Mills v. Freeman

294 F. Supp. 119, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11843
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedDecember 13, 1968
DocketCiv. No. 17927
StatusPublished

This text of 294 F. Supp. 119 (Mills v. Freeman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mills v. Freeman, 294 F. Supp. 119, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11843 (D. Md. 1968).

Opinion

THOMSEN, Chief Judge.

This is a statutory review proceeding under section 8e(15) (B) of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act, 7 U.S. C.A. § 608c(15) (B).1 Plaintiffs (hereinafter collectively Mills) challenge, as not in accordance with law, a decision made after a full hearing by a Judicial Officer of the Department of Agriculture in a proceeding brought by Mills under section 8c(15) (A), In re Mills Dairy Products Co., 25 A.D. 1307 (1966). Mills seeks to recover certain payments which it had been required to make to the Producers’ Settlement Fund of Milk Marketing Order No. 16 (hereinafter the Order) 2

The general scheme of milk regulation was explained in Lehigh Valley Cooperative Farmers, Inc. v. United States, 370 U.S. 76, 78-81, 82 S.Ct. 1168, 8 L.Ed.2d 345 (1962), and in United States v. Rock Royal Co-op., 307 U.S. 533, 542-550, 571, 59 S.Ct. 993, 83 L.Ed. 1446 (1939), and need not be repeated here.

The Order, 7 C.F.R. 1016.62, provides that whenever Class II “other source milk” 3 is reprocessed, converted or combined with some other product in the handler’s plant for disposal as Class I fluid milk the handler shall make a payment to the “pool” equal to the difference between Class I and II values.4 The purpose of this charge is to insure that the handler’s contribution to the pool will accurately reflect the manner in which he disposes of the milk.

The payments m question in this case were required because Mills, who was a fully regulated “handler” under the Order, sold as Class I fluid, milk certain “other source milk” which Mills had previously received as powdered skim milk and forty percent cream (hereinafter powder and cream), forms- which the Order classifies as Class II milk. Mills had converted the powder and cream back into fluid milk and sold that fluid milk in the marketing area.

Mills contends that the provisions of the Order requiring “compensatory payments” on “other source milk” were not authorized by section 8c(5) (A), 8c(5) (B) or 8c(7) (D), and that they are inconsistent with section 8c(5) (D) and 8c(5) (G). Defendant (hereinafter the Secretary) disputes those contentions, and argues that the claims now made by Mills are barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel.

Both sides have filed motions for summary judgment. The function of this Court is to determine from the record whether the decision of the Judicial Officer is in accordance with law and whether there is substantial evidence in the administrative record to support that decision. United States v. Mills, 315 F. 2d 828 (4 Cir. 1963), rehearing denied, 317 F.2d 764 (4 Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 374 U.S. 832, 83 S.Ct. 1874, 10 L.Ed.2d 1054 (1963) and 375 U.S. 819, 84 S.Ct. 57, 11 L.Ed.2d 54 (1963).

Facts

The following findings of fact made by the Judicial Officer are supported by substantial evidence, and are not seriously disputed.

[122]*122Order No. 16, as amended, regulates the handling of milk in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Marketing Area. During the period February 1, 1960, through July 31, 1963, Mills was a “handler” under the Order,5 operating a pool plant6 at Cambridge, Maryland, where milk was regularly received from “producers”7 covered by the Order.

During the period February 1960 through July 1963, Mills received 12,-091,723 pounds of fluid milk from its local milk producers, and purchased “other source milk”, consisting of 353,921 pounds of forty percent cream and 4,046,-444 pounds of powdered skim milk, which Mills reconstituted into whole milk and sold as Class I fluid milk in the marketing area. During this period Mills disposed of 15,993,411 pounds of milk in Class I sales.

The powder and cream referred to in the preceding paragraph were purchased by Mills from Norris Dairy Products Company, of Baltimore, Maryland (Norris), a broker-distributor engaged in buying and selling milk products. Norris does not buy or sell whole fluid milk or cream for bottling. Norris had purchased the powder and cream sold to Mills from several different sources, to wit:

(1) The Westminster, Maryland, pool plant of Koontz Creamery Company. The bulk of the milk which the Westminster plant used in processing powder and cream was purchased by Koontz for manufacturing from the Maryland Cooperative Milk Producers Association, and was “producer milk” priced and pooled under Order No. 16; 8 (2) the Laurel, Maryland, plant of the Washington-Virginia Milk Producers Association; and (3) a New York plant of the Dairyman’s League. All cream and powder purchased by Norris from these three sources were subject to the pricing and pooling provisions of a federal milk order. During the same period Norris had also purchased some powder and cream from (4) the Rochester Dairy Cooperative and (5) Land O’ Lakes Cooperative, both located in Minnesota.9

The regulated handlers from whom Norris purchased powder and cream accounted for such “manufacturing milk” at the Class II price. The Maryland Cooperative and the regulated handlers from whom Koontz purchased milk accounted under the Order at the Class II price for the milk which was used to manufacture powder and cream.

For the milk which Koontz purchased from the Maryland Cooperative and regulated handlers, Koontz paid as far below the Class II prices as could be negotiated, and the bulk of the manufacturing milk purchased by Koontz was paid for at less than the Class II price. Koontz’s selling price for cream was in the range of the Philadelphia market quotation, and its price for powder was whatever could be obtained. For the cream and powder Norris bought from Koontz and other regulated handlers, the price paid by Norris was substantially equal to the Class II prices. For the cream and powder Norris bought from Rochester and Land O’ Lakes, respectively, Norris paid negotiated prices.

Pursuant to the Order provisions set out in the margin10 the Market Admin[123]*123istrator for the Order billed Mills for the period involved a total of $78,186.70 for the quantities of “other source” milk received by Mills in the form of powder and cream which were reconstituted by Mills and sold as fluid milk. The $78,-186.70 is part of the $182,909.52 which Mills paid into the registry of this Court, as set out in the next section of this opinion. In the present proceeding Mills makes no point with respect to the rest of the $182,909.52.

Res Judicata and Estoppel

In 1959 Mills and other handlers had filed petitions under section 8c(15) (A) of the Act, attacking on various grounds the validity of the Order. In its petition and brief in that proceeding Mills contended that the Order and any obligation imposed in connection therewith were not in accordance with law. In support of that contention Mills argued various points, but did not raise the point upon which it relies in the present proceeding. That petition was dismissed.

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Related

United States v. Rock Royal Co-Operative, Inc.
307 U.S. 533 (Supreme Court, 1939)
Commissioner v. Sunnen
333 U.S. 591 (Supreme Court, 1948)
United States v. International Building Co.
345 U.S. 502 (Supreme Court, 1953)
Scutt v. Woolsey
20 A.D. 541 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1897)
United States v. Mills
315 F.2d 828 (Fourth Circuit, 1963)
Willow Farms Dairy, Inc. v. Freeman
206 F. Supp. 239 (D. Maryland, 1962)
United States v. Lewes Dairy, Inc.
337 F.2d 827 (Third Circuit, 1964)
Gross v. JFD Manufacturing Co.
374 U.S. 832 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Imperial Meat Co. v. United States
375 U.S. 820 (Supreme Court, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
294 F. Supp. 119, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-freeman-mdd-1968.