Stern Holding Co. v. O'Connor
| Decision Date | 28 January 1938 |
| Docket Number | No. 402.,402. |
| Citation | 119 N.J.L. 291,196 A. 432 |
| Parties | STERN HOLDING CO. v. O'CONNOR et al. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Bergen County.
Action by the Stern Holding Company against Philip O'Connor and others, copartners, trading as O'Connor Bros., on a written lease for rent. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
Argued October term, 1937, before LLOYD, CASE, and DONGES, JJ.
Schumann & Schumann, of Jersey City, for appellant. Nicholas S. Schloeder, of Union City, for respondents.
Plaintiff below sued on a written lease for rent of premises located in Jersey City, North Bergen, and Secaucus. The case was considered by the trial judge on a stipulation of facts and the judge found "as matter of law" that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover and gave judgment for the defendants.
The basis of the conclusion was that the lease contract was an illegal one and that the plaintiff was without remedy because of this fact.
The lease as at first written and dated November 30, 1931, was for five years and six months and covered 7 acres of ground in Jersey City only. In January, 1932, a small contiguous tract of 5/8 of an acre located in North Bergen and Secaucus was incorporated in the lease.
Under the lease, the ground was to be used for the dumping of ashes, street sweepings, and other refuse of Union City, Guttenberg, and the borough of Edgewater, with privilege to the lessors of free access thereto not inconsistent with such use by the tenants.
The lease contained a further provision that if the lessees procured contracts with North Bergen, West New York, Weehawken, and Cliffside, the rentals should be increased by $15 per month each for the North Bergen and West New York contracts and $10 each for Weehawken and Cliffside. From March 1, 1936, to September 1, 1936, the lessees held such contracts with North Bergen and West New York.
An ordinance of Jersey City prohibits the deposit of "manure * * * hops, malt, offal or garbage" or the accumulation of any offensive or nauseous substance within the city limits, and, in December, 1933, the Jersey City authorities began to warn the lessees not to dump "ashes, garbage, street sweepings and other refuse" and these warnings culminated in the arrest of one of the lessees' drivers for dumping garbage, since which time the Jersey City property has not been used by them.
The rents sued for amounting to $385 is for the periods from March 1, 1936, to February 1, 1937.
We think the judgment was wrong. The claim of the...
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