Ostrander v. Linn

22 N.W.2d 223, 237 Iowa 694, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 293
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 5, 1946
DocketNo. 46724.
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 22 N.W.2d 223 (Ostrander v. Linn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ostrander v. Linn, 22 N.W.2d 223, 237 Iowa 694, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 293 (iowa 1946).

Opinions

Miller, J.

The record in this case was abbreviated, pur- ' suant to stipulation of the parties, because of the fact that only a portion of the controversy which was before the trial court is involved in the appeal.

Plaintiff’s petition in equity asserted: Plaintiff is engaged in the business of buying cream in Batavia, Iowa; defendant *696 is the Secretary of Agriculture of tbe State of’ Iowa; plaintiff has a license to operate a cream station; on June 11, 1943, an inspector for the State Department of Agriculture filed an information before a justice of the peace in Jefferson County, Iowa, charging plaintiff herein with operating his cream station without posting the price differential for various grades of cream as provided by sections 3100.23, 3100.24, and 3100.25, Code, 1939 1 ; plaintiff’s purchases of cream were not for butter-making purposes but were exclusively for sale in the state of Illinois in the regular course of interstate commerce; accordingly, plaintiff does not maintain a price differential, pays only the first-grade price for cream, and does not post any differential in price paid; plaintiff expects to continue to purchase cream for resale on the same basis in interstate commerce; plaintiff’s operations do not come within the contemplation of sections 3100.23, 3100.24, 3100.25, Code, 1939, and do not violate said statutes; defendant and his predecessor in office have, at divers times, filed separate informations against plaintiff, similar to the one now pending, and defendant threatens to continue to file others, knowing that plaintiff’s operations do not violate said statutes, and will subject plaintiff to unfair, wrongful, harassing, oppressive, arbitrary' acts; it is necessary and proper that there be a determination of the construction of said statutes, the proper application thereof to plaintiff’s business, a declaration by the court of plaintiff’s rights, status, and legal relation thereunder. The prayer was for an injunction against defendant, his agents, representatives, or inspectors, from interfering with plaintiff’s business and requiring the posting of price differentials, etc.; that the court decree plaintiff’s rights, status, and- legal relations with defendant as affected by said sections 3100.23, 3100.24, and 3100.25, and for general equitable relief.

*697 The answer admitted the identity of the parties, that plaintiff operated a cream station, and the pendency of the criminal proceeding's before the justice of the peace, but denied all other allegations of the petition and prayed that the petition be dismissed.

The cause came on for trial May 9, 1944, and resulted in the entry of a decree on November 29, 1944. The record indicates that considerable evidence was introduced but none of it is before us. Aside from the petition and the answer, the only other parts of the record presented to us are the trial court’s opinion, findings of fact, conclusions of law, decree, and the proceedings incident to perfecting the appeal and settling the record. This situation is accounted for by the fact that in this court the only assignment of error relates to the power of the court to enter a declaratory judgment. In this respect, certain matters appear to have been presented to the trial court Avhich we must here assume without specific record to sustain our position.

While the record indicates that a temporary injunction was issued June 24, 1943 (prior to the effective date of our Rules of Civil Procedure), trial was had in accordance with said Rules. The trial court was warranted in applying the Rules of Civil Procedure to this action under the provisions of Rule 1(b) even if it was pending before July 4, 1943. We assume lhat if any steps were necessary below in that regard they were taken. Hence we consider the ease as though it were commenced after July 4, 1943. The trial court’s opinion recites that defendant contended that, under the evidence and the allegations of the petition, the case was not one wherein a declaratory judgment should be entered, and further that, if .it was one in which it would be proper, such decree is not proper herein because of the pendency of the case in justice-of-the-peace court, which was instituted prior to the commencement of this ease. This contention is not predicated on the fact that this action was pending- July 4, 1943, but under the theory that even though the Rules of Civil Procedure applied herein the entiy of such a decree was not proper.

The trial court found the following facts: The institution of criminal prosecutions against plaintiff was not an unlaw *698 ful abuse of authority; a license was issued to plaintiff to operate a cream station and has not been revoked; plaintiff has bought no cream for any purpose except to resell as cream, and all but eight lots were resold outside of Iowa; plaintiff bought cream on only one grade basis and paid current first-grade price for it. Pursuant to such facts, the court made the following conclusions of law: Plaintiff is not entitled to an injunction, but such ruling shall not prejudice the effect of the court’s declaratory judgment upon the criminal proceedings and shall be without prejudice to a future application for an injunction based upon such declaratory judgment; plaintiff is the holder of a cream-station license and a "Babcock Test license”; sections 3100.23, 3100.24, and 3100.25 are not applicable to cream purchased by plaintiff for resale as cream wherever said resale is made. Pursuant to the foregoing, decree was entered denying an injunction without prejudice as aforesaid and determining plaintiff’s rights, status, and legal relations to defendant under sections 3100.23, 3100.24, 3100.25, Code, 1939.

Defendant has appealed to this court but he does not here challenge the trial court’s findings of fact or conclusions of law or the provisions of the declaratory judgment except as they pertain to the narrow contention that the court abused its discretion in entertaining jurisdiction to enter a declaratory judgment during the pendency of the criminal action before the justice of the peace, which was commenced before this action. Before considering the decisive question presented by this appeal, certain preliminary questions should be disposed of.

I. Although not a controverted proposition in this case, it may well be noted that generally the courts have held that declaratory-judgment procedure may be employed to challenge police-power statutes of the nature of those here involved which forbid or require certain practices and provide penalties for noncompliance. See annotation in 129 A. L. R. 751; 52 Tale L. J. 445; 16 Am. Jur. (Cumulative Supp.), Declaratory Judgments, section 28.1. Pursuant to such decisions we hold that declaratory-judgment procedure was proper herein to determine plaintiff’s rights, status, and legal relations with *699 defendant under sections 3100.23, 3100.24, 3100.25, Code, 1939.

II. Plaintiff contends that there was a lack of identity between the parties in the criminal action and this action. We disagree. The petition herein alleges that the criminal action was instituted by defendant, as head of the Department of Agriculture, through one of his inspectors. Defendant concedes that this is correct.

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Bluebook (online)
22 N.W.2d 223, 237 Iowa 694, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ostrander-v-linn-iowa-1946.