Armour and Company v. Ball

• Decision Date: 13 October 1972
• Docket Number: No. 72-1016.,72-1016.
• Citation: 468 F.2d 76
• Parties: ARMOUR AND COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. B. Dale BALL, Director of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Michigan, and Ronald M. Leach, Acting Chief of the Food Inspection Division of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Defendants-Appellees, Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General of the State of Michigan, Intervening Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

468 F.2d 76 (1972)

ARMOUR AND COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. B. Dale BALL, Director of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Michigan, and Ronald M. Leach, Acting Chief of the Food Inspection Division of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Defendants-Appellees, Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General of the State of Michigan, Intervening Defendant-Appellee.

No. 72-1016.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

October 13, 1972.

Richard B. Foster, Lansing, Mich., for appellants; Foster, Lindemer, Swift & Collins, Lansing, Mich., H. Templeton Brown, Franklin P. Auwarter, William A. Gordon, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Chicago, Ill., on briefs.

Solomon Bienenfeld, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lansing, Mich., Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen. of Michigan, Lansing, Mich., Thomas R. Wheeker, Asst. Atty. Gen., on briefs, for appellees.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, WEICK, Circuit Judge, and THOMAS,^* District Judge.

THOMAS, District Judge.

Appellants, Armour and Company, Wilson & Co., Inc., and Geo. A. Hormel & Company, all Delaware corporations, manufacture a variety of sausage and other meat products. They join in an action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief alleging a conflict of the Federal Wholesome Meat Act (Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907, as amended), 21 U.S.C. § 601 et seq. (1967) with the Michigan Comminuted Meat Law (M.S.A. 12.964(1) et seq.; M.C.L.A. § 289.581 et seq.) (1952). The two laws will sometimes be designated the Federal Act and the Michigan Law. Appellees are the Director of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Michigan and the Acting Chief of the Food Inspection Division of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The Attorney General of the State of Michigan is an intervening defendant.

The cause was submitted to the trial court on the complaint, answer, affidavits of officers of Armour and Hormel, a short stipulation, briefs, and oral argument. The trial court denied appellants' motion for summary judgment and granted the motion for summary judgment of the appellees. The meat manufacturers appeal.

In their complaint appellants requested a declaration that "the marking, labeling, packaging, and ingredient provisions" of the Michigan Law are "in addition to, or different than"¹ those imposed under the Federal Act and the regulations issued pursuant thereto and are, therefore, preempted by virtue of 21 U.S.C. § 678 (1967) and Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution. Appellants also requested the trial court to enjoin appellees from enforcing the provisions of the Michigan Law against them as to "sausage manufactured or processed by plaintiffs which has passed federal inspection."

It is alleged in the complaint and appellees do not deny that

Since December 15, 1967, the effective date . . . of Subchapter I of the Wholesome Meat Act, plaintiffs have prepared all of their sausage, transported and offered for sale in Michigan, at federally inspected establishments in accordance with the requirements of said Act, and of the regulations adopted pursuant thereto; . . . the Secretary of Agriculture has made or caused . . . inspections . . . to be made from time to time by experts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, both as to raw materials . . . and the finished products, as well as to the factories or plants where such sausage is manufactured, packed or prepared for market. . . .

In June of 1968, a shipment into Michigan of Armour and Company\'s sausage, which had passed federal inspection, was cited by the Food Inspection Division of that state as not complying with the Michigan . . . Law because of a protein content of less than twelve percent and, as a result, the criminal penalties of Section 10 . . . were invoked against said plaintiff; and that defendants . . . have indicated that they intend to continue . . . such . . . policy . . .

The 1968 prosecution ended with a plea of guilty and a fine. Subsequent to the filing of appellants' complaint on January 13, 1970, prosecutions under the Michigan Law had been commenced by appellees against Armour Dial, Inc., a subsidiary of Armour and Company, and Armour and Company. Both prosecutions are held in abeyance pending the outcome of this case.

I.

In his opinion and order of November 12, 1971, D.C., 337 F.Supp. 938, the trial court noted:

The plaintiffs attack the Michigan Comminuted Meat Act on the basis of the Federal Wholesome Meat Act, claiming that the federal act entirely preempts the field of meat labeling and ingredient requirements.

Without specifically responding to plaintiffs' claim of preemption the trial court stated:

Plaintiffs . . . may adequately protect their federal rights in a defense to a state prosecution.

