Stevens v. United States

21 Cl. Ct. 195, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 472, 1990 WL 106246
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJuly 27, 1990
DocketNo. 7-88C
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 21 Cl. Ct. 195 (Stevens v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stevens v. United States, 21 Cl. Ct. 195, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 472, 1990 WL 106246 (cc 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

SMITH, Chief Judge.

This case comes before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint, or in the alternative, for summary judgment.1 Plaintiffs ask the court to overturn an administrative agency’s determination that they are not eligible to participate in a federal agricultural subsidy program, and seek $2.2 million in damages. Defendant argues that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case, and that even if it could hear the case, plaintiffs are not entitled to the relief they seek. For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion is granted.

FACTS2

Plaintiffs are partners in Stevens Farming, a Montana partnership. Theodore Stevens, a partner in Stevens Farming, also sues in his individual capacity. The partnership was organized in 1985, ostensibly for the purpose of leasing the property and raising wheat on the 14,000-acre Mizpah Farm, located in Custer County, Montana. Mizpah was jointly owned in 1985 by First Continental Corporation (20.6% interest) and Theodore and Amelia Stevens (undivided 79.4% interest). First Continental planted the 1986 wheat crop at Mizpah.

Each partner in Stevens Farming contributed $166.67 to the initial $1000 capital investment, in return for an equal share in any profits the partnership might make. Stevens Farming also applied for a loan of approximately $910,000 from Wells Fargo AgCredit, with the partners agreeing to assume joint liability for the debt.

On April 15, 1986 the partnership submitted an application for participation in the 1986 Price Support and Production Adjustment Program (the wheat program), which is administered by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), through the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The application is standard form CCC-47, and as stated in its appendix, is a proposed contract: “Eligible producers may offer to enter into a contract with the CCC by executing a contract and submitting it to the county ASCS office.” 7 C.F.R. § 713 (1988).

The wheat program is a price and income support program, aimed at stabilizing the domestic wheat market. The program subsidizes producers of wheat who qualify for the program and comply with its restric[197]*197tions throughout the crop year. In essence, the program pays wheat producers to grow less wheat than they otherwise would. If an applicant had no financial stake in the production of wheat, then the program’s purpose would be frustrated by allowing such an applicant to receive benefits.

For the purposes of the commodity price support programs, a producer is “a person who, as owner, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper, shares in the risk of producing the crop, or would have shared had the crops been produced.” 7 C.F.R. § 719.2(t) (1986). To be eligible for the 1986 wheat program:

The producer must be a person who shares in the risk of producing the program crop produced in the current year (or shares in the proceeds therefrom) on the farm for which the contract is submitted, or would have shared in the crop if it had been produced on such farm in the current year.

7 C.F.R. § 713.50(b) (1986).

Along with its application for the wheat program, Stevens Farming also submitted a copy of its lease for Mizpah, executed on February 15, 1986 by the partnership and First Continental. The lease provided: “[t]his lease is subject to the property qualifying for the ASCS government program[, and if] Lessee is unable to obtain crop financing for any year, Lessee will notify Lessor of this event by Certified Mail. If this occurs, Lessor and Lessee agree to cancel lease. Further, Lessor agrees to undertake all farming operations.”

After Stevens Farming submitted the application, the CCC requested that further evidence be proffered before it could make a determination of eligibility. The committee, in a letter dated May 30, 1986, stated that it was unable to see a substantive change from the operator then in place, First Continental Corporation, for purposes of the $50,000 per person payment limitation. 7 C.F.R. § 795. Specifically, the CCC was concerned that the application ran afoul of section 795.14 of 7 C.F.R. (1988), which states in part:

Any document presenting a ... lease which is fictitious or not legally binding as between the parties thereto shall be considered to be for the purpose of evading the payment limitation and shall be disregarded for the purpose of applying the payment limitation. Any change in farming operations that would otherwise serve to increase the number of persons for application of the payment limitation must be bona fide and substantive.

James Geis, the manager of Mizpah and an employee of Stevens Farming, wrote a letter to the State Committee along with notice of Stevens Farming’s appeal from the May 30 decision. In this letter, Mr. Geis spoke of the “catch-22” situation involving Stevens Farming: the operating loan from Wells Fargo AgCredit was contingent on the admission of the partnership into the wheat program, yet the CCC would not admit the partnership into the program until the partnership bought out the crop from First Continental; the partnership, in turn, could not buy out the crop without the operating loan from Wells Fargo.3

The State Committee responded in a letter to Stevens Farming that set forth precisely what was needed in order to have the partnership be considered the producer at Mizpah, for purposes of participating in the wheat program. Any new evidence would first have to be introduced to the County Committee for reconsideration. The State Committee stated that the CCC could make conditional approval to allow the financial arrangements to be completed once certain documents were introduced, but this conditional approval was explicitly stated to be subject to final review.

On June 24, 1986 Stevens Farming received a letter from Wells Fargo AgCredit, stating that approval of the loan was subject to execution and delivery of ten specified items. The tenth item was evidence of [198]*198the partnership’s acceptance into the 1986 wheat program.

On July 9, 1986, the CCC sent a letter to Stevens Farming stating that the CCC still lacked concrete evidence that requirements set out by the State Committee were being met. The CCC conditionally approved the partnership’s application if Stevens Farming would provide it with copies of the items specified 1-9 of the Wells Fargo AgCredit agreement, plus other documentation elaborated in the letter.

After the introduction of further evidence by the partnership, and a fact finding meeting, the CCC finally rendered a decision on December 5, 1986; the partnership was informed of the decision in a letter dated December 12, 1986. The CCC stated that the partnership had failed to prove it was the operator of the Mizpah Farm for the 1986 crop year, and that it considered Theodore Stevens and First Continental Corporation to be a combined entity.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 Cl. Ct. 195, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 472, 1990 WL 106246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevens-v-united-states-cc-1990.