BTD-1996 NPC 1 L.L.C. v. 350 Warren L.P., 170 N.J. 90

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey considered whether a sheriff's fee assessed under N.J.S.A. 22A:4-8 after a foreclosure settlement was an unconstitutional tax rather than a regulatory or compensatory fee. The Court held that the record was inadequate to establish that the fee statute was primarily intended to raise revenue, and it reversed the lower courts' judgments invalidating the charge as applied to the plaintiff.

Holdings

1. The record was inadequate to support the conclusion that N.J.S.A. 22A:4-8 was intended primarily to raise revenue rather than compensate the government for providing Sheriff's services. The statutory fee therefore could not be invalidated on the evidence presented.
2. Even assuming the charge were legally classified as a tax, the statute was not unenforceable merely because the Legislature had not expressly stated an intent to tax users of Sheriff's services.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the record supported holding that the Sheriff's statutory foreclosure fee was primarily a revenue-raising tax rather than a regulatory or compensatory fee.
2. Whether the statutory fee could be enforced absent proof of a specific legislative intent to impose a tax on users of Sheriff's services.
3. Whether the alleged disproportion between the Sheriff's direct costs in this particular transaction and the statutory fee was sufficient to invalidate N.J.S.A. 22A:4-8 as applied.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded