Farrow v. U.S. Dept. of Agr.

• Decision Date: 24 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-2548,83-2548
• Citation: 760 F.2d 211
• Parties: Leon FARROW, an individual, Knoke Livestock Buyers, Inc., a corporation, and Thomas Lenz, an individual, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, John R. Block, Secretary, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 211

760 F.2d 211

Leon FARROW, an individual, Knoke Livestock Buyers, Inc., a corporation, and Thomas Lenz, an individual, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, John R. Block Secretary, Respondents.

No. 83-2548.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 13, 1984.

Decided April 24, 1985.

Robert Malloy, Goldfield, Iowa, for petitioners.

Virginia Strasser, U.S. Dist. Atty., Washington, D.C., for respondents.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge, ^* and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.

This case is before us on a petition for review of a decision and order of the Judicial Officer (JO) of the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture finding petitioners in violation of Sec. 312(a) of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 7 U.S.C. Sec. 213(a), and implementing Regulation 9 C.F.R. Sec. 201.70 (1984). The order required petitioners to cease and desist from described practices and suspended them as registrants under the Act for a period of forty-five days. ¹

Petitioners Leon Farrow and Knoke Livestock Buyers, Inc., are registered dealers under the Act authorized to buy and sell livestock in commerce; Thomas Lenz manages Knoke Livestock and is its principal stockholder. ²

The present dispute centers around the sale of "pound cows" at the Algona Livestock Auction and Exchange in Algona, Iowa. ³ Knoke Livestock and Farrow are regular buyers at the Algona market. The purchase of pound cows is only a small part of their businesses.

On April 7, 1981, an officer of the Department of Agriculture filed an administrative complaint against petitioners. The complaint alleged that petitioners willfully violated 7 U.S.C. Sec. 213(a) and Regulation 9 C.F.R. 201.70 by entering into and carrying out an agreement not to compete against each other in the purchase of pound cows at the Algona market in early 1980. In substance, petitioners claimed that their arrangement was aimed at saving transportation costs on pound cows. Joint trucking of pound cows for the 150 miles to the slaughterhouse would be far more economical.

Section 312(a) of the Packers and Stockyards Act makes it unlawful for any dealer to engage in or use any unfair practice in connection with the buying of livestock. 7 U.S.C. Sec. 213(a). Regulation 201.70, one of the regulations promulgated by the Department to define unfair or deceptive practices under the Act, provides:

Each packer and dealer engaged in purchasing livestock, in person or through employed buyers, shall conduct his buying operations in competition with, and independently of, other packers and dealers similarly engaged.

9 C.F.R. Sec. 201.70 (1984). ⁴

After hearing, the ALJ found that the agreement between Knoke and Farrow was an accommodation for transportation, was not for the purpose of controlling prices or lessening competition in the purchase of pound cows, and did not have that effect. The ALJ concluded that no violation had been shown and dismissed the complaint.

The agency appealed the ALJ's decision to the JO. See 5 U.S.C. Secs. 556, 557; 7 C.F.R. Sec. 2.35 (1984). The JO found that Knoke and Farrow had been the principal buyers of pound cows at Algona, but had "entered into an agreement that (i) ... Farrow would buy the pound cows at Algona when he was present, (ii) ... Knoke would refrain from buying pound cows at Algona when ... Farrow was present, and (iii) [Knoke and Farrow] would share the profits on the pound cows." Concluding that the agreement and conduct under it constituted an unfair practice under Sec. 213(a), (as well as a violation of 9 C.F.R. Sec. 201.70) he issued a cease and desist order.

Characterizing the violations as "intentional, flagrant, and serious" as well as "wilful" he suspended Farrow and Knoke as registrants for forty-five days, a sanction he characterized as "severe," and which petitioners say could bankrupt them.

The findings of the Secretary of Agriculture (here the JO) must be sustained by this court if supported by "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Bd., 340 U.S. 474, 477, 71 S.Ct. 456, 459, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951) (quoting Consolidated Edison v. Labor Board, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). See also Mattes v. United States, 721 F.2d 1125, 1129 (7th Cir.1983); Western Iowa Farms Co. v. United States, 629 F.2d 502, 504-05 (8th Cir.1980); Corona Livestock v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 607 F.2d 811 (9th Cir.1979). This substantial evidence standard is not rendered inapplicable when the JO and ALJ disagree. The JO, sitting in review of an ALJ's initial decision, is authorized by statute "to substitute its judgment for that of the ALJ." Mattes, 721 F.2d at 1129.

