Delview Meadow, Etc. v. Ala. Dairy Com'n

383 So. 2d 511
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 28, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 383 So. 2d 511 (Delview Meadow, Etc. v. Ala. Dairy Com'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Delview Meadow, Etc. v. Ala. Dairy Com'n, 383 So. 2d 511 (Ala. 1979).

Opinion

383 So.2d 511 (1978)

DELVIEW MEADOW GOLD DIVISION BEATRICE FOODS COMPANY et al.
v.
ALABAMA DAIRY COMMISSION and Associated Milk Producers, Inc.

SC 2716.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

June 30, 1978.
Rehearing Denied August 4, 1978.
After Remand September 28, 1979.
Rehearing Denied May 9, 1980.

*512 Oakley Melton, Jr., and Curtis H. Springer, Montgomery, for appellants.

Charles M. Crook, Montgomery, for appellee Alabama Dairy Commission.

Henry C. Chappell, Jr., Montgomery, for appellee-intervenor Associated Milk Producers, Inc.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by Delview Meadow Gold Division Beatrice Foods Company and others (hereinafter referred to as Distributors) involving Order 2-76 of the Alabama Dairy Commission. The order was previously declared valid by this court in Alabama Dairy Commission v. Delview Meadow Gold Division, Beatrice Foods Company et al., 345 So.2d 278 (Ala.1977).

Under current regulations promulgated by the Dairy Commission, milk producers are paid a Class I price by milk distributors for that portion of milk sold by the distributors for consumption as fluid milk. A much lower Class II price is paid for other milk purchased from the producers which is usually used in making cheese and other milk products. Order 2-76 changes this classification and pricing structure for buttermilk which is made from milk powder rather than fluid milk.

In making buttermilk, distributors may choose to use either fluid milk or cheaper milk powder. However, under the provisions *513 of Order 2-76, if a distributor receives surplus fluid milk from a producer and the distributor then manufactures and sells buttermilk made from milk powder, he must pay the producer for an equivalent portion of the producer's otherwise surplus milk at the Class I price as though such fluid milk had been used in making the buttermilk.

Order 2-76 further provides that distributors may pass increased costs resulting from the regulation on to consumers through an increase in the wholesale price of buttermilk.

The Dairy Commission enacted Order 2-76 on January 16, 1976. On February 9, 1976 the Distributors filed a timely petition for writ of certiorari in the Montgomery County Circuit Court seeking a review of the new regulation. It was alleged that Order 2-76 was invalid and violative of the Due Process Clause of both the state and federal constitutions.

On February 23, 1976 the trial court entered an order suspending the operation of Order 2-76 pending a final determination on its validity. The order further required the Distributors to monthly pay into an escrow fund an amount equal to the difference between what was actually paid to producers and what would have been paid to them if Order 2-76 were in effect.

On April 7, 1976 the Montgomery County Circuit Court declared Order 2-76 invalid as being beyond the powers of the Dairy Commission. The decree was based upon this court's decision in Dark's Dairy v. Alabama State Milk Control Board, 278 Ala. 693, 180 So.2d 527 (1965). The Dairy Commission then appealed the circuit court's ruling to this court.

On appeal the Distributors asserted that Dark's Dairy was controlling. They further argued the previously asserted "due process" claim as well as alleged violations of the Commerce Clause of the federal constitution and of the "equal protection" provisions of both the state and federal constitutions.

On April 15, 1977 a majority of this court reversed the circuit court's order, holding that Dark's Dairy was not controlling, and reversed and remanded the cause. This court did not address the asserted "due process" or "commerce clause" or "equal protection" claims in that opinion. These various constitutional challenges were once again raised in the Distributors' application for rehearing which was denied on May 20, 1977.

The Distributors thereafter filed the following motions in Montgomery County Circuit Court: motion to set case for hearing on constitutional questions; motion to remand to the Dairy Commission; and motion to refund escrow fund (to the Distributors) or, in the alternative, motion to hold entire escrow fund intact pending completion of all judicial proceedings. In addition to these various motions, the Distributors filed an amendment to their original petition for certiorari which once again raised "due process," "commerce clause," and "equal protection" claims.

All motions and the amendment were denied by the trial court on June 16, 1977, and the escrow funds were disbursed. Notice of appeal to this court was filed by the Distributors from the June 16, 1977, order. A motion for summary dismissal was subsequently filed by the Dairy Commission on the grounds that the issues raised on this appeal were before the court in the prior appeal involving Order 2-76. The cause was thus submitted on the motion and the merits.

Briefly stated, the Distributors make the following contentions on this appeal:

(1) Order 2-76 places a substantial burden on interstate trade of milk powder in violation of the Commerce Clause of the federal constitution;

(2) Order 2-76 violates the Distributors' rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal constitution and similar provisions of the state constitution; and

(3) The June 28, 1976, trial court order was entered at a time when that court was without jurisdiction to make any decree affecting *514 the rights of the parties and was therefore null and void.

Title 22, section 226, Code of Alabama 1940 (§ 2-13-63, Code 1975), establishes the procedure for review of Dairy Commission orders. This statute provides in pertinent part as follows:

"§ 226. Certiorari to review.—Any person affected by any order or action of the board, who deems himself aggrieved by any such order or act may within ten days after receiving notice of any such action or order, have such order, or action reviewed by a writ of certiorari by filing in the circuit court of the county wherein said action or order was taken or made, a verified petition setting out the specific order or action, or any part or parts thereof whereby said person deems himself aggrieved, and such court shall only consider such matters as contained in the petition. . . . [N]o new or additional evidence shall be taken or heard by the court. . . . Upon final hearing, such court shall have jurisdiction to reverse, vacate or modify the order complained of, if upon consideration of the issues before the court, the court is of the opinion the order is unlawful or unreasonable."

Under the clear wording of this statute, review by the circuit court of orders of the Dairy Commission must be limited to a consideration of the evidence presented in the hearing before the Dairy Commission and the issues contained in the petition for certiorari. No similar provision is made in Title 22, section 226, nor in any other statute specifically relating to the Dairy Commission, concerning review by this court of circuit court judgments. However, we have stated that on appeal of Dairy Commission actions this court is governed by the same rules of review as was the circuit court. White Way Pure Milk Company v. Alabama State Milk Control Board, 265 Ala. 660, 93 So.2d 509 (1957). Thus, in the present appeal, this court may only consider evidence placed in the first instance upon the record developed before the Dairy Commission and issues raised thereafter in the petition for certiorari to the circuit court.

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