Berlinsky v. Eisenberg

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. 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 accomodations”, 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