Smith v. Duldner
| Decision Date | 05 July 1949 |
| Docket Number | No. 10825.,10825. |
| Citation | 175 F.2d 629 |
| Parties | SMITH v. DULDNER. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
E. F. Woodle, Cleveland, Ohio (Woodle & Wachtel, and Edwin F. Woodle, Cleveland, Ohio, on the brief), for appellant.
William A. Moran, Washington, D. C. (Ed Dupree, Hugo V. Prucha, William A. Moran, Washington, D. C., Paul Marshall, Cleveland, Ohio and Sanford S. Sims, Cleveland, Ohio, on the brief), for appellee.
Before SIMONS, McALLISTER, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.
Appellant operates a rooming house containing approximately twenty rental units. On November 3, 1947, acting under the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 1881 et seq., the Area Rent Director gave appellant notice that he proposed to reduce the maximum rents for the rooming house units, and appellant filed objection to such action. Thereafter, the Area Rent Director issued an order reducing the rents of the units in question to what he considered were the maximum rents for comparable housing accommodations. Appellant then filed a petition in the district court, praying that the Area Rent Director be enjoined from enforcing the order reducing rents. The petition was denied by the district court on the ground, among others, that a proceeding in equity for an injunction could not be maintained when the party seeking the injunction had an adequate remedy at law; that under Rent Procedural Regulation No 1, issued by the Housing Expediter, appellant was entitled to review of and appeal from the order of the Area Rent Director; and that at the time the petition for injunction was filed, such remedy at law must be presumed to be adequate.
Proceedings in equity for an injunction can not be maintained where the complaining party has a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law, and, generally, where an administrative remedy is provided by statute, it is such an adequate legal remedy as bars injunctive relief. The Housing and Rent Act of 1947 provides that the Housing Expediter shall, by regulation or order, make such adjustment in maximum rents as may be necessary to correct inequities, and that he may issue such orders as he deems necessary to carry out the policy of rent control enunciated by Congress in the Act. Furthermore, in Rent Procedural Regulation No. 1, an orderly procedure is prescribed for the Rent Control authority in making the various kinds of determination in connection with the establishment of maximum rents. For a landlord aggrieved by a determination there is provided the right of administrative appeal from the Rent Director to the Regional Rent Administrator and from him, to the Housing Expediter. Appellant never attempted to avail herself of these administrative remedies. She argues that the procedure provided under the Act and the regulations adopted thereunder do not satisfy the requirements of due process of law, and are invalid and unconstitutional, in that under the Act and the regulations, two essential requirements of due process are lacking, namely, the right to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, and the right to cross examine witnesses.
The rule, however, as to the exhaustion of administrative remedies applies just as forcibly when, as here, the contention is made that the regulations, in not providing for the right to compel attendance of witnesses, and the right of cross examination, are invalid and unconstitutional. Appellant's claim that the order of the Area Rent Director is concerned with her constitutional rights and deprives her of due process of law, does not...
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