We have little difficulty concluding that there was sufficient evidence to support the JO's finding that Knoke and Farrow made an agreement with the terms he described. We agree that an effect of such an agreement was that Knoke and Farrow would not bid competitively in purchasing pound cows at Algona, although they had previously done so. The analysis of their purchases of pound cows at the sales from March 3 to July 21, 1980 showed a uniform pattern, with one negligible exception. There were 19 sales during this period. Farrow was present and bought pound cows at each of 15 of them. His purchases ranged from four to 39. Knoke bought only one pound cow at one of the 15 sales (April 21) and none at any of the rest. A Knoke representative was present at all these sales. Farrow's records for three sales in March and three in June showed that the cows he purchased were trucked to a packer at Omaha, and he remitted half the profit to Knoke. Farrow was not present at four of the 19 sales. At those four Knoke bought pound cows, ranging in number from four to 32. There was testimony of observers, and evidence of admissions indicating that they did not bid against each other for pound cows. It could be readily inferred from the circumstances that they agreed that one or the other would buy for the account of both, and that profits would be split. It is highly improbable that this pattern would have been evident without agreement. As a result of this evidence, we must accept the JO's finding of an agreement which resulted in their not bidding against each other for pound cows.

The record does not show the total number of pound cows sold at each Algona sale, but the ordinary range is between 15 and 45. Although there were three other dealers who bought, there is evidence to support the JO's finding that Knoke and Farrow were the principal buyers of pound cows at Algona. We can agree with the JO that elimination of one of the principal buyers as an active bidder tended to reduce competition at the Algona sales and, as a result, created a likelihood that the prices at which the cows were purchased would be reduced.

There was testimony of observers that the price paid at Algona for pound cows during this period was the top, best, and fair price. The ALJ, who saw and heard the witnesses, credited this testimony. The JO conceded that there was no direct evidence that prices were adversely affected, but wrote that he drew the inference that they were.

We agree with the JO that a practice which is likely to reduce competition and prices paid to farmers for cattle can be found an unfair practice under the Act, and be a predicate for a cease and desist order. We conclude that this is so even in the absence of evidence that the participants made their agreement for the purpose of reducing prices to farmers or that it had that result.

Seven U.S.C. Sec. 213(a) and 7 U.S.C. Sec. 192(a), which deals with the behavior of packers and poultry dealers and handlers, authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate anticompetitive trade practices in the livestock and meat industry in accord with "the basic antitrust blueprint of the Sherman Act and other pre-existing antitrust legislation such as the Clayton Act and the Fair Trade Commission Act." De Jong Packing Co. v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 618 F.2d 1329, 1335 n. 7 (9th Cir.1980).

These provisions have been liberally construed so as to give effect to the remedial purposes of the Packers and Stockyards Act. See, e.g., Central Coast Meats v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 541 F.2d 1325, 1328 (9th Cir.1976) (Goodwin, J., dissenting); Armour and Company v. United States, 402 F.2d 712, 722 (7th Cir.1968); Swift & Company v. United States, 393 F.2d 247, 253 (7th Cir.1968). This reading is consistent with this court's observation in Rice v. Wilcox, 630 F.2d 586 (8th Cir.1980), that the Packers and Stockyards Act "should be broadly construed to give the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to deal with any practices that inhibit the fair trading of livestock by stockyards, market agencies, and dealers." Id. at 590. See also Bruhn's Freezer Meats v. United States Dept. of Agr., 438 F.2d 1332 (8th Cir.1971).

A practice is "unfair" under Sec. 213(a) if it injures or is likely to injure competition. De Jong Packing, 618 F.2d at 1336-37, and cases cited therein. The JO concluded that petitioners' agreement to combine in bidding on pound cows injured or was likely to injure competition for pound cows at the Algona market.

The potential anticompetitive effect of collusive bidding arrangements has been recognized in cases arising under 7 U.S.C. Secs. 192(a) and 213(a). In Berigan v. United States, 257 F.2d 852 (8th Cir.1958), this circuit upheld a JO's finding that a "turn system," in which dealers flipped coins for the right to bid on cattle, was an unreasonable restraint on competition in violation of Sec. 213(a). The turn system determined the order in which bids would be received and limited the number of bidders to three. The court concluded this system deprived producers and consumers of free competition creating the potential for dealers to...