Ritchie v. Johnson

144 P.2d 925, 158 Kan. 103, 1944 Kan. LEXIS 73
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 22, 1944
DocketNo. 36,055
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 144 P.2d 925 (Ritchie v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ritchie v. Johnson, 144 P.2d 925, 158 Kan. 103, 1944 Kan. LEXIS 73 (kan 1944).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Thiele, J.:

This was an action to recover possession of real estate from two defendants and for equitable relief against all of the defendants. The motion of one defendant to quash service of summons and the dumurrers of other defendants were sustained by the trial court, and from the several adverse rulings the plaintiff appeals.

The petition sets forth two causes of action, and so far as need be noted, contains the following allegations:

The first cause of action sounds in ejectment. It is alleged that plaintiff is a resident of Salina, Kan., and that he is not now and has not been in the military service of the United States; and that the defendants Johnson are citizens of Salina and are not connected with the military service of the United States; that plaintiff is the owner in fee simple of certain described real estate in Salina, and under an oral arrangement with the defendants Johnson he rented the real estate to them from month to month, that in accordance with G. S. 1935, 67-504, he served notice upon them to surrender the real estate to him, a copy of the notice and service being attached to the petition as an exhibit; that plaintiff is entitled to possession of the real estate but defendants Johnson refused to surrender possession to the plaintiff and wrongfully and unlawfully keep the plaintiff out of possession thereof.

The second cause of action will be briefly stated. All of the allegations of the first cause of action are made -part of the second cause of action, and it is alleged that the congress of the United States enacted a law, duly approved January 20, 1942, entitled [105]*105“Emergency Price Control Act of 1942.” A copy of the act (56 Stat. 23, 50 U. S. C. A. 901 et seq.) is attached to the petition as an exhibit. We shall refer to it hereafter as the Act. It is further alleged that plaintiff has been in possession of the real estate by himself and his tenants for more than twenty years; that defendant Prentiss Brown is the administrator appointed under the above Act with his place of business and post-office address in Washington, D. C., and that defendant C. B. Dodge, Jr., is the local director for the defense area in which Salina, Kan., is situated. After pleading at length parts of section 2 subdivisions (b) and (d) and of section 4 subdivisions (a) and (b) of the Act, plaintiff alleges that he is the owner of other housing properties in Salina rented to tenants not in the military service, part of which properties are rented upon written contracts which provide for the collection of more rentals than were being paid for the same properties on March .1, 1942, and that the making and enforcement of those parts of the Act referred to and all other portions of the Act relating to rental of properties by and between civilian residents of this state and each of them are entirely void and invalid for the following reasons:

1. That no power has been delegated by the constitution of the United States or the amendments thereto authorizing the congress to regulate rents between private citizens, and that the Act is in violation of the tenth aüiendment and invades the province of the states.

2. That the enactment or enforcement of the Act would deprive plaintiff of his liberty and property without due process of law and that private property cannot be taken even for public use without just compensation in violation of the fifth amendment.

3. That neither the congress nor any department of the United States government has been delegated any power by the constitution to take private property of the plaintiff and turn it over to some other private person for his private enrichment and not to serve any public purpose and the portions of the Act referred to are void and unenforceable.

It' is further alleged that the administrator has purported to make certain regulations for the enforcement of the Act, designated as Maximum Rent Regulation No. 57 and hereafter referred to as Regulation 57, a copy of such regulation being attached to the peti[106]*106tion as an exhibit (Superseded by Rent Regulations for Housing, 8 Fed. Reg. 7322 et seq. promulgated June 1, 1943) and thereunder that Saline county is a defense-rental area and that the maximum rental until changed shall be the rental for such accommodation on March 1, 1942; that a certain described area is the natural trade territory of the city of Salina and is an agricultural area; that for ten years preceding March 1, 1941, there had been a continued drouth and an economic depression and little agricultural products had been produced, all of which deprived Salina of normal economic conditions and rental values of residential and business properties decreased below the point of earning a fair return; that due to the economic depression residents of Salina had gone elsewhere for employment and further depressed rental values in Salina and on March 1, 1942, rents were lower than they had been during the preceding forty years, and to adopt rentals as of March 1, 1942, as a rental basis was arbitrary, capricious and confiscatory; that section 2, subdivision (a) of the Act provides that before any order is issued the administrator shall, so far as practicable, advise and consult with representative members of the industry affected by such order, and that before the issuance of any of the regulations referred to in the petition the administrator did not advise and consult with representative landlords and tenants in Salina, and that none of the parties interested was afforded any opportunity to be heard; that the regulatiqns were made arbitrarily, capriciously and without notice, investigation or hearing, and are confiscatory and deprive plaintiff of a fair return on his capital investment, contrary to the fifth amendment to the United States constitution.

It is further alleged that the authorization of the issuance of the rules made by the administrator is an unlawful delegation of congressional authority, the issuance of such rules deprives plaintiff of his property, is confiscatory, is in the nature of a judicial determination without notice or opportunity to be heard and is not due process of law as required by the fifth amendment. Then follow allegations as to many other named owners of real estate and that they have a common interest in whether the law and regulations referred to are valid and that it is impracticable to bring separate suits and plaintiff is bringing the suit in behalf of all persons similarly situated.

It is further alleged that defendant Dodge under instructions from defendant Brown, the administrator, is counseling and advising de[107]*107fendants Johnson not to pay any attention to the laws of Kansas and to defy the same and to forcibly retain possession of the real estate, and that Brown and Dodge are threatening to prosecute plaintiff and the other owners referred to if they do not comply with each and every regulation referred to in the petition. As explanatory of plaintiff’s cause we may state that the prayer of the petition is that defendants Johnson be ousted and possession of the premises be delivered to plaintiff; that defendants be barred and estopped from claiming any interest in the property or any right to control the rents thereof, and enjoining Brown and Dodge from interfering with plaintiff or those having property in like situation, in the control, use, occupancy and rental of their real property.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Hargrove
45 P.3d 376 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2002)
Lawrence Paper Co. v. Gomez
897 P.2d 134 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1995)
Stewart v. State
813 P.2d 930 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1991)
Allen v. Craig
564 P.2d 552 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1977)
Thomas v. Dudrey
494 P.2d 1039 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1972)
Trinkle v. Hand
337 P.2d 665 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1959)
Clark v. Hildreth
293 P.2d 989 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1956)
Asociación Cooperativa del Falansterio v. Navarro
73 P.R. Dec. 145 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1952)
Sherwood Construction Co. v. Board of County Commissioners
207 P.2d 409 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1949)
Callister v. Spencer
196 P.2d 714 (Utah Supreme Court, 1948)
Bradley v. Hall
194 P.2d 943 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1948)
Berlinsky v. Eisenberg
59 A.2d 327 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1948)
Glink v. Pennell
79 N.E.2d 672 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1947)
Shaw v. Edwards
1946 OK 356 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1946)
Jordan v. Moore
194 S.W.2d 948 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1946)
Bowles v. Barde Steel Co.
164 P.2d 692 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1945)
Walker Ex Rel. Walker v. Burkham
161 P.2d 649 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1945)
Schaffer v. Leimberg
62 N.E.2d 193 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1945)
De Bobula v. Coppedge
40 A.2d 255 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1944)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P.2d 925, 158 Kan. 103, 1944 Kan. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ritchie-v-johnson-kan-1944.