Coca-Cola Co., Food Division, Polk County v. State, Dept. of Citrus

• Decision Date: 04 June 1981
• Docket Number: COCA-COLA,No. 57108,57108
• Citation: 406 So.2d 1079
• Parties: TheCOMPANY, FOOD DIVISION, POLK COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, DEPARTMENT OF CITRUS, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 1079

406 So.2d 1079

The COCA-COLA COMPANY, FOOD DIVISION, POLK COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, DEPARTMENT OF CITRUS, Appellee.

No. 57108.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 4, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 8, 1982.

E. Snow Martin of Martin & Martin, Lakeland, Ansley Watson, Jr. of Macfarlane, Ferguson, Allison & Kelly, Tampa, and C. Lee Cook, Jr., Alan I. Greene and David C. Bogan of Chadwell, Kayser, Ruggles, McGee & Hastings, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., for appellants.

Monterey Campbell of Campbell, Dunlap & Blakeman, Bartow, for appellee.

ADKINS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Second District Court of Appeal specifically passing upon the validity of section 601.15, Florida Statutes (1977). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla.Const. (1972).

On October 25, 1977, the Florida Citrus Commission, (hereinafter the commission), by order, adopted a rule amending Department of Citrus Rule Chapter 20-66. The new rule, subsection 20-66.04, (hereinafter the rule), provides that effective January 1, 1979, all processed 100% grapefruit products packed in retail containers in Florida are to be prominently identified by use of the word "Florida" or the "Florida Sunshine Tree" certification mark surrounded by the phrase, "A Product of the Florida Sunshine Tree." The rule also specifies certain requirements regarding the legibility, color, and placement of the words and certification mark. The order adopting the rule finds, among other things, that the rule serves the interests of the public and the industry, that it will increase the effectiveness of the Department of Citrus' advertising program, that grapefruit growers have expressed a need for Florida identification on processed products, and that evidence produced at hearings demonstrated that Florida identification will help achieve the goals enumerated in section 601.02, Florida Statutes (1977).

Upon adoption of the rule, a grapefruit products processors' association and individual members thereof petitioned the Second District Court of Appeal for review of the commission's action in adopting the rule. The petition asserted that the commission lacked statutory authority to promulgate the rule or, alternatively, that the rule violated provisions of the Federal and Florida Constitutions.

Initially, petitioners also contended that since the rule evidently applied to grapefruit products derived wholly or in part from grapefruit grown outside of the state, it was in violation of section 601.98, Florida Statutes (1977), which provides that it is unlawful to place a designation of Florida origin on citrus fruit products if any part thereof comes from outside the state. The department, however, made a statement, which the district court considered binding, that the rule applies only to processed grapefruit products packed in Florida which are derived entirely from grapefruit grown in Florida.

On the basis of the above statement, the district court affirmed the department's action, holding that the department has the implied statutory authority to adopt the rule, that said authority does not constitute an invalid delegation of legislative power, that the rule violates neither the federal nor state constitution, that evidence regarding increased competition from out-of-state grapefruit justifies the rule, and that the department's failure to prepare an economic impact statement did not invalidate the rule. See Florida Canners Association v. State Dept. of Citrus, 371 So.2d 503 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Petitioners then appealed the decision to this Court. Petitioners-below shall be referred to herein as appellants, and respondent-below referred to as appellee or department.

Appellants' first point on appeal is that appellee lacks statutory authority to compel a declaration of Florida origin on the labels of processed grapefruit products. We agree that the Florida Citrus Code of 1949 (hereinafter the code) does not expressly grant such authority, and so such power, if it is to be ascribed to appellee, must be implied. We have, in numerous cases, discussed when authority may properly be implied.

