Safeway Trails, Inc. v. Furman

• Decision Date: 29 October 1962
• Docket Number: No. L--12425,L--12425
• Parties: SAFEWAY TRAILS, INC., a corporation of the State of Maryland, Plaintiff, v. David D. FURMAN, Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and head of the Department of Law and Public Safety; Ned J. Parsekian, Acting Director, Division of Motor Vehicles and John A. Kervick, State Treasurer of New Jersey, Defendants. The GREYHOUND CORPORATION, a corporation of the State of Delaware, Plaintiff, v. John A. KERVICK, Treasurer of the State of New Jersey, and Ned J. Parsekian, Acting Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Law and Public Safety of the State of New Jersey, Defendants. LINCOLN TRANSIT CO., Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey, Hill Bus Co., a corporation of New Jersey, Rockland Coaches, Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey, Hudson Bus Transportation Co., Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey, Somerset Bus Co., Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey, DeCamp Bus Lines, a corporation of the State of New Jersey, Manhattan Transit Company, a corporation of the State of New Jersey, and Westwood Transportation Lines, Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey, Plaintiffs, v. Ned J. PARSEKIAN, Acting Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Law and Public Safety of the State of New Jersey, Defendant.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court

Page 26

77 N.J.Super. 26

185 A.2d 245

SAFEWAY TRAILS, INC., a corporation of the State of

Maryland, Plaintiff, v. David D. FURMAN, Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and head of the Department of Law and Public Safety; Ned J.

Parsekian, Acting Director, Division of Motor Vehicles and

John A. Kervick, State Treasurer of New Jersey, Defendants.

The GREYHOUND CORPORATION, a corporation of the State of

Delaware, Plaintiff, v. John A. KERVICK, Treasurer of the State of New Jersey, and Ned J. Parsekian, Acting Director, Division of

Motor Vehicles, Department of Law and

Public Safety of the State of

New Jersey, Defendants.

LINCOLN TRANSIT CO., Inc., a corporation of the State of New

Jersey, Hill Bus Co., a corporation of New Jersey, Rockland

Coaches, Inc., a corporation of the State of New Jersey,

Hudson Bus Transportation Co., Inc., a corporation of the

State of New Jersey, Somerset Bus Co., Inc., a corporation

of the State of New Jersey, DeCamp Bus Lines, a corporation

of the State of New Jersey, Manhattan Transit Company, a

corporation of the State of New Jersey, and Westwood

Transportation Lines, Inc., a corporation of the State of

New Jersey, Plaintiffs, v. Ned J. PARSEKIAN, Acting Director, Division of Motor

Vehicles, Department of Law and Public Safety of

the State of New Jersey, Defendant.

No. L--12425.

Superior Court of New Jersey

Law Division.

Oct. 29, 1962.

Merritt Lane, Jr., Newark, for plaintiff Greyhound Corporation, and on behalf of all of the attorneys for all other plaintiffs (McCarter & English, Newark, attorneys).

Joseph Harrison, Newark, for plaintiff Safeway Trails, Inc. (Harrison & Jacobs, Newark, attorneys).

George M. Eichler, Jersey City, for plaintiff Lincoln Transit Co., Inc., and the seven other plaintiffs joined therein

Alan B. Handler, Deputy Atty. Gen., for all defendants. (Arthur J. Sills, Atty. Gen., New Jersey, attorney).

GIULIANO, J.S.C.

On July 31, 1962 this court handed down its decision in the above entitled consolidated case. 76 N.J.Super. 90, 183 A.2d 788. By its opinion this court determined that the State of New Jersey could not validly impose a tax on the plaintiff carriers pursuant to R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A., based on the mileage travelled by the buses of the plaintiffs over the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

The plaintiffs and defendants filed cross-motions for an order of the court settling the form of judgment which would be consistent with the court's opinion. The proposed orders submitted to the court by the plaintiffs and defendants differed in only one material respect. The plaintiffs seek an order providing for the allowance of interest on the amounts to be refunded, together with costs, whereas the defendants seek an order disallowing interest and costs.

During the oral argument on September 28, 1962 the court directed that costs be allowed to the plaintiffs. The remaining question to be decided by the court is whether interest should be recovered by the plaintiffs on the sums of money collected from them by the defendants under R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A., based on mileage traversed on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

The question presently before the court arose out of a suit for a declaratory judgment with respect to the proper application annd judicial interpretation of R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A.

All of the plaintiffs are common carriers owning and operating autobuses which travel the highways of the State for the purpose of transporting passengers in both interstate and intrastate commerce. By reason of the interstate nature of their operations the plaintiffs are subject to the provisions of R.S. 48:4--18 et seq., N.J.S.A. The defendants named in the complaints are David D. Furman, Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, Ned J. Parsekian, Acting Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, and John A. Kervick, Treasurer of the State of New Jersey.

The litigation was initiated when the defendants imposed a tax pursuant to R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A. with respect to interstate mileage travelled by plaintiffs' buses on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

Prior to the consolidation of the proceedings and the trial of the original action, in the action filed by Lincoln Transit Co., Inc. and others, the Superior Court, Appellate Division, by order dated November 28, 1960, directed that the moneys paid to the defendant Acting Director of Motor Vehicles be segregated in a fund to be maintained pending the disposition of the plaintiffs' suit. It is the court's understanding that the terms of the order were to be applied to all moneys paid by all the plaintiffs named in the consolidated proceeding.

This court, in its opinion of July 31, 1962, held that the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway are not 'highways' within the meaning of R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A. It enjoined the defendants from applying the provisions of R.S. 48:4--20, N.J.S.A. with respect to interstate travel on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, and directed that all sums previously paid by the plaintiffs be refunded.

Before the court can address itself to the question whether the judgment in this matter should provide for payments of interest to the plaintiffs, it must determine the character of the tax assessed since June 1, 1960 under R.S....