Bowles v. Co-operative GLF Farm Products, Civ. No. 1575.

• Decision Date: 31 December 1943
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 1575.
• Citation: Bowles v. Co-operative GLF Farm Products, 53 F. Supp. 413 (W.D. N.Y. 1943)
• Parties: BOWLES, Administrator, Office of Price Administration, v. CO-OPERATIVE G. L. F. FARM PRODUCTS, Inc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

53 F. Supp. 413

BOWLES, Administrator, Office of Price Administration, v. CO-OPERATIVE G. L. F. FARM PRODUCTS, Inc.

Civ. No. 1575.

District Court, W. D. New York.

December 31, 1943.

David A. White, District Enforcement Officer, and Milton H. Friedman, Chief Enforcement Officer, both of Buffalo, N. Y., for plaintiff.

Frederick B. Bryant, of Ithaca, N. Y., for defendant.

KNIGHT, District Judge.

Suit has been brought by the plaintiff to enjoin the defendant from violating the provisions of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix § 901 et seq. The plaintiff now makes application for an order pendente lite restraining defendant from the violation of the aforesaid act in the respects stated in the complaint.

The defendant is a subsidiary of the so-called Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, Inc. The last-mentioned corporation is one of the largest agricultural corporations in the United States. Through several subsidiaries, retailers and agents, it purchases, manufactures and sells large quantities of feed, and supplies seeds, fertilizer and necessary farm supplies for many thousands of farm patrons. The assets of the organization, over and above its capitalization, are the property of its patrons, and the parent corporation acts merely as the agent of the members. After the organization of the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, Inc., in response to the desires of its members, the subsidiary defendant corporation was organized for the purpose of marketing for farmers, vegetables, fruits and other products of the farm including eggs. The quantity of eggs so marketed aggregates many thousands in number, and they are sold through the facilities of the defendant. The defendant, in a strict sense, does not buy eggs from its patrons, but acts as their agent in the sale. At the time of delivery to the defendant, the farmer is paid a certain amount as an advance on the eggs, and later, after its receipt from the sale and the deduction of operating costs, the overplus is paid back to the farmer in the form of a dividend. It appears from the moving papers that the defendant has been selling eggs to a railroad at prices applicable to the sale of eggs at retail.

Considerable of the defendant's brief is directed to a statement of the nature and volume of the activities of the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, Inc., including the defendant corporation, and to the denial of bad faith in the sales of the products in question here.

The Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, Inc., has served the needs and enjoyed the confidence of hundreds of thousands of farmers over an extensive territory. There is nothing shown as a breach of good faith. If this were decisive of the matters here considered, it should be held that it has acted in the best of faith. It appears that the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, Inc., and its subsidiary, the defendant corporation, prior to bringing this suit, had voluntarily taken up with the Office of Price Administration consideration of the question of interpretation of the statutes involved in this suit and motion. It seems to me that this suit might well have been avoided by conferences between the parties in interest and some definite position arrived at. It does appear that shortly before this suit was brought defendant was advised that an investigation indicated an "apparent" violation of the statute, and that following this, the defendant advised the plaintiff of its desire to discuss the matter and endeavor to work out an adjustment. Without any reply having been made to this offer, this suit was brought.

However, irrespective of any question of bad faith, the right to an injunction must here be determined upon the construction of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

Two questions are involved in the motion. First, whether a railroad purchasing eggs for resale in its dining cars is a "commercial" user as that word is used in Maximum Price Regulation No. 333, adopted pursuant to the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, and can be charged prices applicable to sales "to ultimate consumers except commercial, industrial, institutional or non-federal government users"; and second, whether the defendant should be enjoined from paying to its patrons a so-called "patronage dividend" of 2½¢ per dozen in addition to the maximum price fixed by Maximum Price Regulation No. 333 and in paying consumer's grade price for uncandled or ungraded eggs.

Section 1429.67 of Regulation No. 333, adopted pursuant to the Emergency Price Control Act, supra, purports to fix the maximum price covering sales of eggs to retailers and commercial and other users. Specifically it is titled "Maximum prices for the sale of shell eggs to retailers and commercial, industrial, institutional and non-federal-governmental users," and it fixes a detailed method of calculating the price, depending upon different grades, etc. Section 1429.68 of Regulation No. 333 covers sellers other than retailers to ultimate consumers. The heading of Section 1429.68, Regulation 333, reads: "Maximum prices of shell eggs sold by farmers, wholesale distributors, retail route sellers, and all sellers other than retailers to ultimate consumers." That section says the maximum prices "for consumer grades of shell eggs sold and delivered by farmers * * * or sellers other than retailers to ultimate consumers," except commercial, industrial, institutional and non-federal-governmental users, shall be calculated by multiplying $1.17, the maximum price for the consumer grade of eggs, as provided by Section 1429.67 for sales to retailers. Price Regulation 333 does not cover sales of eggs by the retailer. See: Maximum Price Regulations No. 422 or No. 423. The section is intended to apply to sales made directly by the farmer producers or a "retail route seller" to the family user. This section excepts those groups to which Section 1429.67 applies. The two sections distinguish sales to retailers, commercial and other specific users from sales directly to the ultimate consumer. There is no specific definition of a "commercial user" in the statute, nor is there any definition of who are "industrial, institutional and non-federal-governmental users", nor of "ultimate consumer."

The term or expressions are to be construed as having the ordinary meaning given to each. Within such meaning a railroad as here buying eggs from the defendant and selling them in its diners is a "commercial user." It occupies the same status as a restaurant, hotel, or bakery, and these clearly come within the meaning of "commercial users." Each purchases eggs in its trade or business, and this is in the nature of commerce or trade. As defined in Webster's New International Dictionary, 2d Ed. p. 538, commercial means; "occupied with commerce; engaged in trade; * * * relating to or dealing with commerce; * * * of the nature of commerce; as, a commercial transaction; derived by commerce or trade; * * * Having financial profit as the primary aim; * * * Syn. Commercial * * * suggests the larger aspects of the operations of exchange." The ultimate...