Berry v. Heller
| Decision Date | 12 August 1948 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 8156. |
| Parties | BERRY v. HELLER. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania |
Thomas J. Clary, of Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.
John P. Jordan, and Melvin Alan Bank, both of Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant.
This is an action brought pursuant to section 205 of The Housing and Rent Act1 of 1947 to recover amounts paid in excess of the legal maximum rental.
On December 1, 1943, the plaintiff agreed to rent defendant's housing accommodations at Forty Five Dollars ($45) a month. This amount was paid by him up unto and including the month of August, 1947. Thereafter he agreed to pay the defendant Fifty One and 75/100 Dollars ($51.75) a month provided the Housing Expediter would subsequently approve it. However, on October 7, 1947, the Expediter, in addition to disapproving the increase, ordered the defendant to refund all amounts collected by him in excess of Thirty Dollars ($30) a month. It was through notice of this order that the plaintiff learned that the defendant's predecessor in title had registered the premises with the Office of Price Administration, which had fixed, under the authority of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 901 et seq., the maximum monthly rental at Thirty Dollars ($30.00) a month. The plaintiff paid Fifty One and 75/100 Dollars ($51.75) in September and October, but thereafter he has tendered the maximum legal rental to the defendant. Upon the defendant's failure to comply with the refund order of August 7, 1947, the plaintiff, on February 5, 1948, brought this action.
The complaint asserts two causes of action. The first demands a refund of the excess amounts paid from February 1, 1947, up to and including October of the same year plus a reasonable attorney's fee and costs, or three times the amount by which the payments accepted by the defendant exceeded the maximum rent. The second cause of action claims a refund of the overpayments paid prior to February 1, 1947, or Five Hundred Seventy Dollars ($570).
Without filing an answer, the defendant has moved to dismiss the complaint because it fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
Section 205 of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, which makes a person liable for accepting any payment of rent in excess of the legal maximum, provides; "Suit to recover such amount may be brought in any Federal, State, or Territorial court of competent jurisdiction within one year after the date of such violation." Each time defendant accepted an amount in excess of Thirty Dollars ($30) a month, he violated the Act thereby making himself liable in damages, independent of any refunding order, to the plaintiff. But such liability may be enforced only within a year of the violation. Consequently only those overpayments which were made in the year immediately preceding February 5, 1948, the date this suit was brought, may be recovered herein.
In citing Woods v. Stone, 333 U.S. 472, 68 S.Ct. 624, the plaintiff points out that the one-year statute of limitations begins to run when the time prescribed in a refund order, within which repayment is to be made, has elapsed. The cited case is not controlling here, for the housing accommodation there in question was not registered, whereas...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lomax v. United States
...ex rel. Rauch v. Davis, 1925, 56 App.D.C. 46, 8 F.2d 907; Florentine v. Landon, D.C.S.D.Cal.1953, 114 F.Supp. 452; Berry v. Heller, D.C.E.D.Pa.1948, 79 F.Supp. 476; Keil v. United States, D.C.D.Md. 1946, 65 F.Supp. If the statute were merely procedural, no problem would have arisen. As such......
-
McCrae v. Johnson
...in some few has been exercised without apparent question or discussion. See Sampson v. Thomas, D.C.Mich., 76 F.Supp. 691; Berry v. Heller, D.C.Pa., 79 F.Supp. 476; Fox v. 34 Hillside Realty Corp., D.C.N.Y., 79 F.Supp. 832; Poirier v. Desillier, D.C.Mass., 75 F.Supp. 402; Luftman v. Ross, D.......
-
Sandridge v. Folsom
...828, at page 837; Ewing v. Risher, 10 Cir., 176 F.2d 641; Matheny v. Porter, supra 10 Cir., 158 F.2d 478; Berry v. Heller, supra D.C., 79 F.Supp. 476. Where the government conditionally waives its immunity from suit, there exists no discretion in this court to nullify the conditions imposed......
-
SINASON TEICHER INTER AG CORP. v. COMMODITY CR. CORP., Civ. A. No. 6516.
...of the pleading would be valid if the problem is one of jurisdiction (Matheny v. Porter, 10 Cir., 158 F. 2d 478; Berry v. Heller, D.C., 79 F.Supp. 476, at page 478), such defect could be cured by amendment and the decision here may better rest upon the determination of the other questions r......