Bowles v. Cohen

65 F. Supp. 499, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1503
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 17, 1944
DocketNo. 3588
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 65 F. Supp. 499 (Bowles v. Cohen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowles v. Cohen, 65 F. Supp. 499, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1503 (E.D. Pa. 1944).

Opinion

GANEY, District Judge.

This is a motion by the defendants to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction as well as a motion for a more definite statement.

The plaintiff as Administrator of the Office of Price Administration filed a bill of complaint against the defendants alleging a violation of Maximum Price Regulation No. 215, as amended, praying for injunctive relief and. asking treble damages for certain violations. The complaint enumerates specific sales of softwood to the Barclay White Company at prices over and above those fixed as the maximum prices for such softwood. It further avers that all the sales referred to in the bill were “distribution yard sales” and that all of the purchases by the Barclay White Company, to wit, the buyer from the defendants, were made in the regular course of trade or business and that all of the violations occurred before March 30, 1943.

In support of the motion to dismiss, the defendants allege three grounds. For the first ground the defendants allege that the court has no jurisdiction over the person of the plaintiff because the pleadings join two causes of action, one for an injunction and the other for-damages. In connection therewith, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 8(a) (3), 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, is pertinent, which provides as follows: “A pleading * * * shall contain * * * (3) a demand for judgment for the relief to which he deems himself entitled. Relief in the alternative or of several different types may be demanded.” While under the previous practice, where the procedure in law and equity were separate, such a prayer might have been deemed improper. However, under the united procedure contemplated by the Federal Rules, a claimant may pray for all relief, legal or equitable, to which he is entitled as a matter of substantive right. As is stated in Moore’s Federal Practice, Volume 1, page 556, in discussing Rule 8(a) (3): “It is, of course, proper under the united procedure contemplated by the Federal Rules in which all relief, formerly legal or equitable may be obtained — under which a suitor is not to be turned out of court, as formerly, because he came in at the wrong door”.

Further, the defendants in their motion state that; “There is no averment in the complaint suggesting that the buyer in ques[501]*501tion is not entitled under the Act to bring suit or action upon the alleged cause complained of”.

Section 205(e) of the Act, 56 Stat. 33, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 925(e), provides: “If any person selling a commodity violates a regulation, order, or price schedule prescribing a maximum price or maximum prices, the person who buys such commodity for use or consumption other than in the course of trade or business may bring action either for Fifty Dollars ($50.00) or for treble the amount by which the consideration exceeded the applicable maximum price, whichever is the greater, plus reasonable attorney’s fees and costs as determined by the Court. * * * If any person selling a commodity violates a regulation, order, or price schedule prescribing a maximum price or maximum prices, and the buyer is not entitled to bring suit or action under this subsection, the Administrator may bring such action under this subsection on behalf of the United States. * * * ”

It would seem to me from a simple reading of the section, that since the purchases were made as averred in Paragraph Sixteen (16) of the complaint: “* * * in the course of the trade or business of said Barclay White Company”, that it is clear the purchaser has no right of action because such only exists if the purchase is made other than in the course of business, and accordingly since the buyer is not entitled to bring suit, the right to so do is vested in the Administrator. Bowles v. Chew, D.C., 53 F.Supp. 787.

The defendants further contend that the Price Administrator is not empowered under Section 205(e) to institute suit in his own name, but is only authorized to bring such action on behalf of the United States. However, the prayer specifically states that demand is not made for the benefit of the Administrator but “on behalf of the United States”. This statement follows the language of the Act, and the averment sustains the Administrator’s right to maintain the action in its present form. Kennedy v. Gibson, 8 Wall. 498, 19 L.Ed. 476; E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Davis, 264 U.S. 456, 44 S.Ct. 364, 68 L.Ed. 788.

The defendants’ second ground on which they ask for the dismissal of the complaint is that the Maximum Price Regulation No. 215 as well as numerous other regulations of the Act are indefinite, conflicting and arbitrary, and if the Emergency Price Control Act, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 901 et seq., is interpreted to make the same enforcible, the Act is unconstitutional. The constitutionality of the Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Yakus, 321 U.S. 414, 64 S.Ct. 660, 88 L.Ed. 834, and accordingly there can no longer be any question of its constitutionality. With respect to any particular price regulation the validity of the same is to be determined by an Emergency Court of Appeals, appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States. To that court is committed the exclusive jurisdiction to consider constitutional and other objections to any maximum price regulation and to affirm or set aside the same in whole or in part. This judgment however is subject to review by certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States. Accordingly, Section 204(d) of the Act provides as follows: “The Emergency Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court upon review of judgments and orders of the Emergency Court of Appeals, shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of any regulation, or order issued under section 2, of any price schedule effective in accordance with the provisions of section 206, and of any provision of any such regulation, order, or price schedule. Except as provided in this section, no court, Federal, State, or territorial, shall have jurisdiction or power to consider the validity of any such regulation, order, or price schedule, or to stay, restrain, enjoin, or set aside, in whole or in part, any provision of this Act authorizing the issuance of such regulations or orders, or making effective any such price schedule, * * * or to restrain or enjoin the enforcement of any such provision.”

Therefore, it would seem that this court is without jurisdiction to consider any challenge which might be made to the constitutional validity of any maximum price regulation. This, of course, does not preclude the court from considering the constitutionality of the Emergency Price Control Act itself, but since the decision in United States v. Yakus, supra, it would seem that such consideration is no longer necessary.

Further objection is made to the bill of complaint in that the injunction sought against the defendants is too broad. However, in view of the general doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court in National Labor Relations Board v. Express Publish[502]*502ing Co., 312 U.S. 426, 61 S.Ct. 693, 85 L. Ed.

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Related

Burns v. Donohue
79 F. Supp. 107 (D. New Jersey, 1948)
Bowles v. Leithold
155 F.2d 124 (Third Circuit, 1945)

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Bluebook (online)
65 F. Supp. 499, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowles-v-cohen-paed-1944.