Concluding that appellants failed to prove irreparable injury and that they lacked equity or good conscience, the trial court denied appellants' request for injunctive relief. The court ruled further that "reasons which compel this court to deny injunctive relief likewise require denial of plaintiffs' request for declaratory relief." In support of this ruling the court stated:

Generally, the same considerations that require the withholding of injunctive relief will make declaratory relief equally inappropriate. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293, 63 S.Ct. 1070, 87 L.Ed. 1407 (1943); Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U.S. 66, 91 S.Ct. 764, 27 L.Ed.2d 688 (1971).

Samuels v. Mackell, on which the trial court principally relies, is the second in the trilogy of decisions headed by Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), and followed by Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 91 S.Ct. 674, 27 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971). These decisions limit a district court's right to issue federal injunctions against enforcement of state criminal statutes. Samuels, supra, applies the Younger doctrine to a declaratory action.

The same equitable principles relevant to the propriety of an injunction must be taken into consideration by federal district courts in determining whether to issue a declaratory judgment, and that where an injunction would be impermissible under these principles, declaratory relief should ordinarily be denied as well. 401 U.S. 73, 91 S.Ct. 768.

Lake Carriers' Assn. v. MacMullan, 406 U.S. 498, 92 S.Ct. 1749, 32 L.Ed.2d 257 (1972) whose aid and guidance was not available to the trial court, confirms this limitation of Younger and Samuels.

Younger v. Harris and Samuels v. Mackell were premised on considerations of equity practice and comity in our federal system that have little force in the absence of a pending state proceeding. In that circumstance exercise of federal court jurisdiction ordinarily is appropriate if the conditions for declaratory or injunctive relief are met. See generally Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 93, 91 S.Ct. 674, 27 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971) (separate opinion). Lake Carriers\', 406 U.S. at 509-510, 92 S.Ct. at 1757.

Reasonably read, "a pending state proceeding" means a proceeding under state law that is pending when a complaint is filed in federal court seeking declaratory or injunctive relief from the application of that state law. Samuels, therefore, does not forbid declaratory relief in the present case. No state prosecution under the Michigan Law was pending against the appellants when they filed their present action.

Lake Carriers' Assn., supra, prescribes the conditions under which a justiciable controversy is presented when a declaratory action is brought to challenge a state law and no criminal prosecution pends thereunder. The Court observes at 406 U.S. 507, 92 S.Ct. at 1755 that since the appellants were obliged under the Michigan Watercraft Pollution Act of 1970 to install sewage storage devices this obligation "in and of itself makes their attack on the validity of the law a live controversy, and not an attempt to obtain an advisory opinion." The Court recognizes

If appellants are to avoid prosecution, they must be prepared, according to Michigan authorities, to retain all sewage on board as soon as pump-out facilities are available, which, in turn, means that they must promptly install sewage storage devices. In this circumstance, compliance is coerced by the threat of enforcement, and the controversy is both immediate and real. Citations 406 U.S. at 508, 92 S.Ct. at 1756.

In the present case the immediacy and reality of the controversy is plain. Enforcement of the Michigan Law against the appellants is not just a threat. Repetitive enforcement of the law's criminal sanctions is occurring and its continuing enforcement is promised. Applying the test of Lake Carriers' Assn. to these circumstances "compliance is coerced by . . . enforcement" and the attack of the meat manufacturers on the validity of the Michigan Law is "a live controversy." Whether or not the Michigan Law is preempted by the Federal Wholesome Meat Act therefore presents a justiciable controversy that is matured. It requires resolution.

It is concluded, therefore, that the trial court erred in its determination of the inappropriateness of declaratory relief and in refraining from ruling on the appellants' claim of preemption. Because it is concluded that the issue is one of law and prompt adjudication would serve the interest of justice, the Court will proceed to a determination on the merits.

II.

The Michigan Comminuted Meat Law governs the sale of "meat that has been subjected to a process whereby it has been reduced to minute meat particles." Sausage, by definition, is a comminuted meat and any sausage "which does not meet the specifications of grade 1 sausage" is not permitted to be sold in Michigan. Similarly, the Michigan Law contains specific provisions governing the marking and labeling of sausage. Meat manufacturers or packers must be licensed; and criminal penalties are provided for violations of the law.

The Federal Act and the regulations issued pursuant thereto are applicable, inter alia, to meats and meat food...