"The powers of this and similar agencies include both those expressly given and those given by clear and necessary implication from the provisions of the statute." City Gas Company v. Peoples Gas System, Inc., 182 So.2d 429, 436 (Fla.1965). The implied powers attendant to those expressly given include those which are "indispensable or useful to the valid purposes of a remedial law", State ex rel. Railroad Commiss. v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 60 Fla. 465, 54 So. 394, 397 (1911); those "necessary for the exercise of the (right) or the performance of the (duty)", Girard Trust Co. v. Tampashores Development Co., 95 Fla. 1010, 117 So. 786, 788 (1928); those "necessary to accomplish the (stated governmental purpose)", Hancock v. Karel, 127 Fla. 451, 173 So. 274, 275 (1937), citing Bailey v. Van Pelt, 78 Fla. 337, 82 So. 789, 792 (1919); and those "necessary to carry out the power or right and make it effectual and complete", Deltona Corporation v. Florida Public Service Commission, 220 So.2d 905, 907 (Fla.1969). Thus to determine whether the commission has the implied authority to require declarations of origin, we must examine the code to determine both its purposes and the duties which it places on the commission. (For a comprehensive history of the code, see the Second District Court of Appeal's decision in this cause.)

Section 601.02, Florida Statutes (1977), provides, in part, the following regarding the purposes of the code:

Purposes.-This chapter is passed:

(1) In the exercise of the police power to protect health and welfare and to stabilize and protect the citrus industry of the state.

(2) Because ... the sale and distribution of said crop, affects the health, morals, and general economy of a vast number of citizens of the state who are either directly or indirectly dependent thereon for a livelihood, and said business is therefore of vast public interest.

(3) Because it is wise, necessary, and expedient to protect and enhance the quality and reputation of Florida citrus fruit and the canned and concentrated products thereof in domestic and foreign markets.

(5) To stabilize the Florida citrus industry and to protect the public against fraud, deception, and financial loss through unscrupulous practices and haphazard methods in connection with the processing and marketing of citrus fruit and the canned or concentrated products thereof.

Section 601.10, in part, establishes the following regarding the powers of the department.

Powers of the Department of Citrus.-The Department of Citrus shall have and shall exercise such general and specific powers as are delegated to it by this chapter and other statutes of the state, which powers shall include, but not be confined to, the following:

(1) To adopt and, from time to time, alter, rescind, modify, or amend all proper and necessary rules, regulations, and orders for the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties under this chapter and other statutes of the state, which said rules and regulations shall have the force and effect of law when not inconsistent therewith.

Section 601.15, which most directly relates to the rule, provides in part, as follows:

Advertising campaign; methods of conducting;

(2) The Department of Citrus shall plan and conduct a campaign for commodity advertising, publicity, and sales promotion to increase the consumption of citrus fruits and may contract for any such advertising, publicity, and sales promotion service.

Section 601.15 assigns appellee certain duties which, when performed, are intended to increase the consumption of citrus fruits. The increased consumption helps achieve the goals of the act listed in section 601.02, Florida Statutes (1977).

The question then, in determining whether appellee has the implied authority to require designation of origin, is whether the rule is indispensable, useful or necessary in effecting the goal of increased consumption of Florida citrus. We think that it is. If citrus is not identified as being of Florida origin, then the money spent encouraging consumers to buy Florida citrus will be for naught. Those consumers favorably impressed with appellee's advertising campaign will be unable to determine which citrus is from Florida, and will be just as likely to purchase grapefruit from California, Arizona, Mexico, Brazil, etc., as from this state. The increasingly stiff competition facing our state from other citrus producing locales justifies this measure intended to promote consumption of Florida citrus. Appellee has been given extensive authority in this very important area, and we believe that it has the implied power, as part of its duty to promote Florida citrus, to order that grapefruit products grown and processed in this state be so identified.

We are likewise unconvinced by appellants' argument that the legislative history of the code demonstrates that the legislature expressly rejected compulsory declarations of Florida origin. Appellants point out that the legislature enacted in 1937, and then repealed in 1939, a statute compelling a declaration of Florida origin on processed citrus products. See chapter 17783, Laws of Florida (1937), and chapters 19261 and 19477, Laws of Florida (1939). Noting that the statutes upon which appellee relies for its implied authority for the rule existed prior to the above 1937 statute, appellants argue that had the legislature considered such implied authority to exist it would not have enacted the 1937 statute requiring a declaration of origin. Enactment of said statute, argue appellants, demonstrates that implied power to compel designation of origin did not exist and, rather, that the legislature had to expressly provide such. The repeal, two years later, of chapter 17783 evidences a clear legislative rejection of mandatory declarations of origin,...