Howard v. Allen

287 F. Supp. 894, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10026
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedMay 24, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. 2069
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 287 F. Supp. 894 (Howard v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howard v. Allen, 287 F. Supp. 894, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10026 (E.D.N.C. 1968).

Opinion

ORDER

HEMPHILL, District Judge.

This action was initiated by the plaintiff pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 1365 1 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. He seeks review of the determination of the review committee appointed by the Secretary in accordance with 7 U.S.C.A. § 1366.2 This committee consists of the named defendants. The review committee upheld the determination of the Harnett A. S. C. County Committee which reduced the 1967 flue-cured tobacco acreage allotment and farm marketing quota for plaintiffs farm No. E-2886 by the amount of flue-cured tobacco acreage allotment and farm marketing quota which had been contributed to the flue-cured tobacco acreage allotment for the farm in 1965 by lands which the county committee determined should not have been combined with plaintiff’s farm.

The Harnett A. S. C. County Committee, upon its review, found the following:

On March 18,1965, the County Committee approved a combination of FSN-E3009a consisting of 14 acres cropland and 4.84 acres tobacco allotment with land in FSN-E2886 on the basis of information furnished by Graham F. Howard that he owned and operated all of the land included in the newly constituted farm, E2886. In the spring of 1967, it came to the attention of the County Committee that Graham F. Howard and wife con[896]*896veyed the 14 acres in farm 3009a on May 12, 1965 in part to WolfSummitt Coal Company and the remainder to W. A. Watkins. A further review of this case disclosed that the land in the farm formerly identified as 3009a is located in Wake County, N. C., and had been transferred to Harnett County in 1964 because of the alleged purchase of the land by Irvin T. Ellen and wife, Gladys Mae Ellen, from William A. Watkins and J. G. Poole by deeds dated April 14, 1964. The investigation made by a Department of Agriculture representative at the request of the County Committee disclosed that the Wake County land was not farmed in the. years 1962-1965 and that part of the land is used as an access to a golf course in the Raleigh area. The County Committee determined that the real transaction which had been entered into by Graham F. Howard was the purchase of a tobacco allotment; that the land in question was not operated by Graham F. Howard and that the land should be divided from other lands owned and operated by Graham F. Howard effective for the 1965 program year.
Section 719.3 of Regulations Governing Reconstitution of Farms and Allotments requires that farms be reconstituted when found to be not properly constituted.

In the plaintiff’s application for review dated May 10, 1967, he stated that he bought an option on the property subsequently purchased. He stated that the option was purchased in September of 1964 but the deed was not recorded until January of 1965. He later stated that he purchased the land in September of 1964 and sold it in May of 1965 with the understanding that he would operate the farm in 1965 and with the further understanding that no allotments would be sold and that the land would be for commercial use only.

A hearing was held before the review committee on August 29, 1967. On October 9, 1967 it rendered a decision giving the following findings and conclusions :

FINDINGS OF FACT
Applicant signed Form ASCA-155 on February 10, 1965, requesting that 14 acres of land, all of which was cropland, identified on Harnett County ASCS records as Farm 3009a, be combined with other land owned and operated by him under Serial No. E2886. The form showed that applicant owned and operated the 14 acres of land in Farm 3009a. The reconstitution was approved on March 18, 1965, and the 5.10 acres of tobacco allotment for Farm 3009a was added to the 1965 tobacco allotment for Farm E2886. Farm 3009a remained in combination with Farm E2886 for the year 1966. Farm 3009a consisted of four tracts of land, two tracts containing 5.15 acres and 5.88 acres, respectively, located in Barton Creek Township, Wake County, North Carolina, and two tracts containing .52 acre and 2.70 acres, respectively, located in White Oak Township, Wake County, North Carolina. The 5.15 acre tract and the 5.88 acre tract were conveyed by applicant and his wife to William A. Watkins and wife by deed dated May 12, 1965, recorded in Book 1667, Page 163, Wake County Registry. The .52 acre tract and the 2.70 acre tract were conveyed by applicant and his wife to Wolf-Summit Coal Company by deed dated May 12, 1965, recorded in Book 1667, Page 58, Wake County Registry. The conveyances were not reported to the County Office, and the County Office employees did not know that the land had been conveyed until the spring of 1967. The Harnett County Committee on April 24,1967, divided the Wake County land from applicant’s farm E2886 on a contribution basis and notified applicant of the action taken.
The Wake County land had been transferred to Harnett County at the request of Irvin Ellen, who allegedly purchased the same from William A. [897]*897Watkins and J. G. Poole by deeds dated April 14, 1964. Ellen executed two deeds of trust to Howard Manning, Trustee, covering the land, one in the sum of $12,880.00 on the White Oak Township property and the other in the amount of $44,120.00 on the Barton Creek Township property. These deeds of trust were canceled on January 20, 1965. Applicant executed deeds of trust to Howard Manning, Trustee, covering the same land and in the same amounts. Applicant’s deeds of trust were dated January 11, 1965, payable November 1, 1965," and canceled September 22, 1965Í,
Option dated September ■'25; 1964, submitted by applicant -as. evidence that he had agreed in the dfall of 1964 to purchase the land from Ellen for the sum of $14,000.00 identified the land covered by the option by reference to the book and page of the recordation of two deeds from Ellen and wife to applicant and wife dated January 11, 1965, recorded January 20, 1965, in Book 1626, Pages 474-477. Applicant has never seen the land located in Barton Creek Township. One of the two tracts located in White Oak Township has a roadway through it and heavy equipment used in connection with the McGregor Downs golf course was on the property during and prior to the time title to the tract was held by applicant. The other tract in White Oak Township is surrounded on three sides by land under other ownership and on the fourth side by a high embankment.
Land cannot be constituted as a farm under existing regulations unless it is all operated by one person and is nearby and easily accessible. A farm must be reconstituted if the county committee determines that the tracts of land included in a farm are not being operated as a single farming unit. No farming operations were carried out on the Wake County land in the years 1964, 1965, and 1966.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the applicant was-not the operator of the Wake County land included in his farm as a result of the reconstitution approved on March 18, 1965, and that the Wake County tracts of land were not being operated with applicant’s Harnett County land as a single farming unit. We conclude, moreover, from the circumstances presented in this case that the real transaction which was entered into by applicant was a purchase of a tobacco allotment not permitted by the regulations.

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Bluebook (online)
287 F. Supp. 894, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10026, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howard-v-allen-nced-1968.