Opinion
[No. 18, October Term, 1950.]
Decided November 3, 1950.
Res Judicata — Issues of Whether Property Was "Housing Accommodations", within Meaning of Federal Rent Control Statutes, and whether, if So, Registration and Certification of Property by Federal Authority Was Condition Precedent to State Court Jurisdiction of Landlord's Eviction Action, Decided Therein Adversely to Tenant, Were Res Judicata in Landlord's Subsequent Action for Damages for Use and Occupation.
Previous judgment of Baltimore City Court in eviction proceeding by landlord against tenant, reversing People's Court of Baltimore City and awarding restitution of premises to landlord, in which Court of Appeals held that lower courts had jurisdiction to entertain the action whether or whether not the property was "housing accommodations" within the meaning of the Federal Rent Control acts, the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix § 901 et seq., and the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix § 1881 et seq. (an issue decided adversely to tenant in such proceedings) and though the acts required registration of the property if "housing accommodations", and the obtaining of a certificate from the regulatory agency thereby established, as a condition precedent to landlord's pursuit of remedy in respect of the property in a State court, made the questions of whether the property was "housing accommodations" and whether the lower court had jurisdiction res judicata in this subsequent action by same landlord against same tenant in respect of the same property, for damages for use and occupation thereof, though the period in respect of which damages were awarded below was subsequent to the date of the order of eviction in the prior action. pp. 292-293
M.C.P., Jr.
Decided November 3, 1950.
Appeal from the Baltimore City Court (TUCKER, J.).
Action by Helen Eisenberg and the Safe Deposit and Trust Company, Trustees, against Garfield A. Berlinsky for damages for the use and occupation of certain premises in Baltimore City from November 1, 1947 through December 31, 1948. In a former eviction proceeding in the same Court on appeal from the Peoples Court, a judgment in favor of the same plaintiff against the same defendant for restitution of the same premises had been entered on October 27, 1947. From a summary judgment for plaintiffs, after denial of a motion to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction, the defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
The cause was argued before MARBURY, C.J., DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, HENDERSON, and MARKELL, JJ.
Garfield A. Berlinsky, in proper person.
Edmund P. Dandridge, Jr., with whom were Venable, Baetjer Howard and John M. Butler on the brief, for the appellees.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment of $560.00 entered by the Baltimore City Court against the appellant for use and occupation of the premises 857 N. Howard Street from November 1, 1947 through December 31, 1948 (14 months at $40 per month), after the court had denied a motion to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction. The appellant contends that the property involved was "housing accommodations" subject to federal rent control; that the landlords failed to register the property as required by the federal act; and that their failure to do so precludes any resort to the state courts to collect rental or rental value.
The appellant raised the same question in Berlinsky v. Eisenberg, 190 Md. 636, 59 A.2d 327. In that case the landlord brought proceedings in the People's Court to evict him from these same premises. On appeal to the Baltimore City Court a judgment for restitution of the property was entered. On appeal to this court we held that the People's Court and the Baltimore City Court had jurisdiction to determine the question as to whether the property was "housing accommodations", but that the correctness of the decision was not reviewable by this court since no appeal is provided by statute. Accordingly, we dismissed the appeal. Since the appellant's attack on the jurisdiction in the instant case rests wholly upon his contention that the property involved is "housing accommodations", the question is res judicata. The general rule is well established. Ugast v. LaFontaine, 189 Md. 277, 230, 55 A.2d 705; Snodgrass v. Stubbs, 192 Md. 287, 290-291, 64 A.2d 130, 132; Restatement, Judgments, § 68 (1). See also Scholl v. Tibbs, D.C. Mun. App., 36 A.2d 352, where the rule was applied in an eviction proceeding from property subject to rent control.
The appellees contend that even if the property had been subject to rent control, the rental value for the period covered by the judgment in the instant case was fixed by the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 1881 et seq., and the effective regulations, at the amount paid on April 1, 1940, when the appellant was paying a rental of $40 per month, the amount claimed for use and occupation. Hence there was no necessity for administrative action, and the failure to register the property was quite immaterial. We find it unnecessary to pass on the question, because in any event the appellants right to rely upon the federal act was decided adversely to him in the prior litigation. The fact that the damages for use and occupation cover a period subsequent to the order of eviction cannot alter the fact that the question whether the lease had been properly terminated before the period in question was finally adjudicated in the former case.
Judgment affirmed, with costs.