United States v. 88 Cases, Etc., of Bireley's Orange Beverage

5 F.R.D. 503, 1946 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1576
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedSeptember 11, 1946
DocketCivil Action No. 4711
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 5 F.R.D. 503 (United States v. 88 Cases, Etc., of Bireley's Orange Beverage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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United States v. 88 Cases, Etc., of Bireley's Orange Beverage, 5 F.R.D. 503, 1946 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1576 (D.N.J. 1946).

Opinion

MADDEN, District Judge.

This is a motion by the United States of America, as libelant, to vacate a notice of the taking of oral deposition of Dr. Paul B. Dunbar, Commissioner of Food and Drugs—or such other officer, agent, employee or representative as he may designate—pursuant to Rules 26, 28, 30, 32 and 37 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c.

This is a proceeding under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of June 25, 1938, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq., seizure having been made under Section 334, because the subject matter, namely, an uncarbonated beverage is alleged to have been adulterated and misbranded.

The motion by the Government is made upon two grounds. First: That the proceeding being upon a libel is a proceeding in Admiralty and is therefor not governed [504]*504by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, pursuant to which the notice of the taking of depositions was given. And, second : That if the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do apply, discovery would not be appropriate in this particular case. ■

It therefore follows that a study must be made to determine the first question, and if this is decided in favor of the libelant, there is no need of passing to the second question.

The particular section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq. namely, section 334(b), provides among other things:

“The article shall be liable to seizure by process pursuant to the libel, and the procedure in cases under this section shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the procedure in admiralty; except that on demand of either party any issue of fact joined in any such case shall be tried by jury.”

Since the notice sought to be dismissed is brought under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it becomes necessary to determine whether such rules apply. Rule 81 says:

“(1) These rules do not apply to proceedings in admiralty.”

Paragraph (2) of Rule 81(a) says:

“In the following proceedings appeals are governed by these rules, but they are not applicable othervaise than on appeal except to the extent that the practice in such proceedings is not set forth in statutes of the United States and has heretofore conformed to the practice in actions at law or suits in equity: admission to citizenship, habeas corpus, quo warranto and forfeiture of property for violation of a statute of the United States

The footnote concerning this provision of the Rule adds this:

“For examples of statutes which are preserved by paragraph (2) see: * * * Title 21, § 14 (Pure Food and Drug Act—condemnation of adulterated or misbranded Food; procedure).”

So that if these statutes and rules were all that the court had to guide it in its disposition of the motion, its way would seem clear. Plowcver, the rules were adopted in 1939 and we must look ,to the decisions since their adoption and even prior thereto for further enlightenment.

In interpreting the statute in question, we must look to the entire statute and not to the single phrase “and the procedure in cases under this section shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the procedure in admiralty.” ,

In 1932, Justice Butler, speaking for the Supreme Court in the matter of D. Ginsberg & Sons, Inc., v. Popkin, 285 U.S. 204, 52 S.Ct. 322, 323, 76 L.Ed. 704, said:

“General language of a statutory provision, although broad enough to include, it, will not be held to apply to a matter specifically dealt with in another part of the same enactment. United States v. Chase, 135 U.S. 255, 260, 10 S.Ct. 756, 34 L.Ed. 117. Specific terms prevail over the general in the same or another statute which otherwise might be controlling. Kepner v. United States, 195 U.S. 100, 125, 24 S.Ct. 797, 49 L.Ed. 114, 1 Ann.Cas. 655; In re Hassenbusch, (C.C.A.) 108 F. 35, 38; United States v. Peters, 6 Cir., 166 F. 613, 615. The construction contended for would violate the cardinal rule that, if possible, effect shall be given to every clause and part of a statute. Market Co. v. Hoffman, 101 U.S. 112, 115, 25 L.Ed. 782; Ex parte Public National Bank, 278 U.S. 101, 104, 49 S.Ct. 43, 73 L.Ed. 202.”

And in Jones v. York County, 47 F.2d 837, 839, Judge Gardner, speaking for the Eighth Circuit, said:

“It is a recognized rule of construction or interpretation that the legislative intent is to be deduced from a view of the whole and every part of the statute taken and compared together, and, if possible, this act should be so construed as to render it a consistent and harmonious whole, and that construction should be favored which will render every provision operative, rather than one which would make some of its provisions idle or nugatory.”

In 1912, the Supreme Court had before it, the question of interpreting this very phrase in the then Food and Dr Act, in [505]*505the matter of 443 Cans of Frozen Egg Products v. United States, 226 U.S. 172, 180, 33 S.Ct. 50, 52, 57 L.Ed. 174, and there Mr. Justice Day said:

“A statute, practically the same, with some slight changes, was embodied in § 563 of the Revised Statutes, subdivision 8 [28 U.S.C.A. § 41(3)], giving the district courts jurisdiction ‘of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction * * * and of all seizures on land and on waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,’ the subdivision mentioned omitting the provision found in the section of the judiciary act of 1789, to which we have referred, as to seizures ‘within their respective districts,’ and including case of ‘seizures on land and on waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.’ Under this statute it has been uniformly held that the District Court, as to seizures on land, proceeds as a court of common law, with trial by jury, and not as a court of admiralty.”

In the present matter the seizure is a seizure on land and well recognized as such.

The counsel for the government strenuously urges for consideration the case of United States v. 720 Bottles, D.C., 3 F.R.D. 466. This case is identical with the present case and there District Judge Byers held that the Admiralty Rules applied and sustained the government’s motion.

However, the Second Circuit has felt otherwise, in other cases, for in the matter of Eureka Productions, Inc., v. Mulligan, 108 F.2d 760

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5 F.R.D. 503, 1946 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-88-cases-etc-of-bireleys-orange-beverage-njd-1946.