State v. Hall

76 S.W.2d 880
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 5, 1934
DocketNo. 10207
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 76 S.W.2d 880 (State v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hall, 76 S.W.2d 880 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

This statement — though prolix — made by the one and adopted by the other of the litigants, correctly reflects the reaches of the cause as presented to this court, except that the life of this “Enabling Act,” which became effective on March 6, 1934 (Acts 1934 [2d Called Sess.] c. 19, §§ 1-9 [Vernon’s Ann. [881]*881Civ. St. art. 165 — 1]), was thus limited in the last clause thereof: “This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage for a period of two (2) years.” Acts 1934 (2d Called Sess.) e. 19, § 10.

“This suit was filed by the State of Texas at the instance of W. M. Blanton, J. H. Stud-dert, L. J. Lindell, J. W. Canada and B. E. Stallones, constituting the Milk Industry Board of Harris County, Texas.
“Said Board was organized under the provisions of Title Four (4), Chapter Ten (10) of Article 165, Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, effective March 6, 1934, passed by the 43d Legislature of the State of Texas. See General and Special Laws, 43d Leg., 2d Called Session, p. 56.
“The purpose of the suit was to obtain an injunction restraining the appellee, Hall, from violating the terms and provisions of said Act and of the Marketing Agreement and Code of Fair Practices of Harris County, Texas, adopted under the provisions of the Act referred to.
“It was alleged in the petition that under the provisions of said Act there had been elected and organized in Harris County, a county having a population in excess of 350,000 inhabitants according to the last preceding Federal census, for the purpose of defining and undertaking to eliminate unfair competition and practices in the production and distribution of milk and milk products, a Board, the members of which, named above, were duly qualified and approved in accordance with the terms of such Act. It was further alleged that in accordance with the provisions of said Act, representative groups engaged in the' milk industry in Harris county submitted to said Board a code or agreement' of fair competition and trade practices, that notice of a hearing on said proposed code was given to all interested parties and that a hearing was held on March 19th, 1934, attended by a large number of people interested, including persons engaged in the milk industry and consumers, and after a full and public hearing on said proposed code and after same had received the approval on matters affecting distributors and producers of the required percentage and volume, the Milk Industry Board of Harris County duly approved said code or agreement on March 21, 1934. A copy of the code was attached to the petition as an exhibit.
“It was further alleged that the code fixed a minimum price, among other things, at which milk and milk products might be sold as shown by the exhibit, and that the code became' effective on April 1st, 1934.
“It was further alleged that the appellee, Hall, applied to the Board for authority to engage in the milk industry in Harris County on March 31st, 1934, and that a certificate was issued to him on such date. That thereafter the appellee violated the terms and provisions of the code by selling milk at prices less than the minimum fixed by the code and he was thereafter, on May 7th, 1934, given notice to appear before the Board on May 12th, 1934, to show cause why his certificate should not be revoked or suspended in accordance with the terms and provisions of the Act. That the hearing was held on May 12th, 1934, and appellee’s certificate was suspended by the Board. That thereafter, on May 16, 1934, appellee made affidavit that he himself had not violated the terms and conditions of the code and that he would not violate the code in the future or permit his employees to do so, whereupon the suspension of his certificate was rescinded by the Board and the appellee was again authorized to engage in the milk industry in Harris County.
“That on May 21st, 1934, the appellee again violated the code by selling milk at less than the minimum price prescribed by the Code and that on May 22nd, 1934, the Board again gave notice to appellee to appear before it on May 28th, 1934, to show cause why his certificate should not be revoked or suspended, and thereupon a meeting of the Board was held on May 28th, 1934, and said Board entered an order suspending such certificate. A notice of such action was given to appellee. That appellee by reason of such suspension of his certificate was and is prohibited by law from engaging in the milk industry, but that notwithstanding such fact he continued, and threatened to continue, to engage in the milk industry in Harris County. In this connection it was alleged that he sold milk in Harris County to various parties after the suspension of his certificate of authority.
“It was further alleged that the Act referred to was enacted to provide for the general welfare in an emergency existing by cooperating with the Federal Government in making effective the provisions of the National Agricultural Adjustment Act [7 USCA § 601 et seq.] and the National Industrial Recovery Act [48 Stat. 195] within the State of Texas with reference to producers and distributors of milk and milk products to the end that disorganization of the dairy indus[882]*882try might be corrected and the value of this specialized agricultural commodity stabilized ; that at the time of the adoption of such code and for some years prior thereto the milk industry was in hopeless chaos with individual producers and individual distributors of milk and milk products selling and offering for sale milk and milk products at prices less than the cost of production. This so demoralized the condition of the market of milk that the overwhelming majority of persons engaged in the milk industry had to conduct their business at a loss, ultimately resulting in financial loss and ruin. That the code was adopted and approved in order to-stabilize the market of milk, eliminate unfair competition and practices in the production and distribution of milk and milk products, and the code at the time the suit was filed had achieved, and was achieving, that result except in so far as appellee prevented it by violating same. '
“It was further alleged that unless the ap-pellee was restrained from continuing to violate the code and Act the efforts of the vast and overwhelming majority of producers and distributors of milk to stabilize the industry w.ould be fruitless and that the entire milk industry in Harris County would suffer irreparable injury and loss unless appellee was restrained from continuing to violate the code and law, for which there exists no complete and adequate remedy at law. The prayer of the petition was for a temporary injunction restraining appellee from engaging-in the milk industry and from selling milk in - Harris County without first having obtained a valid and effective certificate from the Milk Industry Board in full force and effect, and further that appellee be restrained from selling milk in Harris County for prices less than ■ those provided for in the code, and for a permanent injunction upon final hearing.
“A hearing on- the petition for injunction was set down for July 25th, 1934. On July 23rd, 1934, appellee filed his original answer, consisting of a general demurrer, general denial and special answers, setting up the alleged invalidity of the Act above referred to on the grounds that:

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Bluebook (online)
76 S.W.2d 880, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hall-texapp-1934.