TRA Farms, Inc. v. Syngenta Seeds, Inc.

932 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1196626, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47631
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 18, 2013
DocketCase No. 5:12-cv-378-MW/EMT
StatusPublished

This text of 932 F. Supp. 2d 1251 (TRA Farms, Inc. v. Syngenta Seeds, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TRA Farms, Inc. v. Syngenta Seeds, Inc., 932 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1196626, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47631 (N.D. Fla. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO STAY AND FOR RELIEF FROM SCHEDULING ORDER

MARK E. WALKER, District Judge.

This case concerns the sale of allegedly defective watermelon seeds and the statutory prerequisite(s) to filing a legal action pursuant to section 578.26, Florida Statutes.

Plaintiff TRA Farms, Inc (“TRA”) owns and farms land in Calhoun County, Florida. ECF No. 1, Ex. A. Defendant Syngenta Seeds, Inc. (“Syngenta”) breeds, develops, and produces fruit and vegetable seeds and markets such seeds throughout the southeastern United States, including Florida. ECF No. 1, Ex. A. Defendant Valdosta Plant Company, Inc. (‘Valdosta”) owns and operates fruit and vegetable transport houses which received seeds from Syngenta and ultimately delivered transplants to TRA. ECF No. 1, Ex. A.

Upon delivery to TRA and initial growth thereafter, the transplants appeared to be viable plants as represented at their purchase. ECF No. 1, Ex. A. However, upon harvesting the fruit, TRA claims that the supposedly seedless watermelon plants were producing fruit which contained black seeds. ECF No. 1, Ex. A. As a result, TRA alleges that it suffered loss of yield, loss of quality, loss of sales, and a substantial reduction in sales prices for its spring 2012 crop. ECF No. 1, Ex. A.

Accordingly, TRA wrote a letter of complaint dated June 15, 2012, to the Florida Department of Agriculture (“Department”), ECF No. 1, Ex. Al, and filed a complaint dated October 9, 2012, in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Calhoun County, Florida. ECF No. 1, Ex. A. On November 26, 2012, Syngenta removed the case to federal court. ECF No. 1.

Syngenta filed Defendant Syngenta Seeds, Inc.’s Motion to Stay and Motion for Relief from Scheduling Order, and Memorandum in Support (“Motion”), ECF No. 12. TRA responded with Plaintiff TRA Farms, Inc., Memorandum in Response to Defendant Syngenta Seeds, Inc. Motion to Stay and Motion for Relief from Scheduling Order (“Response”), ECF No. 13, and Plaintiffs Notice of Filing Additional Authority, ECF No. 18. Defendant replied with Defendant Syngenta Seeds, Inc.’s Reply Memorandum in Support of Its Motion to Stay, ECF No. 17. Upon review of the parties’ papers and the hearing held on March 12, 2013, the Motion is hereby DENIED.

The issue before the Court is whether the prerequisite to legal action expressed in section 578.26(l)(a) required a prospective plaintiff to simply file a sworn complaint with the Department or whether the entire process set forth in. sections 578.26 and 578.27 (“Process”) must first be completed.

I. Application of Florida Statutes in Federal Court

When dealing with state law, federal courts apply the state courts’ interpreta[1253]*1253tion of the law. See Essex Ins. Co. v. Zota, 466 F.3d 981, 990 (11th Cir.2006). It is well-established Florida law that “[b]e-fore resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation, courts must first look to the actual language of the statute itself!, and when] the statute is clear and unambiguous, courts will not look behind the statute’s plain language for legislative intent or resort to rules of statutory construction to ascertain intent” Koile v. State, 934 So.2d 1226, 1230-31 (Fla.2006) (internal citations and quotations omitted) (emphasis added) (“In such instance, the statute’s plain and ordinary meaning must control, unless this leads to an unreasonable result or a result clearly contrary to legislative intent.”)

“[T]he Court looks ‘primarily’ to the plain text of the relevant statute, and when the text is unambiguous, our inquiry is at an end.” E.A.R. v. State, 4 So.3d 614, 629 (Fla.2009) (internal citation omitted) (emphasis added). Accord, e.g., Johnson v. State, 78 So.3d 1305, 1311 (Fla.2012) (“Legislative intent guides statutory analysis, and to discern that intent we must look first to the language of the statute and its plain meaning. Legislative intent is determined primarily from the text of the statute.” (internal citations and quotations omitted)). In sum, while courts repeatedly refer to legislative intent as the “polestar” of statutory interpretation, the clear and unambiguous text of a statute need not be “interpreted,” and the clear and unambiguous text is accepted as the legislative intent absent an unreasonable result.

However, Florida law recognizes a slight variation to the otherwise straightforward reading of the text by explaining that individual subsections may not be read in isolation and instead must be read in the context of the entire statute. See, e.g., Fla. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot. v. Contract-Point Fla. Parks, LLC, 986 So.2d 1260, 1265 (Fla.2008) (“ ‘Every statute must be read as a whole with meaning ascribed to every portion and due regard given to the semantic and contextual interrelationship between its parts.’ ” (internal citation omitted)); Jones v. ETS of New Orleans, Inc., 793 So.2d 912, 915 (Fla.2001) (“[J]ust as a single word cannot be read in isolation, nor can a single provision of a statute.” (internal citations and quotations omitted)). The Florida Supreme Court has found on numerous occasions that:

[even] if a part of a statute appears to have a clear meaning if considered alone but when given that meaning is inconsistent with other parts of the same statute or others in pari materia, the Court will examine the entire act and those in pari materia in order to ascertain the overall legislative intent.

E.A.R. v. State, 4 So.3d 614, 629 (Fla.2009) (quoting ContractPoint).

Importantly though, “there is a difference between ambiguity and unexpressed intention.” Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992).

Even where a court is convinced that the Legislature really meant and intended something not expressed in the phraseology of the act, it will not deem itself authorized to depart from the plain meaning of the language which is free from ambiguity.... Courts have then no power to set aside or evade [the statute’s] operation by forced and unreasonable construction..... [T]he Legislature should be held to mean what they have plainly expressed, and consequently, no room is left for construction....

Id. at 454. “[T]he fact that the Legislature may not have anticipated a particular situation! application, or outcome] does not make the statute ambiguous.” Id. at 456 (emphasis added).

II. Statutory Text

Because of the significance placed on a statute’s text, what language constitutes [1254]*1254statutory text is of primary importance, specifically whether a statute’s title or heading1 is part of the statute’s text for purposes of determining the text’s clarity or ambiguity. The Eleventh Circuit previously faced this issue and explained that;

when we are dealing with federal law, the heading or title of a statute cannot trump [or] limit the plain meaning of the text. For interpretative purposes, they are of use only when they shed light on some ambiguous word or phrase. They are but tools available for the resolution of a doubt. They cannot undo or limit that which the''text makes plain.

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Related

Essex Ins. Co. v. Mercedes Zota
466 F.3d 981 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
State v. Stalder
630 So. 2d 1072 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)
Jones v. ETS of New Orleans, Inc.
793 So. 2d 912 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2001)
Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion
604 So. 2d 452 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1992)
State v. Webb
398 So. 2d 820 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1981)
State v. Menuto
912 So. 2d 603 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Department of Revenue v. Val-Pak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc.
862 So. 2d 1 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2003)
Johnson v. State
78 So. 3d 1305 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2012)
E.A.R. v. State
4 So. 3d 614 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2009)
Merritt Square Corp. v. State, Dep't of Revenue
354 So. 2d 143 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1978)
Koile v. State
934 So. 2d 1226 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
932 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1196626, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tra-farms-inc-v-syngenta-seeds-inc-flnd-2013.