Cottrell v. Yuetter, 93-4336
| Decision Date | 11 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-4336,93-4336 |
| Citation | 38 F.3d 1215 |
| Parties | NOTICE: Sixth Circuit Rule 24(c) states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Sixth Circuit. Jeffrey D. COTTRELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Clayton K. YUETTER, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture; Defendant-Appellee, James Stuller, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Before: KENNEDY and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and GUY, Senior Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff appeals from an order granting summary judgment for the Secretary of Agriculture in this action contesting a decision not to enroll a parcel of land in a conservation program. The parties waived oral argument and, upon examination, this panel unanimously agrees that oral argument is not needed. Fed.R.App.P. 34(a).
In 1990 plaintiff Jeffrey Cottrell, an Ohio farmer, filed a complaint seeking monetary and injunctive relief in connection with his unsuccessful attempt to enroll two parcels of leased farmland in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Cottrell subsequently filed a motion for partial summary judgment as to his claim for injunctive relief against the Secretary. On November 15, 1991, the district court denied Cottrell's motion and granted partial summary judgment for the Secretary. On October 7, 1993, the court entered final judgment on all the claims. This appeal followed and the parties have briefed the issues.
Counsel for Cottrell sets forth four assigned errors on appeal. The first assignment challenges the district court's methods; the remaining issues address the merits of the decision. The record and law support the district court's decision.
The Conservation Reserve Program, codified at 16 U.S.C. Secs. 3801, 3831-3836, is a program whereby owners and operators of certain farmlands may submit offers to let their land lie fallow in exchange for annual rental payments from the Secretary of Agriculture. The program is designed to stem soil erosion and requires the owners or operators to enter into a long-term lease with the Secretary, typically ten or fifteen years.
On July 17, 1989, Jeffrey Cottrell (as lessee) and his grandmother, Lucille Stuller (as owner), applied to enroll two parcels of Ohio farmland into the CRP for a ten year period. Cottrell's lease on one parcel extended to December 31, 2007; his leasehold for the other parcel expires December 31, 1996.
On September 4, 1989, Lucille Stuller died. By the terms of Lucille Stuller's will, the farmland to be enrolled into the CRP was to pass in equal shares to her four surviving children, at least one of whom expressed reservations about putting the land into the CRP program. The county authority responsible for administering the CRP in the relevant county is the Coshocton County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee (Committee). The Committee initially approved the application conditionally. The Committee later became aware of Mrs Stuller's death and the possible obstacle the heirs' objections presented to Cottrell's participation in the CRP. The Committee informed Cottrell that, as he could not demonstrate he had the requisite control over all the land to be enrolled for the length of the CRP period, his application would be delayed pending the approval of all four heirs, i.e., Mrs. Stuller's children.
Instead of obtaining the heirs' approval (or any Ohio Probate Court order to this effect), Cottrell entered into a purported lease extension solely with the Executrix of Mrs. Stuller's estate, Cottrell's mother. Cottrell submitted this extension, along with another CRP application, to the Committee. Cottrell's application with the lease extension was rejected owing to the absence of the requested approval of the remaining three heirs.
Cottrell then filed his complaint in federal court alleging jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1331 (general federal question) and 1346(b) (United States as party) and 5 U.S.C. Secs. 552a, 702 and 704 (the Administrative Procedure Act). He sought an order directing the Secretary to enroll the parcels of land into the CRP and monetary damages from the members of the Committee and the three heirs who did not agree to the lease extension. Cottrell filed a motion for partial summary judgment in the course of the litigation on his request for injunctive relief against the Secretary. The Secretary did not file a cross-motion. The district court ultimately denied Cottrell's motion. In so doing, the court sua sponte granted summary judgment for the Secretary. The court first assumed sub silentio that the Committee's decision was susceptible to judicial review. The court then examined the terms of Mrs. Stuller's will in the context of Ohio law and concluded that the Executrix, Cottrell's mother, lacked the authority to extend the lease in the manner in which she purported to do so. Several months later, the entire action was dismissed.
The only portion of the decision before the Sixth Circuit addressed in Cottrell's appellate brief is the denial of an injunction directing the Secretary to enroll Cottrell's leased parcels of farmland into the CRP. Counsel for Cottrell presents four issues in this context:
1. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by dismissing Plaintiff's Claim One sua sponte and without notice?
2. Does the United States Government have standing to declare void a lease extension between persons when: 1) the lessor is not a party to any challenge, and 2) it is in the stated interest of the Government to see that the lease extension is upheld?
3. Did the District Court err by ruling an Executor's extension of a lease was void without making a finding of fact that the Executor acted in bad faith?
4. Did the Executor of the Estate of Lucille Stuller have...
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Cottrell v. Vilsack
...court denied the claim and entered judgment in favor of USDA, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. See Cottrell v. Yuetter, 38 F.3d 1215, 1994 WL 560967 at *1, *3 (6th Cir. Oct. 11, 1994) (Table; Text in Westlaw). The Sixth Circuit noted: Cottrell must concede that the specter of a will contest ......