Mitchell v. T. F. Taylor Fertilizer Works, Inc.

136 F. Supp. 740, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2487
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedJuly 7, 1955
DocketCiv. A. No. 359
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 136 F. Supp. 740 (Mitchell v. T. F. Taylor Fertilizer Works, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. T. F. Taylor Fertilizer Works, Inc., 136 F. Supp. 740, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2487 (M.D. Ga. 1955).

Opinion

BOOTLE, District Judge.

The Secretary of Labor seeks an injunction against T. F. Taylor Fertilizer Works, Inc., for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq. At a pre-trial conference it was settled that the only issues are:

(a) Whether defendant’s sales are recognized as retail sales in the particular industry.

(b) Whether defendant’s office and plant constitute one establishment, or two separate establishments.

(c) Whether defendant’s office and plant each qualifies as an exempt retail establishment within the meaning of Title 29, U.S.C.A. § 213(a) (2) and is recognized as a retail establishment in the particular industry within the meaning of Title 29, U.S.C.A. § 213(a) (4).

Upon the trial without a jury, these facts appeared:

The defendant is a corporation with a fertilizer plant, known as a dry mixing plant, located on Sixth Street in Moultrie, Georgia, where it regularly receives from out of state points raw materials in rail carload shipments. These raw materials are used in the manufacture of commercial fertilizers, all of which are sold to farmers within the Moultrie area. None of the fertilizer is sold to purchasers for resale, but the fertilizers are purchased by the farmers and actually used by them in the production of their crops. The manufacturing plant is located in the industrial part of the city. The manufacture of fertilizer is conducted from September through May and part of June each year. During some years the plant has been used as a tobacco warehouse during July and August, The office of the defendant is located in the business district of the city, about five blocks, or approximately 1,500 feet, from the manufacturing plant. The sales of fertilizer are approved in the office. Orders are turned in and credit passed upon at the office. About one-half of the orders are taken at the office, all sales being made direct by salaried employees of defendant to the farmers. The farmers pick up the fertilizer at the plant in their own vehicles, or the fertilizer is delivered from the plant to the farmers in defendant’s trucks.

Defendant’s price list shows that the fertilizer is priced to the farmers in amounts indicated per ton. One price is quoted for cash and another price is quoted for time purchase of fertilizer. The cash price contemplates payment [742]*742within 30 days, but a discount of 5% is allowed for the payment of cash on delivery or within ten days. This discount is not allowed on Soda, ANL, Ammonia Nitrate, 10-0-10, 15-0-14, or Potash. These prices are quoted on basis of delivery of fertilizer at the farm and when the farmer picks up the fertilizer in his own truck, an additional deduction is made of $1.50 per ton for 20 miles, $2.-00 per ton for 20-40 miles, and $2.25 per ton for all over 40 miles.

All sales of fertilizer are made direct to the farmers, there being nobody in between the defendant and the farmer. The orders are taken and the invoices written up at the office, but all deliveries are made from the plant. The daily capacity of the plant is from 400 to 500 tons. The seasonal capacity is from 13,-000 to 15,000 tons. Only upon rare occasions is a sale of fertilizer made in a quantity of less than a ton. The average sale of fertilizer is from 12 to 15 tons valued at from $600 to $800. Roughly 60% of the sales are made for cash and about 40% on credit. The credit sales are usually paid off after the farmer has made his crop upon which the fertilizer has been used.

There will probably be no disagreement among parties or counsel as to the above findings of fact. There is a strong disagreement, however, as to additional findings which the Court must make from the following testimony:

Mr. T. F. Taylor, president of defendant, testified that he had been in the fertilizer business continuously for thirty years; that the defendant operates strictly a dry mixing plant; that defendant’s type of operation is regarded in the industry as a retail establishment because there is no wholesaling of fertilizer at all; that defendant’s process is fairly typical of the average retail fertilizer establishment in South Georgia and that most fertilizer plants have separate offices.

Mr. J. L. Pilcher, a Congressman, testified that he had been in the fertilizer business about 31 or 32 years and had been operating a fertilizer mixing plant for about 10 or 12 years. He testified that in his personal opinion the defendant’s type of operation is regarded as a retail establishment in the fertilizer industry.

Mr. L. D. Hand, president of Pelham Phosphate Company, testified that he had been connected with the Pelham Phosphate Company for 27 years and that his company sold most of its products for resale and that he did not consider his operation a retail operation. He testified that the defendant’s operation would be regarded as a retail operation in the industry.

It was stipulated and agreed that J. W. Toney and Winston Shepard, witnesses called by the defendant, have fertilizer establishments similar to Mr. Taylor’s and Mr. Pilcher’s and that they would testify to the same facts to which T. F. Taylor and J. L. Pilcher testified. As a result of that stipulation, witnesses Toney and Shepard were not called because their testimony would be cumulative.

Dr. Theodore N. Beckman, Professor of Business Organization at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and Consulting Economist, qualified as an expert, and testified for plaintiff that in his opinion the defendant’s plant is not recognized as a retail establishment in the fertilizer industry. He discussed the basis for his opinion, the substance of which was that the plant is engaged in processing or the creation of form utility which is not recognized as retail. He testified that in the “Census of Manufacturers: 1947” fertilizer mixing plants are recognized as manufacturing establishments and that defendant’s plant would fall in that category.

Dr. Beckman testified further that in his opinion the sales of fertilizer by defendant to the farmers are not recognized as retail sales in the fertilizer industry. He discussed the definition of a retail sale and referred to his book, “Principles of Marketing”, by Maynard and Beckman, Chapter 8, “The Retailing Structure”, pages 138, 139 and placed [743]*743emphasis on the conception that a retail sale is the activity of selling to ultimate consumers for personal or, household consumption. He emphasized that the sale of fertilizer to farmers is not a sale for personal or household consumption, but is a sale for production purposes which he says eliminates the sale from the retail concept.

Dr. Beckman referred also to the book “Wholesaling Principles and Practice”, by Beckman and Engle, and placed emphasis upon the concept that wholesaling includes all marketing transactions in which the purchaser is actuated solely by a profit or business motive. He said that purchase of fertilizer by the farmers is motivated by the urge to increase the profits of their farming operations rather than to satisfy a personal or household need and that the sale is a sale for production purposes. His conclusion is that sales of fertilizer to farmers are not retail sales because the fertilizer is used for production purposes. In support of this reasoning, he quoted again from the book “Wholesaling Principles and Practice”, where farmers buying goods for farming purposes are treated as industrial consumers, not as ultimate, personal or household consumers.

Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
136 F. Supp. 740, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-t-f-taylor-fertilizer-works-inc-gamd-1955.