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Maltese v. Township of North Brunswick6/20/2002
of public fire service tendered by persons within the "junior" class was within the corporate power; the doctrine of ultra vires is not involved. A different question would be presented were such requirements created by statute. . . . The application here of the doctrine of waiver and estoppel serves the statutory policy, for, in the words of the statute, the design was to place on the municipality the burden of compensation and insurance coverage to that end for "each and every active volunteer fireman doing public fire duty."
In respect of matters within the realm of its general power and authority, a municipal corporation is ordinarily subject to the doctrine of estoppel in pais to serve the demands of right reason and justice, at least where the invocation of the rule would not hinder or prejudice essential governmental functions, and especially where the irregularity or deficiency is largely technical or formal and not of the jurisdiction. . . . While not applied as freely against the public as in the case of private individuals, the doctrine of estoppel may be invoked against a municipality to prevent manifest wrong and injustice. . . .
. . . . Here, there was not a contract of hire in the technical sense; there was no provision for compensation; the relationship was rather a gratuitous consensual undertaking to perform "public fire duty" as a member of a volunteer fire company, under the "control or supervision" of the municipal governing body.
. . . . But however the relationship here be termed in the law, and whatever its legal consequences in other directions, it is yet one that by express statutory provision subjects the municipality to the peremptory duty of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act. . . .
The local authority, by a long-continued course of conduct, imparted character and meaning to the relationship that fulfills the statutory condition; and it will not be heard to disavow the obligation now that the appellant volunteer has suffered injury in the performance of the public fire duty which he assumed in good faith with its acquiescence under the established practice. The beneficent policy of compensation provision is not to be whittled away by over-nice distinctions and technical formality unrelated to the substance of the right. [Id. at 204-08 (internal citations omitted).]
In Middletown Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n v. Township of Middletown, 162 N.J. 361 (2000), the Court held that the municipality was estopped from terminating a retired police officer's health insurance benefits. The officer was repeatedly advised by municipal officials that upon his retirement he would be entitled to continued health insurance benefits. Id. at 364. Upon retirement, the municipality continued to provide him health benefits for nearly ten years. Id. at 364-65. After receiving a complaint from a citizen it was determined that the officer did not have twenty-five years service with the municipality, as required by N.J.S.A. 40A:10-23, in order to qualify for continued benefits. Id. at 365.
The Court noted that " quitable considerations 'are relevant in assessing governmental conduct' and impose a duty on the court to invoke estoppel when the occasion arises." Id. at 367 (quoting Wood, supra, 319 N.J. Super. at 656); see Skulski v. Nolan, 68 N. J. 179, 198-99 (1975) (requiring the court to weigh equitable considerations in the light of the nature of the governmental action required). The Court concluded that it was within the power of the municipality to grant the officer health benefits, i.e., to do so was not ultra vires in the primary sense, and, applying equitable considerations, the municipality was estopped from terminati
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