL BANK v. THE BOROUGH OF HASBROUCK HEIGHTS

84 A. 1069

83 N.J.L. 383

CARLSTADT NAT. BANK

v. BOROUGHOF HASBROUCK HEIGHTS.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Nov. 11, 1912.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Action by the Carlstadt National Bank against the Borough of Hasbrouck Heights. Demurrer to declaration overruled, and judgment ordered for plaintiff.

Argued June term, 1912, before SWAYZE, VOORHEES, and KALISCH, JJ.

Edward J. Luce and Walter A. Kipp, both of Rutherford, and Robert H. McCarter, of Newark, for plaintiff.

Warner W. Westervelt, Jr., of Hackensack, and Michael Dunn, of Paterson, for demurrant.

VOORHEES, J. The defendant borough has demurred to a declaration which is founded upon a debt created against it by an act entitled "An act providing for the payment of certificates, notes or other evidences of indebtedness, issued by commissioners appointed under an act entitled 'An act to provide for the drainage of any pond, artificial reservoir, marsh, swamp, bog, meadow, low or wet lands, where the same is necessary for the public health,' approved March thirty first, one thousand nine hundred and three, and the various supplements and amendments thereto, for the purpose of providing for the payment of the costs, damages and expenses of any drainage undertaken by them under the provisions of said acts," approved April 6, 1911 (P. L. p. 155).

The declaration recites the proceedings taken under the act of 1903 (P. L. p. 131), and its supplements and amendments; that the commissioners appointed therein determined that the drainage contemplated was necessary for the public health; that, in order to raise funds for the accomplishment of the work, the commissioners borrowed of the plaintiff $15,600 upon certain certificates of indebtedness issued by said commissioners (some of which were renewal certificates), as provided in the act of 1903 and its amendments; that the certificates have become due and are unpaid. The declaration further avers that the certificates so issued by the commissioners were for the purpose of providing for the payment of such costs, damages, and expenses; that the district drained lies partly within the territorial limits of the defendant, and partly within other municipalities, and that the work was a public enterprise, beneficial to the defendant; that the moneys loaned by the plaintiff to the commissioners were loaned for the purpose of being expended, and were expended, in the enterprise of draining said lands; and that by reason of the premises, and of the statute in such case made and provided, the said defendant became indebted to the plaintiff for such proportion of said indebtedness, evidenced by and intended to be secured by said certificates, and of the several sums so as aforesaid loaned by the plaintiff to the commissioners as the total taxable ratables of the defendant bear to the total taxable ratables of said borough and of the other municipalities particularly named within the territorial limits of which the said drained district lies, as the said ratables in each case appear upon the list of ratables made for the purpose of taxation in the year 1910 of each of the said municipalities, viz., the boroughs of Hasbrouck Heights, Wood Ridge, and Moonachie, and the township of Lodi.

Both parties admit that the acts of 1903 and 1908 are unconstitutional, as declared by this court in Township of...