45:14D-2 Definitions.

2. As used in this act:

a. "Accessorial service" means the preparation of articles for shipment, including, but not limited to, the packing, crating, boxing and servicing of appliances, the furnishing of containers, unpacking, uncrating and reassembling of articles, placing them at final destination and the moving or shifting of articles from one location to another within a building, or at a single address;

b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2010, c.87)

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1993, c.365).

d. "Department" means the Department of Law and Public Safety;

e. "Household goods" means personal effects, fixtures, equipment, stock and supplies or other property usually used in or as part of the stock of a dwelling, when it is put into storage or when it is transported by virtue of its removal, in whole or in part, by a householder from one dwelling to another, or from the dwelling of a householder to the dwelling of another householder, or between the dwelling of a householder and a repair or storage facility, or from the dwelling to an auction house or other place of sale. The term "household goods" shall not apply to property moving from a factory or store, except property which the householder has purchased and which is transported at his request as part of the movement by the householder from one dwelling to another;

f. "Intrastate commerce" means commerce moving wholly between points within the State over all public highways, or at a single location;

g. "License" means a license issued by the director;

h. "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle, machine, tractor, truck or semitrailer, or any combination thereof, propelled, driven or drawn by mechanical power, and used upon the public highways in the transportation of household goods, office goods and special commodities in intrastate commerce;

i. "Mover's services" means all of the services rendered by a public mover;

j. "Storage services" means all of the services rendered by a warehouseman;

k. "Office goods" means personal effects, fixtures, furniture, equipment, stock and supplies or other property usually used in or as part of the stock of any office, or commercial, institutional, professional or other type of establishment, when it is put into storage or when the property is transported by virtue of its removal, in whole or in part, from one location to another, but does not mean or include stock and supplies or other property usually used in or as part of the stock of any office, or commercial, institutional, professional or other type of establishment, when put into storage;

l. "Person" means any individual, copartnership, association, company, or corporation, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, lessee, or personal representative of any person herein defined;

m. "Place of business" means a business office located in New Jersey from which the mover or warehouseman conducts his daily business and where records are kept;

n. "Property" means all of the articles in the definition of household goods, office goods or special commodities;

o. "Public highway" or "highway" means any public street, road, thoroughfare, bridge and way in this State open to the use of the public as a matter of right for purposes of motor vehicular travel, including those that impose toll charges;

p. "Public mover" or "mover" means any person who engages in the transportation of household goods, office goods or special commodities by motor vehicle for compensation in intrastate commerce between points in this State, including the moving of household goods, office goods or special commodities from one location to another at a single address, and any person who engages in the performance of accessorial services; except that the term "public mover" or "mover" shall not apply to an owner-operator, or any person who engages in, or holds himself out to the general public as engaging in, the transportation of special commodities when such commodities are not transported by virtue of a removal, in whole or in part, and who does not engage, nor hold himself out to the general public as engaging in, the transportation of household or office goods;

q. "Special commodities" means uncrated or unboxed works of art, fixtures, appliances, business machines, electronic equipment, displays, exhibits, home, office, store, theatrical or show equipment, musical instruments, or other articles being put into storage or being moved, and which require the use of equipment and personnel usually furnished or employed by warehousemen or public movers, except that the provisions of P.L.1981, c.311 (C.45:14D-1 et seq.) shall not apply to any person engaged in the transportation or storage of special commodities when these commodities are not transported by virtue of a removal, in whole or in part;

r. "Storage" means the safekeeping of property in a depository for compensation;

s. "Tariff" means a schedule of rates and charges for the storage or transportation of property in intrastate commerce on file with the director, which shall be used, except in the use of binding estimates by movers, in computing all charges on the storage or transportation of property as of the date of the time in storage or transportation;

t. "Warehouseman" means a person engaged in the business of storage;

u. "Removal" means the physical relocation, in whole or in part, of either household goods, office goods or special commodities from one location to another location, including internal relocations within the same room or facility, for compensation;

v. "Bill of lading" means "bill of lading" as defined by paragraph (6) of N.J.S.12A:1-201;

w. "Consumer" means a person who contracts with a public mover for mover's services;

x. "Contracting public mover" means a licensed public mover who contracts with an owner-operator to provide any mover's service of the licensed public mover, and is liable for any mover's services performed or agreed to be performed by the owner-operator pursuant to that contract;

y. "Director" means the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety;

z. "Owner-operator" means a person who owns, leases, or rents one or more motor vehicles and who uses the vehicles to provide mover's services for a contracting public mover.

L.1981, c.311, s.2; amended 1984, c.140, s.1; 1993, c.365, s.1; 1998, c.60, s.1; 2007, c.50, s.1; 2010, c.87, s.26.