Schreffler v. Bowles

Decision Date23 February 1946
Docket NumberNo. 3188.,3188.
PartiesSCHREFFLER et al. v. BOWLES.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Byron G. Rogers and Frank A. Bruno, both of Denver, Colo. (W. David McClain, of Denver, Colo., on the brief), for appellants.

Albert Dreyer, of Washington, D. C. (George Moncharsh, David London, and Samuel Rosenwein, all of Washington, D. C., and Max D. Melville and Henry E. Lutz, both of Denver, Colo., on the brief), for appellee.

Before PHILLIPS, HUXMAN and MURRAH, Circuit Judges.

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge.

Pursuant to Section 205(e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended,1 appellee, as Price Administrator of the Office of Price Administration, instituted an action against appellants for treble damages for alleged violations of Revised Price Regulation No. 49, as amended, in the alleged purchase and resale of steel products. An amended complaint was filed which had attached to it Exhibit A. This exhibit contained an itemized list of sales, names of purchasers, purchase order numbers, dates of shipments, invoice numbers, net cost to the purchasers, allowable cost to purchasers, and the amount of the claimed overcharges on each item and the total amount of overcharges for which judgment was sought. All the statistical data of the exhibit was taken from appellants' books. Appellants filed an answer containing nine separate defenses, including a general denial. Appellee thereupon moved for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c. The verified motion for summary judgment alleged that the answer raised no genuine issue as to any material facts and that the defenses set out therein were fictitious and frivolous. In support of the motion, appellee filed the affidavits of its two agents who examined appellants' books and prepared the schedules set out in Exhibit A. The substance of the affidavits was that the items set out in Exhibit A were taken from appellants' books and that the exhibit correctly reflected what appeared on appellants' records. The motion for summary judgment was sustained and judgment was entered for the actual amount of the overcharges. Appellants have appealed. The only question presented is whether the trial court erred in sustaining the motion for summary judgment.

The salutary purpose of Rule 56 is to permit speedy and expeditious disposal of cases where the pleadings do not as a matter of fact present any substantial question for determination. Flimsy or transparent charges or allegations are insufficient to sustain a justiciable controversy requiring the submission thereof.2 The purpose of the rule is to permit the trier to pierce formal allegations of facts in pleadings and grant relief by summary judgment when it appears from uncontroverted facts set forth in affidavits, depositions or admissions on file that there are as a matter of fact no genuine issues for trial.3

The overcharges set out in the complaint, which are the basis of the trial court's judgment, were the result of calculations and computations taken from appellants' own books and records which they were required to keep under the Act. These records were furnished to appellee for inspection. The correctness and accuracy of these computations were fortified by the affidavits of the two accountants who made the examination of the books and therefrom prepared Exhibit A. The correctness or authenticity of the schedules of Exhibit A were not specifically denied or disputed by appellants' answer. No affidavits were filed challenging the verified statements of the two accountants who prepared the schedules. In the condition of the record, a mere general denial in the answer of the allegations of the complaint was insufficient to place in issue the correctness of the items of the schedules in Exhibit A, and the court was correct in entering summary judgment unless one of the affirmative defenses tendered a substantial issue which would preclude the entry of such a judgment.

The second, third, and sixth defenses are wholly without merit and no further reference will be made to them. In their fourth defense, appellants pleaded the one-year statute of limitations as to certain items which were sold more than one year before the action was instituted. Schedule A, however, shows that all of these items were shipped and delivered less than one year before the action was instituted. Section 4(a) of the Act, 50 Appendix, U.S.C.A. § 904(a), makes it "unlawful * * * to sell or deliver any commodity, or in the course of trade or business to buy or receive any commodity * * * or otherwise to do or omit to do any act, in violation of any regulation or order under section 2, or of any price schedule effective in accordance with the provision of section 206, or of any regulation, order, or requirement under section 202(b) or section 205(f), or to offer, solicit, attempt, or agree to do any of the foregoing." The words "sell and deliver" are not synonymous terms. They have separate and distinct meanings. It must be presumed that Congress used them according to their ordinary and usual accepted meaning and understanding. Otherwise there would have been no need to include them both in the Act. Revised Price Schedule No. 49 forbids, among others, the sale, delivery or transfer of iron or steel in excess of the maximum prices. Under both the provisions of the Act and of Regulation No. 49, the sale or delivery of steel or iron products in excess of maximum prices constitutes separate and distinct violations. The articles having been shipped and delivered within the one year period, the action was timely and the statute of limitations was no defense.

In their fifth defense, appellants sought to invoke the equitable doctrine of estoppel. The basis for this was the alleged claim that R. E. Schreffler sought and obtained information from one F. R. Widmer, an employee of the Office of Price Administration in Washington, as to his rights to charge the prices in question. The regulations require one desiring an official interpretation of a rule or regulation to make a request...

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