Coelho v. Truckell

48 P.2d 697, 9 Cal. App. 2d 47, 1935 Cal. App. LEXIS 1244
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 29, 1935
DocketCiv. 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 48 P.2d 697 (Coelho v. Truckell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coelho v. Truckell, 48 P.2d 697, 9 Cal. App. 2d 47, 1935 Cal. App. LEXIS 1244 (Cal. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

MARKS, Acting P. J.

This is an action to enjoin defendants from enforcing the provisions of an ordinance of the county of Kings making all of that county a voluntary tuberculosis control area, providing for the giving of the tuberculin test to all dairy cattle, and for the branding and slaughtering of reactors. Plaintiff is a dairyman who sues for himself and for more than ninety fellow members of the Kings Dairymen’s Protective Association. Defendant William C. Truckell is the livestock inspector of Kings County and a resident and elector thereof. Defendant M. G. Smith is a duly qualified veterinarian and an employee of the bureau of animal industry of the United States, as is W. W. Worcester, both of whom are empowered to enforce the provisions of the ordinance in question. Neither are residents nor electors of Kings County.

In 1933 the legislature adopted an Agricultural Code for this state. (Stats. 1933, p. 60.) Article III, containing sections 221 to 254, inclusive, provides in detail for the control of bovine tuberculosis in California under the general direction of the Department of Agriculture of the state. It is only necessary for us to give a general summary of some of the provisions of this portion of the code. It is provided that the Department of Agriculture, which we will refer to as the department, may establish and maintain tuberculosis control areas. Bach area shall consist of one or more counties. The director of the department may order cattle in a tuberculosis control area to be tuberculin tested whenever he considers it necessary. Those found to be reactors are to be branded and slaughtered after their value has been fixed by appraisement. It is contemplated that the state and federal governments will contribute towards compensating the owner for the loss suffered by him through the slaughtering of his cattle. It is provided by section 238 that “No animal shall be tested or slaughtered under the provisions of this article unless: (a) *50 Funds are available from an appropriation of the United States to assist in the eradication of tuberculosis in cattle in California, (b) Funds are available from an appropriation of this State for payment of the indemnity by the State under the provisions of this article.” When state funds are not available for administration purposes, and to pay owners for slaughtered cattle, the director of agriculture may withdraw one or more counties from tuberculosis control areas. A county thus withdrawn forms a provisional control area and no indemnity can be paid in such county to owners of reactors to the tuberculin test. In such areas the test is to be given only upon written requests of owners and it is provided that reactors shall be removed within thirty days after being tested. Provision is also made for the formation of calf segregation areas and regulation of the same.

Section 234.25 of the Agricultural Code provides as follows:

“In any county which has not been established by the department as a tuberculosis control area as provided in the preceding section, the board of supervisors of such county may, by ordinance, declare any portion of said county a voluntary tuberculosis control area, for the purpose of eradicating bovine tuberculosis therein; the same to continue, as such, only until the department shall establish such county as a tuberculosis control area.
“The county live stock inspector shall, subject to the supervision of the director, examine and tuberculin test all dairy cattle within such voluntary tuberculosis control area, as often as may be deemed necessary, in order to determine which animals are affected with tuberculosis.
“The board of supervisors of such county shall provide by ordinance for the formation, regulation and operation of all such voluntary tuberculosis control areas, as may be so established within such county, necessary to accomplish the object of this section. The provisions in this code for payment of indemnity shall not apply to any voluntary tuberculosis control area established by authority of this section.”

Kings County was not formed into a tuberculosis control area.

On November 5, 1934, the board of supervisors formed all of Kings County into a voluntary tuberculosis control area. The provisions of this ordinance follow quite closely the provisions of the Agricultural Code which provide for the govern *51 ment. and regulation of tuberculosis control areas by the state. Jt is provided that the testing of cattle for tuberculosis shall be done by “a bureau veterinary inspector, a cooperating regularly employed state or county veterinary inspector or an accredited veterinarian”. The definitions of the terms of the ordinance as contained therein follow quite closely the definitions contained in section 221 of the Agricultural Code.

It is admitted that Kings County has provided no money to pay owners anything to recompense them for loss occasioned by the slaughtering of reactors and that no state funds can be used for that purpose. The ordinance under attack here that such owners will receive their sole compensation from federal funds available for the purpose of stamping out bovine tuberculosis in California. Counsel agree that if any money is to be paid to Kings County owners of slaughtered animals, the amount per animal of equal grade will be considerably less than that paid owners in tuberculosis control areas administered by the state. While it is admitted that a large sum of federal money is available for the purpose of paying for reactors slaughtered in tuberculosis control areas where the state contributes towards compensation for the loss to owners, counsel cannot agree upon the question of whether or not any of the federal funds can be used to compensate owners for loss in a voluntary tuberculosis control area such as Kings County where neither the state nor the county pays any portion of the loss. From the view we take of the case we regard this question as unimportant and will therefore assume that no compensation will be paid any owner for reactors slaughtered in Kings County.

The most serious attack on the Kings County ordinance is made upon the ground that it denies to the owners of bovine reactors in Kings County the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the federal and those provisions of section 21 of article I of the state Constitution which prohibit the granting of special privileges and immunities to one citizen or class of citizens that are not granted to all citizens or classes of citizens. It is argued that because the owners of bovine reactors in Kings County, a voluntary tuberculosis control area, will receive no compensation for their slaughtered cattle and the owners of bovine reactors in tuberculosis control areas of the state will receive substantial compensation for the cattle slaughtered, this *52 amounts to denying the owners in Kings County the equal protection of the laws and constitutes the grant of a privilege to owners of infected cattle in tuberculosis control areas outside of Kings County which is not given to owners of the same class of cattle in Kings County, a voluntary tuberculosis control area.

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Bluebook (online)
48 P.2d 697, 9 Cal. App. 2d 47, 1935 Cal. App. LEXIS 1244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coelho-v-truckell-calctapp-1935.