Dean Foods Co. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture

504 F. Supp. 520, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15694
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 22, 1980
DocketNo. 77-C-251
StatusPublished

This text of 504 F. Supp. 520 (Dean Foods Co. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dean Foods Co. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, 504 F. Supp. 520, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15694 (W.D. Wis. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES E. DOYLE, District Judge.

When plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction was briefed and argued, plaintiff contended that Wis.Stats. § 97.48(1)1 was inapplicable to Choco-Riffic. Plaintiff asserted that § 97.48(1) “is simply a labeling statute designed to prevent consumer confusion and deception. . .. ” Memorandum in support of motion for temporary restraining order, filed February 14, 1978, pages 2-3. It was undisputed, and no doubt it remains undisputed, that the label borne by Choco-Riffic states: “A NONDAIRY DRINK — CONTAINS NO MILK-FAT.” Therefore, plaintiff contended that Choco-Riffic does not purport to be and is not represented as milk, and is not “any food” as defined in § 97.48(1).

In opposing the motion, defendants refrained from contending that Choco-Riffic “is represented as” milk, but did contend that it “purports to be” milk. They asserted that Choco-Riffic’s physical appearance is identical to chocolate milk, that it has the taste and texture of chocolate milk, that it is packaged in cartons identical in design to those utilized for chocolate milk, that plaintiff’s every effort has been to compound a product which would readily substitute for chocolate milk, and that Choco-Riffic assumes the physical properties of chocolate milk. In these ways, they argued, Choco-Riffic “purports to be” milk. Memorandum in opposition to motion for preliminary injunction, filed March 1, 1978, pages 5-6.

On August 31, 1979,1 entered an opinion and order D.C. 478 F.Supp. 224 granting plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction preventing defendants from prohibiting the sale and distribution of Choco-Riffic in Wisconsin. I found as fact that if plaintiff was permitted to sell Choco-Riffic to stores in Wisconsin, it would bear a label stating: “A NON-DAIRY DRINK — CONTAINS NO MILKFAT.” I also found as fact, among other things:

(1) Choco-Riffic and chocolate-flavored 1% lowfat milk are similar in terms of total solids, color, flavor, body, sweetness level, texture, viscosity, taste, and odor. Simply by viewing, tasting, smelling and touching the two products themselves, without regard to packaging, labeling, and method of display, few purchasers and consumers could distinguish one from the other. Thus, in a restaurant, or in a hospital or school or similar establishment, few persons consuming one of the two products by unmarked glass or cup could distinguish it from the other.
[522]*522(2) Choco-Riffic is marketed in containers identical in shapes and color schemes to standard half gallon pure pack containers used for dairy products including chocolate flavored lowfat milk. Choco-Riffic is also sold in plastic gallon containers identical to those used for dairy products, including chocolate flavored lowfat milk. Choco-Riffic is marketed in dairy cases among fluid milk products.

In re-reading my August 31,1979, opinion and order, I observe that I did not expressly reject the proposition that Choco-Riffic “is represented as” milk, just as defendants had not expressly rejected it. But, just as I inferred that proposition from defendants’ silence, I implied it by mine. I now make clear that as of August 31, 1979, I consciously rejected the proposition that Choco-Riffic “is represented as” milk, and thus concluded that § 97.48(1) applies only if Choco-Riffic “purports to be” milk. I then acceded to what I understood to be the defendants’ insistence: that Wis.Stats. § 97.48(1) embodies what I referred to then as an “objective standard,” that is, “a strictly sensual test.” As applied to an inanimate object, I held that the words “to purport” can be considered to mean “to possess physical characteristics which prompt people to draw inferences about the source, nature, or function of the thing.” In light of my findings of fact, Choco-Riffic possesses physical characteristics which prompt people to draw the inference that it is chocolate-flavored lowfat milk. I adopted that construction of the words “purports to be,” and held that Choco-Riffic “purports to be” milk, in this sense. Although I did not articulate the point at the time and did not fully appreciate its implications, I held, in effect, that § 97.48(1) prohibits the sale of food (which contains any fat or oil other than milk fat) if its physical resemblance to milk is sufficiently close, without regard to any other factor involved in causing or eliminating confusion. Specifically, I held that the sale of Choco-Riffic is forbidden by the “purports to be” branch of § 97.48(1). I went on to hold that the plaintiff enjoys a reasonably good chance to prevail ultimately in its contention that defendants’ flat prohibition of the sale of Choco-Riffic, pursuant to § 97.48(1), unduly burdens interstate commerce.

At a pretrial conference on September 4, 1980, and in a memorandum of that conference entered September 8, 1980, it was ordered at plaintiff’s request that the court would re-address the question whether the words “purports to be” should be construed to embody the strictly sensual test. The question has been freshly briefed. It is to this question that this opinion and order are addressed.

When I construed the statute as I did on August 31, 1979, I described the critical language as awkward; observed that it is doubtful whether an inanimate object can “purport” to be anything; and called it troublesome that to give this objective and strictly sensual meaning to “purports to be” might create an inconsistency with the alternative statutory test (“is represented as”). Nevertheless, I was finally persuaded to construe “purports to be” as I did: (a) because it permitted me to avoid the conclusion that the phrases “purports to be” and “is represented as” are redundant; and (b) because so to construe “purports to be” was to defer to the construction placed upon the statute by the defendants, to whom its administration had been entrusted. In the course of the recent rebriefing, and in the light of defendants’ proposed statement of issues, filed May 5,1980,1 perceive ambiguities in the positions of the parties (particularly the position of the defendants) not earlier perceived, and difficulties in arriving at a fair and sensible construction of § 97.48(1) not earlier perceived.

Plaintiff’s position as most recently expressed is the following: The entire phrase “any food [which contains any fat or oil other than milk fat] which purports to be or is represented as ... milk” relates exclusively to labeling. The evil sought to be prevented is the conveyance of misinformation by means of a label, whether impliedly or expressly. Thus, if a Choco-Riffic label states “this is milk,” the substance within the container is “represented as” milk. If the label conveys more obscurely the mes[523]*523sage that the substance within the container is milk, then the substance “purports to be” milk. On the other hand, if the label states “this is not milk,” the substance within the container neither is represented as, nor purports to be, milk.

Defendants’ position is more difficult to discern and to summarize. They seem to say that in the context of § 97.48(1), the words “is represented as” relate to packaging and labeling only, and that to “represent” is to present or picture something to the mind, not only by words but by anything about the packaging or labeling that is visible.2

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

62 Cases of Jam v. United States
340 U.S. 593 (Supreme Court, 1951)
Dean Foods Co. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture
478 F. Supp. 224 (W.D. Wisconsin, 1979)
United States v. 62 Cases
87 F. Supp. 735 (D. New Mexico, 1949)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
504 F. Supp. 520, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dean-foods-co-v-wisconsin-department-of-agriculture-wiwd-1980.