McAllister's Dairy Farms, Inc. v. Henning

13 Pa. D. & C.2d 185, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 70
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedJuly 22, 1957
Docketno. 241
StatusPublished

This text of 13 Pa. D. & C.2d 185 (McAllister's Dairy Farms, Inc. v. Henning) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McAllister's Dairy Farms, Inc. v. Henning, 13 Pa. D. & C.2d 185, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 70 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1957).

Opinion

Sohn, J.,

We have before us an application for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff, McAllister’s Dairy Farms, Inc., seeks to enjoin defendant,, Hon. William L. Henning, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from enforcing the provisions of the Act of July 2, 1935, P. L. 589, 31 PS §646, and from attempting to prevent the sale of plaintiff’s ice cream and sherbet at retail in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Another prayer of the petition for the preliminary injunction is that this court declare section 2 of the Act of July 2,1935, P. L. 589, 31 PS §646, to be inapplicable to plaintiff, which holds an ice cream license issued by the Department of Agriculture, pursuant to section 6 of the Act of May 20, 1949, P. L. 1594, 31 PS §412.

[186]*186From the testimony taken, it clearly appears that plaintiff has had a license to sell ice cream under the provisions of the Ice Cream Law of 1949 ever since the year 1953 to the present time. During those years, it has sold ice cream regularly in the State of Pennsylvania. Plaintiff is a corporation, with its principal place of business in Ohio, and its principal outlets in Pennsylvania are in Sharon and Meadville, and also an outlet store in New Castle, the latter being known as a “franchise” store which handles plaintiff’s milk products exclusively. The stores in Sharon and Mead-ville are company-owned stores. There is no question but that plaintiff is doing quite an extensive ice cream business through these three Pennsylvania outlets. The president of plaintiff-corporation admitted that his corporation does not presently have a milk products permit issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the provisions of the Milk Products Law of 1935. He admitted also that the company once had a milk products permit under the Act of 1935, but that it was not renewed after the year 1955. He said that the reason that they did not renew it was because the Department of Agriculture had canceled their source of supply in Ohio. Although he testified that he did not believe that it was necessary to have a milk products license under the Act of 1935, since he had an ice cream license under the Act of 1949, he must have been aware of the necessity of a milk products license under the Act of 1935 for the reason that he had already had one.

On March 7, 1957, Mr. McAllister, plaintiff’s president, received a letter from Howard K. Johnson, of the Department of Agriculture, advising that it was necessary to have a permit for the sale of milk products from the Division of Sanitation, in addition to the permit granted the company under the Act of 1949 relating to the sale of ice cream. After receiving this letter, the company did nothing whatsoever toward get[187]*187ting a milk products permit. On or about July 1, 1957, one Robert Stratton, Jr., an inspector from the Department of Agriculture, called upon the store manager of the plaintiff at Meadville. He ordered the store to stop selling ice cream on July 8, 1957, and informed them that because they did not have a milk products, permit, any personnel in the store who sold ice cream or ice cream products after July 8, 1957, would be prosecuted. Since that time no ice cream has been sold in any of the three Pennsylvania stores. On July 5, 1957, Mr. McAllister came to Harrisburg and learned from Mr. Paul M. Richards of the Division of Milk Sanitation that the reason they had been told to stop the sale of their ice cream products was because they did not have a milk products permit pursuant to the provisions of the Act of 1935. On July 9, 1957, an application for a milk products permit was executed and filed with the Department of Agriculture, but up to the present time no license has been issued because plaintiff had found no Pennsylvania approved source of supply. As bearing on the source of the milk and cream used in the manufacture of the ice cream sold by plaintiff in Pennsylvania, we have the following testimony:

“Q. Where do you obtain the milk that is used in your ice cream?
“A. Right at the.present time we get it from the Wayne Co-operative Milk Producers Association, Inc., in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That is the fluid cream.
“Q. And do you also obtain from the same source the fluid cream which you sell to your wholesale and retail customers?
“A. Yes, we do.
“Q. What is the total volume of milk you get from the Wayne Co-operative of Indiana for all purposes? “A. It is by the week.
[188]*188“Q. Well, how much a week?
“A. Around forty thousand gallons, I would say weekly, which would make somewhere around twenty million gallons a year.
“Q. Is that for all purposes, or just for ice cream?
“A. That is for all purposes.
“Q. Is Wayne Co-operative approved as a milk supplier by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture?
“A. I understand their permit was canceled.
“Q. Have you been in touch with the officials at Wayne Co-op about your obtaining approval as a Pennsylvania supplier?
“A. Yes, I have.
“Q. So far as you know what are their intentions?
“A. They intend to get approved; have been intending to get approved.
“Q. If Wayne Co-op does not get approved, vvuuld it be possible for you to obtain milk from an approved source?
“A. Well, I think that would be true, but not immediately.”

It thus appears that at the present time plaintiff has no approved source for the milk and cream which goes into the making of ice cream to be sold in Pennsylvania.

John L. Sullivan, Deputy Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, representing defendant, stated for the record that there was no question but that petitioner is in complete compliance with the Ice Cream Act of 1949. It is the Milk Sanitation Law of 1935, according to him, which has not been complied with by plaintiff. All of the ice cream manufactured by plaintiff is manufactured in the State of Ohio.

The Act of July 2, 1935, P. L. 589, sometimes known as the Milk Sanitation Act, is entitled:

“An act to safeguard human health and life by providing for the issuance of permits to, and regulation of [189]*189persons and entities selling milk and milk products; conferring powers, and imposing duties on the Secretary of Health, the Advisory Health Board; and otherwise providing for the administration of the act; and imposing penalties.”

It is a comprehensive act and in detail regulates milk and milk products from the time the milk leaves the cow, down to and including its final consumption by the purchaser. Among its various definitions, we find:

“ ‘Milk products’ means ice cream, ice cream mix, custard ice cream, french ice cream, frozen custard, and other similar frozen products, and all dairy products used in the manufacture thereof.”

Section 2 thereof provides:

“Section 2.

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13 Pa. D. & C.2d 185, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcallisters-dairy-farms-inc-v-henning-pactcompldauphi-1957.