Pattison & Bowns, Inc. v. Twp. of Saddle River

• Decision Date: 13 October 1942
• Docket Number: No. 236.,236.
• Parties: PATTISON & BOWNS, Inc. v. TOWNSHIP OF SADDLE RIVER et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

28 A.2d 485

129 N.J.L. 135

PATTISON & BOWNS, Inc.

v. TOWNSHIP OF SADDLE RIVER et al.

No. 236.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Oct. 13, 1942.

Syllabus by the Court.

Coal stored in fenced-in piles on an otherwise open tract of land equipped with machinery to handle the same is within the purview of R.S. 54:4-3.20, N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.20.

Certiorari by Pattison & Bowns, Inc., against the Township of Saddle River and Joseph M. Taggart, Collector of Taxes of the Township of Saddle River, to review a distress and notice of sale of certain properties stored on premises of Independent Warehouses, Inc., in the Township of Saddle River to satisfy unpaid personal property taxes assessed against the Pennsylvania Coal Company.

Notice of distress and sale set aside.

May term, 1942, before CASE, DONGES, and COLIE, JJ.

Hobart, Minard & Cooper, of Newark (Duane E. Minard, of Newark, of counsel), for prosecutor.

Chandless, Weller & Kramer, of Hackensack (Ralph W. Chandless, of Hackensack, of counsel), for defendants.

COLIE, Justice.

This writ of certiorari brings up for review a distress and notice of sale of certain properties stored on premises of Independent Warehouses, Inc., in the Township of Saddle River, to satisfy unpaid personal property taxes assessed against Pennsylvania Coal Co.

Prosecutor filed nine reasons why it believes the proceedings of the Township by its Collector of Taxes were erroneous. We need consider but one of them. Reason Seven reads: "The coal alleged in said notice to have been assessed and taxed was, at the time of the assessment, stored in the warehouse of the Independent Warehouses, Inc., which is a corporation engaged in the business of storing goods for hire, and, therefore, exempt from taxation under section 54:4-3.20 of the Revised Statutes of 1937."

The factual situation discloses that Pattison & Bowns, Inc., together with a number of other coal companies, stored coal with Independent Warehouses, Inc., which was engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. In furtherance of the business, it leased from Pennsylvania Coal Company a tract of 56 acres, upon which there were tracks, derricks and other paraphernalia necessary to unload and load large stocks of anthracite coal. The coal is stored in piles fifty to seventy feet high, each pile surrounded by a wooden fence six to eight feet high. Necessarily, the storage area is not roofed over. Defendants argue that to come within the exemption statute R.S. 54:4-3.20, N.J.S.A....