Hurst v. Haak

55 N.E.2d 594, 73 Ohio App. 189, 28 Ohio Op. 196, 1943 Ohio App. LEXIS 636
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 6, 1943
Docket2114
StatusPublished

This text of 55 N.E.2d 594 (Hurst v. Haak) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hurst v. Haak, 55 N.E.2d 594, 73 Ohio App. 189, 28 Ohio Op. 196, 1943 Ohio App. LEXIS 636 (Ohio Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

Sherick, J.

This is an eviction action between landlord and tenants owning and occupying living quarters' in a defense-rental area, so declared by the price administrator. It was commenced in the Municipal Court of Canton. Soon thereafter the administrator requested leave to be made a party defendant. The request was granted and thereafter the price administra *190 tor assumed and bore the major portion of the defense. Upon trial the court found that inasmuch as the tenancy was on a month to month basis the landlord may terminate it at will. In other words, it was found that in such a case it was unnecessary for the plaintiff to give preliminary notice, as prescribed in Section 6(d) (1) and Section 6 (d) (2) of Maximum Rent Regulation No. 15 as promulgated by the price administrator pursuant to the Emergency Price Control Act and the amendment thereto; and that, inasmuch as plaintiff had fully complied with the provisions of the state law, Section 10451, General Code, respecting the giving of notice in actions of forcible entry and detainer, which was controlling, plaintiff was entitled to a writ of' restitution which was ordered. Thereupon the administrator and the tenants, independent of each other, gave notice of their intention to appeal, the tenants upon questions of law and fact, the administrator upon questions of law alone. The court granted a stay of execution pending these appeals.

The appeal of the administrator has -been dismissed for failure to file briefs in accordance with Rule 7. The tenants’ appeal was also attacked by motion to dismiss. The fact feature of their appeal has, of course, been dismissed and the cause retained as one on questions of law. The tenants, appellants, having filed no briefs, ask leave to adopt and refile the administrator’s brief. This request was not only granted but counsel for the administrator were permitted to argue and present the tenants’ appeal. This was done because of the importance of the matter in issue.

Certain phases of the parties’ position, as. disclosed by argument, briefs and the record, require comment preliminary to consideration of the question for solution. Plaintiff tried her case upon the theory of nuisance. The record displays ample proof thereof, even though the tenants assert the contrary. The defend *191 ants placed their main reliance on lack of notice in conformity to the administrator’s regulations. The plaintiff does not concede this point. Whether the regulations were complied with is relatively of little importance, as we shall hereinafter demonstrate. It appears from the files before us that the trial court took the view that plaintiff’s action was properly triable on the issue of one’s right to contract, which was untouched by the federal act and the administrator’s regulations. This was provoked by the court’s desire to conform to a prior judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Stark county. As we see the matter, plaintiff’s complaint was predicated on nuisance. She was entitled to have her cause so tried. If the court was right in its conclusion, even though its judgment was questionable on its theory of the case, its judgment should be affirmed. We shall treat this review just as if plaintiff had proved that her tenants had committed a nuisance, because of which she would ordinarily be entitled to a restitution of her property.

It must further be understood that the constitutionality of the federal act is not involved. The real query is whether the trial court, or this court, may question or consider the propriety of the administrator’s regulation, which defendants say may be done only by the Emergency Court created and so empowered by the federal act, and that the Emergency Court alone possesses siich jurisdiction. If the regulations are responsive to the purpose and powers properly delegated to the administrator by the act, then it must follow that the defendants have the right of it, and the landlord must strictly pursue the administrator’s regulations as to notice, upon the arbitrary rule that such aii act is an imperative war measure necessary to control rent inflation which was recognized in a like act in Block v. Hirsh, 256 U. S., 135, 65 L. Ed., 865, 41 S. Ct., 458, 16 A. L. R., 165.

*192 If, on the other hand, the regulations go beyond the purpose of the act and the powers thereby delegated, and thereby arbitrarily abrogate and temporarily nullify provisional remedies created by state statutes, then the question presented is neither one of interpretation of the regulations nor a questioning of their propriety; but the inquiry goes to the power of the administrator to make any 'regulations covering a subject which is not within the scope and purpose of the act under which they purport to be promulgated. Such a subject is always one for judicial inquiry in any court wherein constitutional rights are sought to be enforced. If this were not true, then one who has been delegated certain powers may assume to exercise others that were never embraced within the grant or intended to be exercised.

Our attention has been called to three cases wherein federal courts have considered the constitutionality of the act. The first, Henderson v. Kimmel, 47 F. Supp., 635, holds it constitutional. The other two, Roach v. Johnson, 48 F. Supp., 833, and Payne v. Griffin, 51 F. Supp., 588, hold the act unconstitutional. All three of these adjudications have to do with maximum rent provisions. They are'not responsive to the inquiry which this court now encounters.

The rule concerning the right to delegate legislative powers is thus stated in United States v. Rock Royal Co-Operative, 307 U. S., 533, 83 L. Ed., 1446, 59 S. Ct., 993, headnote 26:

“For the purpose of determining whether legislation involving questions of economic adjustment involves an invalid delegation of legislative power, each enactment must be considered to determine whether it states the purpose which the legislature sought to accomplish and the standards by which that purpose is to be worked out with sufficient exactness to enable those *193 charged with the enforcement of the law to understand these limits.”

From which it must follow that if an act clearly states its purpose, it can and does not authorize a delegation and exercise of power not embraced within its declared purpose. The mere fact that congressional policy directs that rents shall be stabilized does not confer power upon an administrator to control all litigation in the forcible entry and detention field, which is not concerned with maximum rent.

Just what is the purpose of the Emergency Price Control Act insofar as it affects rents ? Its title reads:

“To further the national defense and security by checking speculative and excessive price rises, price dislocations, and inflationary tendencies, and for other purposes.”

Section 1 (a) which defines its purpose insofar as it respects rents, states that:

“* * * the purposes of this Act are, to stabilize prices and to prevent speculative, unwarranted, and abnormal increases in prices and rents.”

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Related

Block v. Hirsh
256 U.S. 135 (Supreme Court, 1921)
United States v. Rock Royal Co-Operative, Inc.
307 U.S. 533 (Supreme Court, 1939)
Payne v. Griffin
51 F. Supp. 588 (M.D. Georgia, 1943)
Henderson v. Kimmel
47 F. Supp. 635 (D. Kansas, 1942)
Roach v. Johnson
48 F. Supp. 833 (N.D. Indiana, 1943)

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Bluebook (online)
55 N.E.2d 594, 73 Ohio App. 189, 28 Ohio Op. 196, 1943 Ohio App. LEXIS 636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hurst-v-haak-ohioctapp-1943.