United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Woods v. Stone, 333 U.S. 472 (1948)

Woods v. Stone

No. 392

Argued February 4, 1948

Decided March 15, 1948

333 U.S. 472

Syllabus

1. The one-year period of limitations prescribed by § 205(e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942 as amended, on an action against a landlord on account of an overcharge in rent of property which the landlord had failed to register as required by rent regulations, begins to run not from the date of payment of the rent, but from the date of the landlord's failure to comply with a refund order. Pp. 333 U. S. 473-478.

2. Failure of the landlord to make refund in accordance with the refund order is a violation of an "order . . . prescribing a maximum" rent under § 205(e), and gives rise to the cause of action created by that section. P. 333 U. S. 477.

3. The landlord's own failure to register the property having rendered the payments of rent subject to revision and to refund, under legislation and regulations in force when the payments were made, the objection to the refund order as retroactive cannot be sustained. Pp. 333 U. S. 477-478.

163 F.2d 393 reversed.

The Price Administrator, predecessor of the Housing Expediter, brought an action against the respondent under § 205(e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942 as amended, on account of an overcharge in the rental of property. The District Court held that the period of limitations under the Act began to run from the time of the overcharge, and not from the time of the respondent's failure to make refund pursuant to a refund order. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 163 F.2d 393. This Court granted certiorari, limited to the question of the statute of limitations. 332 U.S. 835. Reversed, p. 333 U. S. 478.

Page 333 U. S. 473