Black Hills Packing Co. v. SD Stockgrowers Ass'n

• Citation: 397 F. Supp. 622
• Decision Date: 07 July 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 74-5034.
• Parties: BLACK HILLS PACKING COMPANY, etc. v. S. D. STOCKGROWERS ASSOCIATION, etc., et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota

397 F. Supp. 622

BLACK HILLS PACKING COMPANY, etc. v. S. D. STOCKGROWERS ASSOCIATION, etc., et al.

Civ. No. 74-5034.

United States District Court, D. South Dakota.

July 7, 1975.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

David F. Sieler, Rapid City, S. D., for plaintiffs.

William G. Porter, Rapid City, S. D., for S. D. Stockgrowers.

William J. Janklow, Atty. Gen., State of South Dakota, Pierre, S. D., for State of South Dakota.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BOGUE, District Judge:

The above-captioned case was tried to the Court on December 10 and 11, 1974, in Rapid City, South Dakota. The plaintiff, Black Hills Packing Company, a South Dakota corporation, brought this action against the various defendants, alleging that various defendants had violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights as prohibited by 42 U.S.C. § 1982. The jurisdiction of this Court is based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).

The plaintiff operates a packing plant facility which is located in Rapid City, South Dakota, and within an area which has been designated by certain South Dakota statutes as a "brand inspection area." S.D.C.L. § 40-21-1. More than 50 per cent of the livestock slaughtered and processed by the plaintiff corporation is purchased outside of the state of South Dakota and transported to the plaintiff's packing plant in Rapid City. The gist of the plaintiff's complaint is the fact that the cattle brought into the plaintiff's facilities from surrounding states are brand inspected at plaintiff's facilities, even though they may have received prior brand inspections in their state of origin. The plaintiff in the present lawsuit did not contest defendant's right to inspect cattle purchased within the state of South Dakota, which are also brand inspected at the plaintiff's facilities. The plaintiff basically contends that the out-of-state livestock delivered to the plaintiff's Rapid City packing plant are being subjected to a double inspection, that is, the first being at the time ownership of the livestock is transferred to plaintiff outside of the state of South Dakota, and the second being when the livestock arrives at the Rapid City plant immediately prior to slaughter. The plaintiff contends that this double inspection violates certain of its civil rights, that is (1) that it violates due process of law; (2) that it denies full faith and credit to the certificates of inspection conducted by other states; (3) defendant's act of inspection impairs interstate commerce; (4) that the South Dakota statute limiting the brand inspection area to only a portion of South Dakota, denies the plaintiff equal protection of the law; and (5) that the statutes defendant seeks to enforce, invade an area already preempted by the United States of America. This basic framework of facts sets the stage for a legal discussion of the issues involved.

I.

The plaintiff's first legal argument is that it is being denied due process of law in two distinct ways. Its first contention is that the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association has no power or authority to act, in that the State Brand Board has never properly delegated to the Stockgrowers Association the power or authority to make brand inspections over packing plant facilities in the state of South Dakota. The plaintiff argues that having no power or authority to act, the collection of brand inspection fees by the Stockgrowers Association is a taking of property forbidden by the due process clause of the United States Constitution. The plaintiff draws this Court's attention to South Dakota Compiled Laws § 40-21-19, and argues that this statute expressly limits the activities which the Brand Board may delegate. The plaintiff further argues that regulation and inspection of packing plant facilities are not contained within this statute as being a power which the Board may delegate.

