Indep. Warehouses Inc. v. Scheele
| Decision Date | 19 January 1945 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 243, 244.,s. 243, 244. |
| Citation | 40 A.2d 796,132 N.J.L. 390 |
| Parties | INDEPENDENT WAREHOUSES, Inc., (PENNSYLVANIA COAL CO. et al., Interveners) v. SCHEELE, Tp. Recorder, et al. THOMPSON v. SAME. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Certiorari by Independent Warehouses, Inc., against William Scheele, Recorder of the Township of Saddle River, and the Township of Saddle River, wherein the Pennsylvania Coal Company and the Erie Railroad Company, intervened, consolidated with certiorari proceeding by James Thompson against same defendant, to review convictions of the prosecutors for violation of an ordinance of defendant municipality on a charge of storing coal in a warehouse without having first obtained a license therefor.
Ordinance set aside and convictions reversed.
October Term, 1944, before CASE, BODINE, and PORTER, JJ.
Collins & Corbin, of Jersey City (Robert J. Bain, of Jersey City, of counsel), for prosecutors Independent Warehouses, Inc., and James Thompson.
Hobart, Minard & Cooper, of Newark (Duane E. Minard and G. Addison Hobart, both of Newark, of counsel), for prosecutors Pennsylvania Coal Co. and Erie R. Co.
Chandless, Weller & Kramer, of Hackensack (Ralph W. Chandless, of Hackensack, of counsel), for defendants.
The writs of certiorari in these two cases bring before us for review the convictions of the prosecutors, Independent Warehouses, Inc., and James Thompson, its employee, for violation of Section I of an ordinance of the defendant municipality on a charge of storing coal in a warehouse without having first obtained a license therefor. The ordinance in question provides for the licensing of the business of conducting the storage of personal property in a warehouse for hire and provides a penalty for violation of the said ordinance of imprisonment not exceeding ninety days or a fine not exceeding $200, or both. It is not denied that Independent Warehouses, Inc., was operating such a business on premises within the municipality at storage yards commonly called Coalberg and that Thompson was employed by it.
Independent Warehouses, Inc., is a corporation of New York, authorized to do business in New Jersey, and is engaged in storing goods for hire in ten states, including the warehouse at the Coalberg plant. It has operated this plant since June 20, 1939, in the storage of coal shipped in interstate commerce, for the benefit of and at the expense of Erie Railroad Company, and has shipped over that road exclusively as an in-transit facility for interstate shipments of coal.
The Pennsylvania Coal Company is a corporation of Pennsylvania where it mines and sells anthracite coal. It holds title to the Coalberg property.
The Erie Railroad Company is a common carrier by railroad engaged in interstate commerce. Independent Warehouses, Inc., and Pennsylvania Coal Company are subsidiary corporations of Erie Railroad Company, the capital stock in both corporations being wholly owned by it. The Pennsylvania Coal Company and Erie Railroad Company were allowed to intervene in these proceedings. For the purpose of this litigation they have been, and will be, treated as one entity.
It is the practice of the prosecutors to store large quantities of anthracite coal in their yard at Coalberg in the defendant municipality. This yard has a capacity of storing about 400,000 tons of coal. It is convenient, if not indeed necessary, in marketing this coal and transporting it to the ultimate consignee to have a place of storage in which to accumulate it during the slack season, it not being possible or practical to deliver it directly from the mines at the peak season of its need by the consumer.
The proofs show that the Erie Railroad Company and Pennsylvania Coal Company have entered into a written contract which provides that coal be shipped to and stored at Coalberg as a public facility for in-transit storage of coal under railroad tariffs under supervision of an Erie agent stationed at Coalberg, who collects freight and storage charges. The purpose of this arrangement is to provide a reserve supply of coal in large quantities produced in slack season and made available when needed in the winter season and to facilitate the financing of the purchase when desired by negotiation of warehouse receipts. It also appears that shippers of coal require these facilities, that it is necessary for carriers to provide them and that the Federal Act to Regulate Commerce provides that they be furnished by the carriers upon reasonable request of shippers. The fact with respect to this coal is that it is all owned by shippers or consignees and is shipped in interstate commerce from the mines in Pennsylvania to the ultimate destination in, or beyond, the New York metropolitan area with in-transit stopover privileges at Coalberg. None of this coal is sold at Coalberg. All of it is transported in and out of Coalberg by rail.
The controversy between these parties is over the right of the...
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Independent Warehouses v. Scheele
...litigation. That court held the ordinance unconstitutional as an undue burden on interstate commerce and reversed the convictions. 132 N.J.L. 390, 40 A.2d 796. In turn the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals reversed the Supreme Court's determination. 134 N.J.L. 133, 45 A.2d 703. It held......
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Indep. Warehouses Inc. v. Scheele
...on a charge of storing coal in a warehouse without first having obtained a license therefor. From a judgment of the Supreme Court, 132 N.J.L. 390, 40 A.2d 796, setting aside the ordinance and reversing the convictions, the defendants appeal. Judgments of the Supreme Court reversed and the j......
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Ricca v. Bd. Of Com'rs Of Town Of Belleville. Ricca
...business conducted by the plaintiff, Anthony S. Ricca, fully justifies the license fee imposed. In Independent Warehouses Inc., v. Scheele, Sup.1945, 132 N.J.L. 390, 40 A.2d 796, affirmed Err. & App. 1946, 134 N.J.L. 133, 45 A.2d 703, 705, affirmed 331 U.S. 70, 67 S.Ct. 1062, 91 L.Ed. 1346,......