Austin v. Jackson

• Citation: 353 F.2d 910
• Decision Date: 06 December 1965
• Docket Number: No. 9994.,9994.
• Parties: J. L. AUSTIN, Administrator, C.T.A., of the Estate of Henry Vann, individually and as Agent for George W. Gillette, Marguerite B. Gillette and husband, George W. Gillette, Eliza B. Williamson, Lillian M. Bellamy, and Mary B. Barroll, Appellees, v. Cooper JACKSON, T. Eugene Tart, and James E. Wright, as Review Committee of the United States Department of Agriculture for Sampson County, North Carolina, Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

353 F.2d 910 (1965)

J. L. AUSTIN, Administrator, C.T.A., of the Estate of Henry Vann, individually and as Agent for George W. Gillette, Marguerite B. Gillette and husband, George W. Gillette, Eliza B. Williamson, Lillian M. Bellamy, and Mary B. Barroll, Appellees, v. Cooper JACKSON, T. Eugene Tart, and James E. Wright, as Review Committee of the United States Department of Agriculture for Sampson County, North Carolina, Appellants.

No. 9994.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued November 4, 1965.

Decided December 6, 1965.

Florence Wagman Roisman, Atty., Dept. of Justice, (John W. Douglas, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Alan S. Rosenthal, Atty., Dept. of Justice, and Robert H. Cowen, U. S. Atty., on brief), for appellant.

John V. Hunter, III, Raleigh, N. C. (Terry Sanford, Raleigh, N. C., and J. E. Tucker, New Bern, N. C., and Sanford, Cannon & Hunter, Raleigh, N. C., and Ward & Tucker, New Bern, N. C., on brief), for appellees.

Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, and BOREMAN and J. SPENCER BELL, Circuit Judges.

J. SPENCER BELL, Circuit Judge:

This case involves the cancellation of flue cured tobacco allotments placed on the farm now owned by the appellees by persons whose original tobacco land had been taken by eminent domain. Basically the facts are as follows. The Bellamy heirs owned farms with allotments to produce 13.8 acres of tobacco under the Agricultural Adjustment Act. 7 U.S.C. §§ 1281-1393. The lands were taken by eminent domain proceedings for the erection of the Kerr Dam. Payments for the land by the Federal Government did not include payment for the value of the tobacco allotments. Though as a general rule allotments run with the land and may not be transferred from one farm to another, an exception is made for allotments attached to land which is taken by eminent domain. 7 U.S.C. § 1313(h).

By deed dated March 1, 1955, the heirs, through their agent Gillette, were conveyed the farm involved in this case from Henry Vann. The consideration for the transfer was a note for $35,000 made by the heirs to Vann. At the same time the heirs leased the land back to Vann for two years in return for Vann paying the taxes and insurance and completing three buildings which he had already started. On May 13, 1955, this deed was filed for recordation. Revenue stamps were never placed on the deed. On this same day tobacco allotments of the Bellamy heirs were transferred from the State Pool to the Vann farm. Prior to this date, on April 29, 1955, Gillette, who was a retired army engineer, had indicated to Vann that due to the fact that business required him to go abroad the heirs, who had anticipated that he would manage the farm, were considering selling the property. Vann offered to pay $49,000 (to cancel the note for $35,000 and pay $14,000 in cash) for the land and the allotments. At this time Vann gave Gillette checks for $14,000. Vann testified that Gillette was committed to refund the cash payment if the transaction was not completed. Nothing further was done until late 1956. By deed dated January 27, 1957, the Bellamy heirs conveyed the land back to Vann.

In 1958 the Sampson County Committee cancelled the division of Vann's farm and redetermined the 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958 acreage allotments on the ground that the Bellamy heirs had not been owners of the land to which the allotments were transferred. On appeal, the Review Committee, after a hearing, upheld the County Committee's actions.

Pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 1365, Vann sought review in the district court. The district court vacated the redetermination and remanded the case to the Review Committee holding that "the purported findings of facts made by the Review Committee are not sufficient in law to support the conclusions reached." We concur in this finding and further find that the Review Committee failed in its duty to render a reasoned opinion. "Courts ought not to have to speculate as to the basis for an administrative agency's conclusion." Northeast Airlines, Inc. v. CAB, 331 F.2d 579, 586 (1 Cir. 1964). Indeed to prevent this speculation the Administrative Procedure Act requires that "All decisions (including initial, recommended, or tentative decisions) shall become part of the record and include a statement of * * * findings and conclusions, as well as the reasons or basis therefor, upon all material issues of fact, law, or discretion presented on the record." Emphasis supplied. 5 U.S.C.A. § 1007(b); see Burlington Truck Lines v. United States, 371 U.S. 156, 167, 83 S.Ct. 239, 9 L.Ed.2d 207 (1962). This requirement is especially important where the administrative tribunal is lacking in legal expertise. The Committee, which adopted verbatim the department's proposed findings and conclusions, was composed of three tobacco farmers. With regard to the more normal situation of an experienced body, the Supreme Court has stated:

"The administrative process will best be vindicated by clarity of its exercise. Since Congress has defined the authority of the Board and the procedure

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