68 A.2d 848 | N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. | 1949
This is an appeal from the decision of the Acting Commissioner of Banking and Insurance approving the application of the respondent, Union County Trust Company, to change the location of its branch office in the City of Elizabeth.
Under date of October 29, 1948, the Union County Trust Company addressed a letter to the Honorable John Dickerson, then Commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance, which it described as its application for "the change of location" of one of its branch offices from 113 Broad Street to the southwest corner of Westminster Avenue and Prince Street in the City of Elizabeth. The letter set forth its reasons for the desired change and expressed the hope that "we *297 have given you adequate information to justify the removal of the branch and that you will give us your early approval of our request so that we may commence negotiations for the various purchases and sales, the drawing of plans, and the letting of the contract." In response to this letter the Commissioner, by letter dated December 29, 1948, advised the Union County Trust Company that, pursuant to section 22 of The Banking Act of 1948 (R.S. 17:9A-22), he had caused an investigation to be made, had made a personal inspection of the area, had concluded that the area which would be served by the branch office after its change of location was substantially different from the area presently served by it and did thereby disapprove the application. There was no notice or hearing prior to this action. By letter dated January 10, 1949, the Union County Trust Company requested that the Commissioner's disapproval be set aside, pointing out that it had not been called upon for any additional proof in support of its application and stating that, "inasmuch as you did not require proof, we were entitled to assume that you considered the facts as set forth, in our application sufficient to justify the granting of the application. If on the contrary you required proof, then we should have received a request from you to furnish such proof." Immediately upon receipt of this letter, Acting Commissioner Gough advised by letter dated January 11, 1949, that, since Commissioner Dickerson's resignation he was Acting Commissioner and that he had reviewed the file and was not prepared to set aside Commissioner Dickerson's action.
Thereafter, under date of March 11, 1949, the Union County Trust Company addressed a letter to Acting Commissioner Gough making application to change the location of its branch office to premises which included the proposed new premises referred to in the original letter application to Commissioner Dickerson. After the filing of the March 11th application, the Acting Commissioner notified the applicant and the other banking institutions in Elizabeth that hearing thereon would be held on March 25, 1949. The hearing was duly held, the applicant and the Central Home Trust Company, *298 an objector, were represented by counsel and testimony was taken. On April 12, 1949, Acting Commissioner Gough rendered his decision which set forth that hearing had been held, that he had made personal inspection and was satisfied "that the area which would be served by such branch office after its change in location would not substantially differ from the area theretofore served by such office" and approved the application. The Central Home Trust Company filed notice of appeal from this decision. SeeRule 3:81-8. On its appeal it does not attack the propriety of the Commissioner's exercise of discretion or the sufficiency of the supporting evidence; it confines its attack to the single ground that the determination by Commissioner Dickerson was resjudicata and that, consequently, Acting Commissioner Gough's contrary determination was beyond his lawful authority. The courts have, with increasing frequency, been called upon to deal with this issue as to when common law concepts of res judicata should be applied to determinations by administrative agencies. See Schopflocher, The Doctrine of Res Judicata in AdministrativeLaw, Wis. L. Rev., pp. 5, 198 (1942); Res Judicata inAdministrative Law, 49 Yale L.J. 1250 (1940); 42 Am. Juris.,p. 519 (1942).
In Federal C.C. v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co.,
In New Jersey, as in many of the other states, courts have sought to rest their decisions upon concepts which distinguish"quasi-judicial" action of administrative agencies from their"quasi-legislative or executive" and "administrative or ministerial" action, holding that quasi-judicial determinations have the res judicata incidents of common law judgments. SeeFinnegan v. Miller,
In any event, we believe that generally licensing determinations by administrative agencies such as the Department of Banking and Insurance, where not preceded by notice and hearing, should not attain quasi-judicial status with the resjudicata incidents of common law judgments. Cf. Penna. R.R. Co.v. N.J. State Aviation Com.,
Apart from the above, the Acting Commissioner's determination may be sustained under the authorities which recognize that such administrative agencies have inherent power, comparable to that possessed by the courts (Cf. Rule 3:60-2), to rehear and reconsider. See McFeely v. Broad of Pension Commissioners,
We are satisfied that the Acting Commissioner's decision of April 12th was within the lawful exercise of his discretion and, in the light of this determination, find no occasion for passing upon the additional supporting contentions advanced by the respondents.
The decision of the Acting Commissioner is affirmed. *302