Jabert Operating Corp. v. City of Newark

• Decision Date: 11 December 1951
• Docket Number: No. A--645,A--645
• Citation: 16 N.J.Super. 505,85 A.2d 216
• Parties: JABERT OPERATING CORP. v. CITY OF NEWARK.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 505

16 N.J.Super. 505

85 A.2d 216

JABERT OPERATING CORP. v. CITY OF NEWARK.

No. A--645.

Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.

Argued Dec. 3, 1951.

Decided Dec. 11, 1951.

Milton M. Unger, Newark, argued the cause for appellant (Milton M. & Adrian M. Unger, Newark, attorneys; Sidney S. Jaffe, Newark, on the brief).

Harry A. Pine, Newark, argued the cause for respondent (Charles Handler, Newark, attorney; Harry A. Pine on the brief).

Before Judges McGEEHAN, JAYNE and WM. J. BRENNAN, Jr.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

WILLIAM J. BRENNAN, Jr., J.A.D.

For many years prior to 1949 property at 233--237 Washington Street, Newark was listed by the city as exempt from taxation within R.S. 54:4--3.6, N.J.S.A., as property actually and exclusively used for charitable and religious purposes by its owner, The Salvation Army. Such ownership and use obtained on October 1, 1948, the date as of which assessments for 1949 were made. Nevertheless, the city imposed an assessment for 1949 because on November 9, 1948 title to the premises was conveyed by The Salvation Army to appellant, Jabert Operating Corporation, admittedly not a corporation authorized to carry out charitable and religious purposes. The Essex County Board of Taxation and the Division of Tax Appeals, on successive appeals by Jabert Operating Corporation to those bodies, affirmed the assessment, and this appeal is from the latter's judgment.

The question for decision is whether the refusal below to cancel the assessment was proper on the only ground urged by the city, namely, that appellant was not to be heard in either the county board or the Division of Tax Appeals to 'claim' the exemption as it is not an organization of the class contemplated by the last sentence of R.S. 54: 4--3.6, N.J.S.A. reading: 'The foregoing exemptions shall apply only where the association, corporation or institution Claiming the exemption owns the property in question and is incorporated or organized under the laws of this State and authorized to carry out the purposes on account of which the exemption is claimed.'

This taxpayer when appealing the assessment to the county board of taxation on the ground that the property was exempt was a taxpayer 'aggrieved by the assessed valuation of his property' given a right of appeal by R.S. 54:3--21, N.J.S.A., and when appealing to the Division of Tax Appeals was an 'appellant who is dissatisfied with the judgment of the county board of taxation upon his appeal', authorized by R.S. 54:2--39, N.J.S.A., to seek redress from that body. Appellant was not in either case an owner 'claiming' an exemption within the purport and meaning of R.S. 54:4--3.6, N.J.S.A. Property is assessable...