State v. Reickenbach, 46590.

Decision Date06 February 1945
Docket NumberNo. 46590.,46590.
Citation17 N.W.2d 530,235 Iowa 731
PartiesSTATE v. REICKENBACH et al.
CourtIowa Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from Municipal Court of Des Moines; Ralph D. Moore, Judge.

A prosecution against defendants for failure to label chick boxes in violation of Chapter 122, Acts of the 49th General Assembly, was dismissed by the Municipal Court in Des Moines. The State appeals.

Reversed.

John M. Rankin, Atty. Gen., Robert L. Larson, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Francis J. Kuble, Co. Atty., and Anthony T. Renda, Asst. Co. Atty., both of Des Moines, for appellant.

James W. Hall, of Des Moines, for appellees.

MULRONEY, Justice.

The defendants were informed against in an information charging them with the crime of failing to label a chick box, as provided in Chapter 122, Acts of the 49th General Assembly, when selling a box of chicks, on March 29, 1944, to Mrs. Donald Snowden. The above act provides:

Sec. 5. All establishments licensed under this chapter, shall:

* * *

‘4. When selling or delivering baby chicks to a purchaser in the State, place the same in a box, crate, coop or other sanitary container for delivery. Each such box, crate, coop or other container shall be plainly labelled with the name of seller and description of contents. Such description of contents shall include name of breed and variety, percent of guarantee if chicks are sold as sexed chicks, date of hatch, number of chicks and any tests made on parent stock.’

Section 8 of the act provides for a fine not to exceed $100 for a violation of any provision of the act.

Mrs. Snowden, an employee of the Iowa State Department of Agriculture, testified that the defendants own and operate Rick's Hatchery at 214 East 3d Street in Des Moines, and on March 29, 1944, she went to Rick's Hatchery and purchased 50 White Rock chicks and 25 pounds of starter. The chicks were delivered to her in a box that bore no label of any kind showing the kind, make, character, or sex of the chicks nor the name of the hatchery. The box which was introduced in evidence and certified as an exhibit to this court bears no label of any kind or character. She asked for a bill and she was given a bill or invoice which was also introduced in evidence and certified as an exhibit to this court. The invoice bears the heading: Bought of Rick's Hatchery, 214 East 3d Street, Des Moines, Iowa.’ The invoice form shows the purchase of ‘50 chicks, 13 da WX 6.50.’ The testimony would indicate that the invoice carried only the information of the purchase of 50 chicks 13 days old for $6.50.

There was other testimony by Mrs. Snowden and a Mr. O'Connell who is chief of the Hatchery Division in the Department of Agriculture, which was admitted without objection, to the effect that Rick's Hatchery had been selling chicks without labeling the boxes for a period of nearly a year.

The trial court felt that the delivery of the invoice ‘meets the requirement of Chapter 122, Section 5, subd. 4 of the 49th General Assembly and for that reason the motion made by the defendants to dismiss the action is sustained.’

The State has appealed. Under the provisions of section 13994, Code of 1939, the state may appeal from an adverse judgment, but this court cannot reverse or modify the judgment so as to increase the punishment (section 14012). See State v. Traas, 230 Iowa 826, 298 N.W. 862, and cases there cited. To the extent that this appeal might well serve to clarify or settle the law and a determination will be a beneficial guide to trial courts in the future, we entertain this appeal. State v. Kellison, 233 Iowa 1274, 11 N.W.2d 371.

I. A bill or invoice is not a label within the meaning of par. 4, sec. 5 of Chapter 122, Acts of the 49th General...

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