H. J. Heinz Co. v. Granger

147 F. Supp. 664, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1437, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4146
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 20, 1956
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 10358, 11557
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 147 F. Supp. 664 (H. J. Heinz Co. v. Granger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
H. J. Heinz Co. v. Granger, 147 F. Supp. 664, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1437, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4146 (W.D. Pa. 1956).

Opinion

JOHN L. MILLER, District Judge.

These are suits to recover alleged overpayments of excess profits taxes, declared value excess profits taxes, and income taxes for the taxpayer's fiscal years 1945 and 1946. The cases were tried together before the court without a jury and involve the single question whether subsidies based upon certain sales paid to the taxpayer pursuant to contracts negotiated between it and Commodity Credit Corporation were properly accrued in the fiscal years in which the sales were made, or, as contended by the taxpayer, when the respective claims for subsidy payments were audited and approved by Commodity Credit Corporation.

Findings of Fact

1. The facts stipulated, so far as pertinent, are found and are incorporated herein.

2. Plaintiff is, and during the years involved was, engaged in the purchase and canning of vegetables and vegetable products and in the sale of canned vegetables, soups, and other like products. It maintained various plants in which such vegetables were canned and/or manufactured or blended into other canned products.

3. Prior and subsequent to the periods involved, the plaintiff kept its books and filed its federal tax returns upon the accrual basis of accounting and on the basis of a fiscal year beginning May 1st and ending April 30th.

4. During the years in question, the United States Government operated a program to assure the maximum production of certain canned foods and to make such canned foods available for civilian consumption at prices no higher than prices set by the Office of Price Administration.

[666]*6665. The plaintiff participated in this program and on or about October 23, 1944, and as of March 1, 1944, entered into an agreement with the Commodity Credit Corporation, referred to herein as Commodity, a corporate agency of the United States of America, which administered the program relating to maximized production of canned foods pursuant to the direction of the Director of Economic Stabilization and Executive Orders 9250, 9301 and 9328 issued by the President of the United States on October 3, 1942, February 11, 1943, and April 8, 1943. A further similar agreement was negotiated between the plaintiff and Commodity on October 23, 1945, as of May 1, 1945.

6. The 1944 agreement related to the plaintiff’s 1944 pack and in general provided that the plaintiff in making purchases of designated vegetables would pay the grower the appropriate grower’s support price as determined in the grower support price program. Commodity, in turn, agreed to pay the plaintiff subsidies based on the sales of certain specified canned products provided the plaintiff had paid the grower support price applicable at the place of delivery of the vegetables used in making the canned products and met certain conditions including those relating to “eligible sales.”

7. In order for a sale to qualify as an eligible sale, it must have been an absolute sale of a designated canned food at a determined price accompanied by transfer of title to the purchaser other than a Government procurement agency; provided however, the product had not been packed, sold or delivered:

a. in violation of any applicable order or regulation of the Office of Price Administration;

b. in violation of any provision of War Food Order 22-6 requiring percentages of the pack at each of the plaintiff’s plants to be set aside for purchase by the Government;

c. in violation of War Production Board Orders imposing detailed restrictions on the production and use of tin plate cans.

Moreover, the sale of a product previously sold to and thereafter purchased from a Government procurement agency did not qualify as an eligible sale.

9. The plaintiff’s right to receive subsidies was further dependent upon the following conditions:

a. Compliance with Executive Order 9301 establishing a minimum work week of forty-eight hours;

b. Compliance with a contractual provision forbidding discrimination against workers because of race, creed, color or national origin;

c. Compliance with wage, salary and price stabilization orders and regulations ;

d. Obtaining and retention of certifications by State Agricultural Conservation Committees of its numerous plants and with respect to foods to be processed at such plants.

10. Payment of subsidies based on eligible sales was to be made by Commodity after receipt of an application, subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement and on the basis of a preliminary audit of the application, with reductions for the amount of offset attributable to open market purchases as calculated in accordance with the agreement.

11. Applications were to be submitted at specified times with respect to eligible sales and on a designated form calling for data necessary to support a mathematical computation of an award. An official of the plaintiff was required to certify that the information contained in the application was correct.

12. With respect to each application, the plaintiff was required to furnish such supporting evidence, documents, information and proofs as Commodity might require. Both agreements contained provisions like the following:

“Commodity shall have the right to reject, in whole or in part, any application for payment hereunder in the event such application for payment or the transactions included therein are not in accordance with this agreement. The [667]*667rejection, as aforesaid, by Commodity of an application for payment shall not preclude the subsequent filing by Canner, within the time limits specified herein, of a new application for payment with respect to the transactions involved in such rejected application or rejected portion thereof together with evidence of Canner’s alleged compliance with this agreement; and, if such evidence is satisfactory to Commodity, such application shall be accepted by Commodity.”

13. The 1944 agreement was amended from time to time to include additional vegetables and products and extending the period in which qualifying .sales could be made and applications submitted.

14. The designated application form included a provision requiring the plaintiff to supply a certified list of invoice numbers or a copy of invoices pertaining to claimed eligible sales and a designation of the plant at which the product sold was manufactured. Because of the plaintiff’s manner of conducting its business, these requirements proved burdensome and impractical and at plaintiff’s request were waived by Commodity. A simplified procedure was adopted in which sales were attributed to plants •of the plaintiff having the lowest applicable subsidy rates. No other waivers of conditions of the contract were made.

15. Commodity had the right, in its absolute discretion and on such terms as it might determine, to waive performance of any acts required to be done by the plaintiff under the agreement and reserved authority to amplify or clarify any provision of the contract without changing its substance as well as the right to alter specified procedures.

16. The plaintiff operated twelve factories and seventy distributing warehouses located in various states, employing 5,000 to 15,000 persons during the periods involved, the largest employment being during the canning season in the fall of the year. A number of products were manufactured in each of its plants.

17.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
147 F. Supp. 664, 50 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 1437, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/h-j-heinz-co-v-granger-pawd-1956.