3. Failure to Appear
If a corporate defendant is served and does not
appear, a not guilty plea will be entered and the case may
proceed to trial and judgment. R. 3:3-1(c); R. 3:7-10(c);
R. 7:6-2(a)(2).
C. Appearance
A corporation may appear or plead to an indictment
or accusation only by an attorney. R. 3:16; R. 3:7-10(c).
In municipal court, however, a corporation may enter a
plea by an agent and may appear by agent or officer if the
appearance is consented to in writing by the corporation
and the court finds that the interests of justice would not
require appearance of counsel. R. 7:8-7(a); 7:6-2(a)(2).
D. Residence.....................................................................................................................................
For venue purposes, a corporation resides in the
county in which its registered office is located or in any
county in which it is actually doing business. R. 4:3-
2(b).
E. Rights............................................................................................................................................
As with an individual defendant, a corporation has
the same rights to fair trial and to conviction only after
proof beyond a reasonable doubt. See City of Englewood
v. G.M. Brewster and Son, Inc., 77 N.J. Super. 248 (App.
Div. 1962) (State had no right to appeal acquittal).
F. Penalties
N.J.S.A. 2C:43-4a provides that, upon conviction, a
court may suspend the imposition of sentence or may
sentence a corporate defendant to pay a fine of up to three
times the fine provided for in N.J.S.A. 2C:43-3 or make
restitution as authorized by N.J.S.A. 2C:44-2.
Judgment on the conviction may be enforced in the same
manner as a judgment in a civil action. N.J.S.A. 2C:46-
2; R. 3:21-6; R. 7:9-2(b).
N.J.S.A. 2C:43-4b states that when a corporation or
a “high managerial agent” of a corporation, as defined in
N.J.S.A. 2C:2-7, is convicted of an offense committed in
conducting the affairs of the corporation, the court may
request the Attorney General to institute suit to dissolve
the corporation, forfeit its charter, revoke any franchises
held by it, or to revoke the certificate authorizing the
corporation to conduct business in the State.
In addition to a fine, restitution or dissolution, a
corporation may be placed on probation with
appropriate conditions of probation placed upon it. See
N.J.S.A. 2C:43-2; N.J.S.A. 2C:1-14g; United States v.
John Scher Presents, Inc., 746 F.2d 959 (3d Cir. 1984);
United States v. Missouri Valley Constr. Co., 741 F.2d
1542, 1546-51 (8th Cir. 1984); United States v.
Mitsubishi Int. Corp, 677 F.2d 785 (9 Cir. 1982).N.J.S.A. 2C:51-2f provides that, unless otherwise
ordered by the Attorney General, a corporation, or
anyone holding more than 5% of its stock, shall be barred
from doing business with any public entities, as a result
of a conviction for: bribery or other public corruption
offenses (N.J.S.A. 2C:27-2, 2C:27-4, 2C:27-6 and
2C:27-7), official misconduct or abuse of office (N.J.S.A.
2C:30-2 and 2C:30-3), or compounding a crime
(N.J.S.A. 2C:29-4). The period of debarment is 10 years
for a crime of the second degree and 5 years for a third
degree offense. See Trap Rock Industries, Inc., v. Kohl, 63
N.J. 1, cert. denied, 414 U.S. 860 (1973), where the
Supreme Court held that the Commissioner of
Transportation had the power to bar a corporation from
bidding on State contracts because of a major
stockholder’s conviction for bribery and obstruction of
justice. See also Matter of Inter County Refuse Service, Inc.,
222 N.J. Super. 258 (App. Div.), appeal dismissed, 114
N.J. 485 (1989); State v Musto, 187 N.J. Super. 264 (Law
Div. 1982).