Fleming v. Phoenix Chair Co.

168 F.2d 3, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3209
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 7, 1948
DocketNo. 9382
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 168 F.2d 3 (Fleming v. Phoenix Chair Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fleming v. Phoenix Chair Co., 168 F.2d 3, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3209 (7th Cir. 1948).

Opinion

LINDLEY, District Judge.

Plaintiff, on March 5, 1945, filed suit in the District Court against the defendant, averring that the latter had violated provisions of Maximum Price Regulation 188 by failing to keep records and make reports required by Section 1499.11 of the General Maximum Price Regulation and that defendant had, in 1944, sold commodities for which a maximum price must be determined under Section. 1499.156, 1499.157 and 1499.158 of Maximum Price Regulation 188, without complying with the reporting provisions of said sections, as required by Section 1499.152(c) of Maximum Price Regulation 188, at prices in excess of those permitted by Maximum Price Regulation 188, and in violation of Section 1499.152(a) thereof.

Plaintiff sought a mandatory injunction commanding defendant to prepare and keep for examination statements and records as required by the Regulation, to compute and report to the Administrator maximum prices for commodities sold by the defendant required to be priced under the Section aforesaid and to submit to the Office of Price Administration an application for specific authorization of the maximum prices required by 1499.158 of Maximum Price Regulation 188 for commodities sold for which the maximum prices could not be established under Sections 1499.155-6-7 of Maximum Price Regulation 188. Plaintiff prayed also an injunction against future sales in violation of the regulations and asked for treble damages.

Defendant answered denying that it had sold any article above ceiling prices or that it had failed to keep proper records or make proper reports.

The case proceeded to trial and, on the 24th day of September, 1946, the trial court filed a memorandum wherein it found that in 1944 defendant had sold to Emblem. Manufacturing Company $46,463.01 worth of its regular line of merchandise and $40,992.26 worth of exclusive items of furniture all of which was drop-shipped to Emblem’s retail customers; that in the base period, March, 1942, it had shipped similar merchandise to Emblem, drop-shipping the same to one Byrne, for delivery on Government contracts which Byrne had at that time with the armed forces; that the sales in March, 1942, to Emblem were sales to a class of purchaser other than and different from Emblem as it functioned in the sales made to it in 1944; that in March, 1942, defendant did not sell jobbers who sold to retail dealers but that in the year 1944 Emblem did resell its purchases to retailers, and that, though defendant did not refuse to sell directly to retailers during that period, some 13 former retail customers did in 1944 buy from Emblem at prices higher than they formerly paid when they bought directly from defendant; that defendant had accomplished indirectly what it could not do directly; that, accordingly, its prices for the commodities sold Emblem were to be fixed, as the Administrator had claimed, under Section 1499.158 of the Regulation which covers the fourth pricing method. That section provides that if the maximum price can not [5]*5be determined in accordance with the preceding prescribed methods for fixing maximum prices, it shall be fixed by an order specifically establishing the maximum price or a method for determining the same; that, prior to offering such article for sale, the manufacturer shall submit a report in duplicate applying for the establishment of prices for his articles and that, upon issuance of an order by the Price Administrator, the manufacturer may offer the article for sale only in accord with the terms of the order.

Thus the court, in its memorandum, agreed with the Administrator that defendant had procured the fixing of no maximum price for the articles sold Emblem. However, it did not at that time award a mandatory injunction requiring defendant to make application; it merely commented that judgment would go for plaintiff after the maximum prices had been determined in pursuance of the provision last above mentioned. There the case rested for some time.

During this interval, on October 23, 1946, defendant applied to the Office of Price Administration to fix its maximum prices for the goods shipped to Emblem in 1944. On the 10th day of December, 1946, the Office of Price Administration, in response to the application, issued Order No. L 5352 fixing defendant’s prices for goods sold Emblem in 1944 at the regular retail rate, less 15%. The parties stipulated that, under this order, the excess prices on goods sold Emblem in 1944 were a total of $6,952.18. It was further stipulated that defendant did not waive any right on appeal “to raise a question of the application of Order L 5352 to its sales.”

Some months later, on March 21, 1947, the Court entered its formal findings of fact and conclusions of law generally in accord with its earlier memorandum, but including the further finding that defendant had in the meantime applied to the Office of Price Administration for a maximum price for its goods sold Emblem to be fixed under the fourth pricing method of Maximum Price Regulation 188, governing the sales to Emblem in 1944. The court concluded that under the order plaintiff had -made an overcharge of $6,952.18 and entered judgment for that amount. From that judgment this appeal followed.

It is apparent therefore that, as the record now stands, the Office of Price Administration has, upon defendant’s application, fixed its maximum prices for the goods sold Emblem in 1944 at 15% less than its retail prices. The Order has never been modified and no attack has been made upon its validity. Defendant has reserved the right to object to its applicability only.

In this situation it is well to keep 'in mind the scheme of operation and the method of judicial review provided by the Emergency Price Control Act, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 901 et seq. Section 204(d) of that Act constitutionally grants exclusive original jurisdiction of all questions of validity of Regulations or Orders issued by the Office of Price Administration to the Emergency Court of Appeals and, upon review, to the Supreme Court. Lockerty v. Phillips, 319 U.S. 182, 63 S.Ct. 1019, 87 L.Ed. 1339; Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414, 64 S.Ct. 660, 88 L.Ed. 834. Thus, the power of the Administrator to promulgate an Order or the validity of its terms may be considered and determined originally only by the Emergency Court of Appeals. In the absence of such a challenge before that tribunal, the Order must, in all other courts, be regarded as having all the attributes of Constitutional legislative enactment. Anchor Liquor Company v. United States, 10 Cir., 158 F.2d 221; Fleming v. Dashiel, 9 Cir., 161 F.2d 612. And this exclusive jurisdiction to determine validity of any Regulation or Order is not limited to regulations or orders of general application but includes also an Order directed to an individual seller. Woods v. Stone, 333 U.S. 472, 68 S.Ct. 624; Porter v. Eastern Sugar Associates, 4 Cir., 159 F.2d 299.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
168 F.2d 3, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fleming-v-phoenix-chair-co-ca7-1948.