Court Opinion

ID: 9643371
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:27:20.736143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:00.113441
License: Public Domain

KERNER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
I concur in the majority’s holding that the seller has the burden of proving that the violation was neither wilful nor the result of a failure to take practicable precautions against the occurrence of the violation if he wishes to limit his liability to the amount of the overcharge by bringing himself within the proviso. It is perfectly clear that the defendant did not sustain this burden.
As I interpret the statute, it vests in the District Court a sound judicial discretion as opposed to unlimited discretion. The statute says the seller shall be liable for an amount not more than three times the amount of the overcharge upon which the action is based as the court in its discretion may determine. Although the words “sound judicial” are not expressly included in the statute, they are, in my opinion, necessarily implied. It should be remembered in this regard that this statute is a war measure designed to prevent inflation, and discretion given to a court thereunder must be exercised in the light of the large objectives of the statute with great consideration being given to the public interest. Bowles v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 38. If the District Court has only such discretion, then I can see no escape from holding that it abused its discretion in not requiring this defendant to pay three times the amount of the overcharge. Not only did the Administrator establish by competent evidence all of the material allegations of the complaint, but also there was evidence that defendant had been informed before the sale of the lawful maximum price of the truck, and that defendant had deliberately tried to evade the regulation establishing the maximum price. In such a situation defendant flagrantly violated the law so that the District Court could not, in the exercise of a sound judicial discretion, permit defendant to escape the consequences of his wrongdoing merely by paying the amount of the overcharge. If the public interest is to be protected and the statute is to have its full and proper deterring effect on prospective wrongdoers, defendant must be penalized. Therefore, I would reverse the judgment.