City of Plainfield v. Courier-News

New Jersey Superior Court App Division

City of Plainfield v. Courier-News

369 A.2d 526, 146 N.J. Super. 181, 1975 N.J. Super. LEXIS 478

CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division

DecidedMay 30, 1975

StatusPublished

This text of 369 A.2d 526 (City of Plainfield v. Courier-News) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

City of Plainfield v. Courier-News, 369 A.2d 526, 146 N.J. Super. 181, 1975 N.J. Super. LEXIS 478 (N.J. Ct. App. 1975).

Pincite

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Wood, J. S. C.,

temporarily assigned. The judgment of the Law Division is affirmed, essentially for the reasons stated by Judge McGrath in his letter opinion. We recognize that the sum effect of the judgment is a holding that a newspaper may have more than one place of publication. Hunterdon County Democrat, Inc. v. Recorder Pub. Co., 117 N. J. Super. 552 (Ch. Div. 1971). The Legislature has apparently acquiesced in the holding of that ease, and absent its expression to the contrary, In re Keogh-Dwyer, 45 N. J. 117 (1965), the soundest judicial course, in our view, is case-by-ease treatment on the issue of "publication."

In any event, as Judge McGrath noted, Plainfield, being a city, may designate an official newspaper, N. J. S. A. 40:53-[183]*1831, but in doing so is not bound by the restrictive provisions of N. J. S. A. 50:53-2. Plainfield essentially sought a declaratory judgment as to whether respondent, The Courier News, was “qualified to be designated its official newspaper * * N. J. S. A. 40:53-1. The Courier-News has many incidents of publication in Plainfield. It maintains an office and a staff of at least seven employees in the city, does a substantial part of its business there and has its greatest circulation there. Both historically and at present it is Plain-field’s newspaper and satisfies the legislative criteria of stability and continuous existence in the city. In re Bond Printing Co., Inc., 135 N. J. L. 478 (E. & A. 1947). Whether it would satisfy, in any given ease, the myriad publishing requirements mandated as to various types of official notices in N. J. S. A. Titles 40 and 40A¹ should await determination when the question is raised in an appropriate case.

The judgment is affirmed.

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The opinion of the court was delivered by

Wood, J. S. C.,

temporarily assigned. The judgment of the Law Division is affirmed, essentially for the reasons stated by Judge McGrath in his letter opinion. We recognize that the sum effect of the judgment is a holding that a newspaper may have more than one place of publication. Hunterdon County Democrat, Inc. v. Recorder Pub. Co., 117 N. J. Super. 552 (Ch. Div. 1971). The Legislature has apparently acquiesced in the holding of that ease, and absent its expression to the contrary, In re Keogh-Dwyer, 45 N. J. 117 (1965), the soundest judicial course, in our view, is case-by-ease treatment on the issue of "publication."

In any event, as Judge McGrath noted, Plainfield, being a city, may designate an official newspaper, N. J. S. A. 40:53-[183]*1831, but in doing so is not bound by the restrictive provisions of N. J. S. A. 50:53-2. Plainfield essentially sought a declaratory judgment as to whether respondent, The Courier News, was “qualified to be designated its official newspaper * * N. J. S. A. 40:53-1. The Courier-News has many incidents of publication in Plainfield. It maintains an office and a staff of at least seven employees in the city, does a substantial part of its business there and has its greatest circulation there. Both historically and at present it is Plain-field’s newspaper and satisfies the legislative criteria of stability and continuous existence in the city. In re Bond Printing Co., Inc., 135 N. J. L. 478 (E. & A. 1947). Whether it would satisfy, in any given ease, the myriad publishing requirements mandated as to various types of official notices in N. J. S. A. Titles 40 and 40A¹ should await determination when the question is raised in an appropriate case.

The judgment is affirmed.

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Bluebook (online)

369 A.2d 526, 146 N.J. Super. 181, 1975 N.J. Super. LEXIS 478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-plainfield-v-courier-news-njsuperctappdiv-1975.