St. James Building Corp. v. Commissioner of Public Safety

157 N.E. 629, 260 Mass. 548, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1454
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedJuly 7, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 157 N.E. 629 (St. James Building Corp. v. Commissioner of Public Safety) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. James Building Corp. v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 157 N.E. 629, 260 Mass. 548, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1454 (Mass. 1927).

Opinion

Sanderson, J.

The plaintiffs have appealed from a decree of the Superior Court dismissing a bill in equity, brought against the commissioner of the department of public safety by way of appeal from orders made by him. Licenses to the plaintiffs for the erection, maintenance and conduct of a public garage and, on a later date, for the keeping, storage and sale of gasoline therein, were granted by the street commissioners of Boston. Appeals were taken to the fire marshal and afterwards to the commissioner of public safety. Their respective orders revoked the licenses for the keeping, storage and sale of gasoline. The fire marshal made a finding of facts in connection with his order, but the commissioner approved this order without reporting any findings. The law does not require the reasons on which his action is based to be stated. The petition was originally brought against the commissioner, but, upon motion, the trustees of the Park Square Real Estate Trust, abutting owners, were made parties defendant. The defendants demurred to the petition and appealed from the interlocutory decree overruling the demurrers.

The case was heard upon the merits. The trial judge found, among other things, that both the fire marshal and the commissioner of public safety viewed the locus and surrounding territory and, notwithstanding the objection of the plaintiffs, heard testimony bearing on the congestion of traffic, the effect which the erection of a public garage might have on real estate values and upon the development of the so called Park Square district, and upon other, matters, objected to by the plaintiffs, the nature of which does not appear. They also heard evidence on the question of the increased fire hazard and fire menace, and increased danger from fire or explosion because of the gasoline to be kept in tanks upon the premises and in automobiles which might use the proposed garage. Some of this evidence tended to show such hazard and menace and some tended to show the contrary. All parties filed requests for rulings which were passed upon by the court. The plaintiffs appealed from and excepted to the refusal of the court to give any of their [551]*551requests; and to the giving of certain of the defendants’ requests.

No bill of exceptions was filed. By agreement the evidence is not made part of the record. The judge’s findings of fact are therefore final. See Knowles v. Knowles, 205 Mass. 290, 292. The jurisdiction of the Superior Court upon appeal is limited to the annulment of the order of the commissioner if found to exceed the authority of the department of public safety. G. L. c. 147, § 5. The fundamental question raised by the appeal to this court from the final decree in the Superior Court is whether, as matter of law, upon the facts found by the judge the order of the commissioner was in excess of that authority.

It was within the general authority of the department for the commissioner to approve an order of the fire marshal revoking a license by the street commissioners for the keeping, storage and sale of gasoline. G. L. c. 148, § 14, as amended by St. 1921, c. 485, § 3, St. 1924, c. 254, and St. 1925, c. 335, § 1. G. L. c. 148, §§ 30, 31, 45. G. L. c. 147, § 5. Foss v. Wexler, 242 Mass. 277. See also Marcus v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 255 Mass. 5, 7. Under G. L. c. 148, § 14 as amended, a license for the keeping, storage and sale of gasoline in a building can be granted only after a public hearing, notice of which must be given by registered mail to abutting owners and by publication. The plaintiffs contend that the powers of the marshal and the commissioner on appeal are limited to the question of fire hazard or the increase in danger from fire or explosion; that they had no right to consider evidence as to the effect of a garage upon business or property in the neighborhood or upon congestion of traffic in the streets adjoining; and that inasmuch as it does not appear from the terms of the order of the commissioner that it is based on matters connected with fire prevention the court should have held that he acted in excess of his authority.

The commissioner’s order imports a finding of all facts necessary to sustain it which could be found by him from the evidence and from his other sources of information. See Ayer v. Commissioners on Height of Buildings in Boston, 242 [552]*552Mass. 30, 35; Davis v. Board of Registration in Medicine, 251 Mass. 283, 285. Some of the reasons preceding the order of the fire marshal revoking the licenses were such as might properly be considered on the questions of fire prevention and fire hazard. The commissioner, by approving this order in the manner in which it was done, cannot be said to have adopted the whole or any part of the facts found by the marshal. It is impossible to say that the commissioner’s order was based upon anything but his own independent conclusions. At the hearing before the commissioner the burden was on the appealing party to prove that the order of the fire marshal should be revoked or amended; and at the hearing in the Superior Court the burden was upon the plaintiffs to show that the commissioner in making his order had exceeded the authority of the department. The evidence heard by the commissioner relating to the increased fire hazard and fire menace and increased danger from fire and explosion would have justified the order made by him and may have been the sole ground for his decision. The evidence concerning congestion in the streets might properly be considered on the same issue.

The only evidence heard by the commissioner which does not so obviously bear on fire prevention or hazard is that relating to the effect which the erection of a public garage might have upon real estate values and upon the development of the Park Square district. It is found that the commissioner heard evidence bearing on this general subject, but nothing further appears to indicate what that evidence was. But if it be assumed that, in approving the order, he considered evidence of the kind to which objection was made, we cannot say he acted in excess of the authority of the department. The size and location of the building, its surroundings and the effect of a garage at that place on other property in the neighborhood might have a material bearing on the question whether in addition to its other uses as a garage, gasoline should be allowed to be kept and sold therein. In considering such matters the commissioner is not undertaking to decide whether the building should be where [553]*553the owners have been authorized to erect it, but only whether under all the circumstances gasoline should be allowed to be kept and sold in a building so located. This court, in discussing the validity of an ordinance forbidding the erection or use of a building as a garage, unless such use is previously authorized by the board of aldermen, said: “The disagreeable incidents of a garage are well known. They have been adverted to frequently in recent decisions of this court. See, for example, Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Bancroft, 209 Mass. 217, 223; Noyes v. Cushing, 209 Mass. 123, 126, and cases cited. Oil and gasoline, almost inevitably stored and used in them, are so highly inflammable and explosive that they may increase the danger of fire, no matter how carefully the building be constructed nor how non-combustible its materials.” Storer v. Downey, 215 Mass. 273, 274.

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Bluebook (online)
157 N.E. 629, 260 Mass. 548, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-james-building-corp-v-commissioner-of-public-safety-mass-1927.