This Court believes that the plaintiff has misconstrued the applicable statutes which allow the Brand Board to delegate certain of its powers to the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. South Dakota Compiled Laws § 40-18-10 provides that the State Brand Board shall have the authority to delegate an agency for carrying on of livestock ownership inspection work. S.D.C.L. § 40-18-9 also provides that the State Brand Board shall have the authority to employ persons or corporations to carry out the provisions of chapters 40-20 and 40-21 of the South Dakota Compiled Laws. This Court believes that the legislative enactment of S.D.C.L. § 40-18-10 fully empowered the State Brand Board to delegate its brand inspection functions to an agency such as the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. Furthermore, S.D.C.L. § 40-20-29 specifically provides that it shall be unlawful for any packer to slaughter any cattle until these cattle have had an ownership inspection by the State Brand Board or one of its authorized agents. Thus, it would appear to this Court upon reading all of the applicable statutes together, that it is well within the power of the South Dakota Brand Board to delegate its livestock inspection functions to the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.

The plaintiff's second "due process" argument is founded upon the contention that the state is not exercising its livestock inspection powers in a constitutional manner, in that the cattle involved have been previously inspected by a state other than South Dakota. The plaintiff would seem to be arguing here that no legitimate police power function is being served by the inspection of cattle which had been previously inspected by another state. Thus, the plaintiff argues that there is no legitimate public interest in reinspecting cattle which have been inspected in a state other than South Dakota, and transferred across state lines to the plaintiff's packing facility in Rapid City, South Dakota.

The United States Supreme Court has, of course, time and time again stated the basic standard for determining whether a state statute is a valid exercise of its inherent police power. In the case of Cusack v. Chicago, 242 U.S. 526, 37 S.Ct. 190, 61 L.Ed. 472 (1917), the Supreme Court stated:

"While this Court has refrained from any attempt to define with precision the limits of the police power, yet its disposition is to favor the validity of laws relating to matters completely within the territory of the state enacting them, and it so reluctantly disagrees with the local legislative authority, primarily the judge of the public welfare, especially when its action is approved by the highest court of the state whose people are directly concerned, that it will interfere with the action of such authority only when it is plain and palpable that it has no real or substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or to the general welfare."

The fundamental basis of course for the legislature passing livestock inspection laws is to set up a system where ownership can readily be determined, and thus hopefully assisting in the prevention and detection of theft of livestock, especially in areas where there is still a considerable amount of open range. It can hardly be argued that this basic function and purpose would be outside the police powers of the state of South Dakota. However, counsel for the plaintiff would argue that since these cattle are brought from outside the state of South Dakota, the inspection in question is not affording any protection to the citizens of South Dakota, but rather to out-of-state ranchers and producers. It is difficult for this Court to conceive how a determination would be made as to the ownership of cattle in question without an inspection. Evidence at the trial displayed that on several occasions when inspections were undertaken at plaintiff's facilities, cattle which were subject to South Dakota brand laws were discovered intermingled with cattle that had been transported from other states. Thus, in such a situation it is difficult to determine how this fact would have been uncovered had there not been an actual inspection of the cattle that were transported to the plaintiff's plant from outside the state of South Dakota. If the basis of the inspection laws is in fact to protect South Dakota ranchers from the theft of their cattle, the only method of doing so is by inspecting all cattle which move to the plaintiff's facility. The mere fact that some of the cattle may have received an ownership inspection in a foreign state before their shipment to the plaintiff's facility in no way moves this Court to the conclusion that a valid exercise of the state's police power is not present.

II.

The plaintiff's second contention is that the reinspection in South Dakota of cattle which were originally inspected in a sister state, denies the sister state's inspection full faith and credit as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution, Article IV, § 1, guarantees that:

"Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof."

To the present date almost all of the cases concerning the full faith and credit clause have involved the effect of this clause upon the force which must be given to judgments of another state, in an independent judicial action in the foreign state. The Supreme Court, however, has recognized that a state statute is a "public act" within the meaning of Article IV, § 1, of the United States Constitution. See, Carroll v. Lanza, 349 U.S. 408, 75 S.Ct. 804, 99 L.Ed. 1183 (1955). The fact that a sister state's statutes are considered public acts under the full faith and credit clause does not, however, require the enforcement of every right conferred by a statute of another state, nor insure unlimited extra-territorial recognition of all statutes or of any statute under all circumstances. Broderick v. Rosner, 294 U.S....