Stovall v. Gardner
| Decision Date | 14 June 1948 |
| Docket Number | 36805. |
| Citation | 203 Miss. 527,36 So.2d 163 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | STOVALL v. GARDNER. |
Satterfield, Ewing & Hedgepeth and Frank T Williams, all of Jackson, for appellant.
E. H. Cunningham, Jr. of Jackson, amicus curiae.
R. H. & J. H. Thompson, of Jackson, for appellee.
Appellee filed her affidavit under Code 1942, Section 949, to remove appellant as a tenant of certain premises in the City of Jackson. The affidavit recited the prior issuance of a certificate of authorization thereunto by the Office of Price Administration for the area involved. The proceedings for eviction are found to be regular. Judgment of eviction was entered by the county court, and upon appeal to the circuit court there was a directed verdict for the landlord, together with judgment for double rent pursuant to Code 1942, Section 947.
Certain irregularities were pressed by appellant involving the proceedings before the Office of Price Administration. We have examined all these and do not find in them sufficient substance to avoid the eviction proceedings. It is worthy to note that the federal agency, although it filed brief as amicus curiae herein, raised no point that the precedent authority it had given was inadequate.
Our chief inquiry relates to the right of the landlord in such case to double rent after notice to the tenant. The certificate of the O.P.A. described the tenant and the premises and stated 'This certificate only authorizes an action to be brought for the eviction or removal of the tenant instituted in accordance with the requirements of local law * * *'.
Let us first examine the nature of the 'double rent' provided by the 'local law'. The additional burden thus imposed is a penalty. Sherrill v. Stewart, 199 Miss. 216, 23 So.2d 915. It is not rent in the accepted sense. Rent is a stipulated consideration for the use or occupancy of property. It is the subject of contract actual or implied. As such it was subject to the control and limitation under the federal statutes administered by the O.P.A. The landlord had no authority to exact under any contract a higher compensation for such occupancy than that allowed by the federal agency.
Authorization by the O.P.A. to proceed under the local law lifted pre-existing barriers to the eviction of the tenant after due notice. Thereafter the tenant is chargeable not for his occupancy but for his obstinacy. His occupancy after notice is unauthorized and unlawful. Compare 32 Am.Jur., Landlord and Tenant, Sec. 919, p. 779. His right to remain is...
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Stone v. Stapling Machines Co.
...said that rent is compensation for the use of property. Hines Motor Co., Inc. v. Hederman, 201 Miss. 859, 30 So.2d 70; Stovall v. Gardner, 203 Miss. 527, 36 So.2d 163. Paragraph (12) Section 10104, Code of 1942, provides that the term 'business', when used in the Act, 'shall include all act......
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Moore v. Kuljis, 44556
...Johnson, 204 Miss. 479, 486, 37 So.2d 747, 748 (1948), suggestion of error overruled, 38 So.2d 314 (1949); Stovall v. Gardner, 203 Miss. 527, 531-532, 36 So.2d 163, 164-165 (1948). Moreover, in order for a landlord to recover under a statute imposing multiple damages for tenants holding ove......
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McCain v. Memphis Hardwood Flooring Co., 95-CA-00921-SCT.
...Standards Act without reference to damages sustained by the employee was a penalty imposed against the employer); Stovall v. Gardner, 203 Miss. 527, 36 So.2d 163 (1948) (Court determined that double rent provided by local law pursuant to authorized eviction proceeding against a Tenant was a......
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Beatty v. United States
...the basis thereof, as here — conflicts with the federal rent-control act has been the subject of divergent opinion. See Stovall v. Gardner, 203 Miss. 527, 36 So.2d 163; Kruse v. Ballsmith, 332 Ill.App. 301, 75 N.E.2d 140 (which, compare with O'Brien v. Brown, 403 Ill. 183, 85 N.E.2d 685, in......