Adkins v. Vilsack

252 F. Supp. 3d 588, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72790
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedMay 12, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 1:15-CV-169-C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 252 F. Supp. 3d 588 (Adkins v. Vilsack) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. Vilsack, 252 F. Supp. 3d 588, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72790 (N.D. Tex. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER

SAM R. CUMMINGS, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

In the Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) filed October 6, 2016, the United States Magistrate Judge recommends that the Court reverse the decision to delay implementation of the Actual Production History (“APH”) Yield Exclusion for the 2015 crop year for winter wheat and that this matter be remanded for further proceedings consistent with the recommendation. Defendants filed their Objections to the R&R on October 20, 2016, and Plaintiffs filed their Response to Defendants’ Objections on November 3, 2016. The Court fully considered the R&R, the Objections, and the Response.1

[591]*591After a de novo review of the record, the arguments of the parties, and the thorough and well-reasoned R&R, the Court finds the recommendations - of the Magistrate Judge to be .correct. Thus, the Court ADOPTS the findings and conclusions of the Magistrate Judge contained in the R&R as the findings and conclusions of the Court.2

■In so doing, the Court has considered and OVERRULES, for the reasons stated by the Plaintiffs in their Response, each of the Defendants’ Objections: (1) the R&R does not follow the legal standard for review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Appeals Division (“NAD”) decision; (2) the interpretation of a regulation (Interim Final Rule) is involved; (3) Congress did not speak directly on the issue of applicability of 7 U.S.C. § 1508(g)(4); (4) section 11009 is not self-executing; and (6) § 1508(g)(4) is' ambiguous. Specifically, the Court finds that the NAD decision was erroneous in that it failed to recognize § 1508(g)(4)(A)’s effect on implementation for the 2015 winter wheat crop year.3 Congress chose to leave the applicability provision in place thereby making it self-executing and immediate for the APH Yield Exclusion.4 The NAD Director’s Decision strains beyond the plain meaning of § 1508(g)(4), as amended, to create an ambiguity where this Court finds that none exists.

As found by the Magistrate Judge in the R&R, “the unamended § 1508(g)(4)(A) already contained a provision that would make paragraph (4) entirely applicable to the 2015 crop year[, and] [n]o further Congressional direction was necessary to effect an intent that paragraph (4)(C) be implemented for that crop year,” Further, “[i]n light of the February 2014 enactment date of the Farm Bill and resulting amendments and the already existing applicability provision of § 1508(g), Congress had ample; reason to intentionally omit any implementation language from section 11009 that it included in the other provisions of the Farm Bill.” (R&R at 15-16.)

Moreover, as argued by the Plaintiffs and noted in the R&R, the fact that Congress chose to include specific application/implementation language for other crops and yet stay silent as to winter wheat indicates a direct intention to allow the governing and existing statutory law to be applicable as to the implementation of the APH Yield Exclusion for the 2015 -winter wheat crop. Or, put differently, the silence on timing in section 11009 shows an intent by Congress that section 11009— differing from sections 11003,11007,11010, 11015, and 11017 — be self-executing.

[592]*592As succinctly stated in the R&R, the existing applicability of § 1508(g)(4)(A) was not ambiguous. The Risk Management Agency’s interpretation, and the NAD Director’s deference thereto, cannot stand in opposition to a congressional statute directing otherwise.5

Accordingly, the Court finds that the final decision of the National Appeals Division was arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise not in accordance with law and the decision should be set aside. The Court REVERSES the decision to delay implementation of the APH Yield Exclusion for the 2015 crop year for winter wheat and REMANDS this matter for further proceedings consistent with the Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge as adopted by this Order.

SO ORDERED this 12^ day of May, 2017.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

E. SCOTT FROST, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 6999, 7 C.F.R. § 11.13, and Chapter 7 of Title 5 of the United States Code, Plaintiffs seek judicial review of a final decision of the National Appeals Division (“NAD”), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”). See Compl. (doc. 1) ¶23. Defendants have filed an answer, Defs.’ Answer (doc. 18), and the administrative record (doc. 24). The parties have briefed the issues. See Docs. 26-29. The United States District Judge referred the case to the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 and the parties have not consented to proceed before a United States Magistrate Judge. After considering the arguments, applicable law, and the administrative record, the undersigned recommends that the Court reverse the final decision of NAD for the reasons stated herein.

I. BACKGROUND

The factual background of this case is not in dispute. Plaintiffs are farmers who produce winter wheat. They seek judicial review of an adverse decision of the Risk Management Agency (“RMA”), which was affirmed by NAD. The issue is whether the agency properly applied and interpreted the Federal Crop Insurance Act (“FCIA”), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1524, as amended through the Agricultural Act of 2014 (“Farm Bill”), Pub. L. No. 113-79, 128 Stat. 956, which was signed into law on February 7, 2014. At the center of the parties’ dispute is the amendment to § 1508(g) through section 11009 of the Farm Bill, commonly known as the Actual Production History (“APH”) Yield Exclusion. Before setting out the procedural history, a brief overview of the FCIA is warranted.

A. Federal Crop Insurance Act

The Federal Crop Insurance Act is intended “to promote the national welfare by improving the economic stability of agriculture through a sound system of crop insurance and providing the means for the research and experience helpful in devising and establishing such insurance.” 7 U.S.C. § 1502(a) (2010).1 As used in the FCIA, [593]*593“[t]he term ‘Corporation’ means the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation [ (“FCIC”) ] established under section 1503 of this title.” Id. § 1502(b)(5) (Supp. 2016) (renumbered as (5) in accordance with Pub. L. 113-79, sec. 11016(a)). Id. § U.S.C. § 1506, Congress “outlines the general powers of the FCIC.” Tex. Peanut Farmers v. United States, 409 F.3d 1370, 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2005); accord 7 U.S.C. § 1506

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Bluebook (online)
252 F. Supp. 3d 588, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-vilsack-txnd-2017.