Teichman v. Espy, 95-2168
| Decision Date | 08 October 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-2168,95-2168 |
| Citation | 122 F.3d 341 |
| Parties | Herbert F. TEICHMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Mike ESPY, Secretary of Agriculture, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Charles T. LaSata (briefed), Globensky, Gleiss, Bittner & Hyrns, St. Joseph, MI, Judith Teichman (argued), San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Michael L. Schipper, Asst. U.S. Attorney (argued and briefed), Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before: NORRIS, SUHRHEINRICH and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff appeals the district court's order entering judgment in favor of the Secretary of Agriculture. Plaintiff brought this action to obtain judicial review of the Secretary's decision to deny his claim for relief under the Federal Tree Assistance Program of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-624, § 2255, 104 Stat. 3359, 3974 (1990), for the apple trees he lost due to fire blight. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the order of the district court.
The facts of this case are undisputed. Plaintiff Herbert F. Teichman is the owner of Skyline Orchards, a family fruit farm located in Eau Claire, Michigan. Teichman grows apple trees for commercial purposes. In the spring of 1991, Teichman lost almost 39 acres of apple trees, over 55% of his apple tree population, due to "fire blight." Fire blight, a common and infectious bacterial disease associated with high temperatures in conjunction with high humidity, attacks apples, pears, and other orchard crops. Teichman has asserted from the beginning of this case, and it is not disputed, that the fire blight was accelerated by high winds and driving hail frequent during the spring of 1991.
As a result of his tree loss, Teichman applied for federal disaster relief pursuant to the Tree Assistance Program of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 ("FACT Act"), Pub.L. No. 101-624, § 2255, 104 Stat. 3359, 3974 (1990). Title XXII of the FACT Act, entitled "Crop Insurance and Disaster Assistance," contains four chapters. Applicable to this case is chapter 3, entitled "Emergency Crop Loss Assistance," which in turn contains five subchapters. Subchapter A, entitled "Annual Crops," contains the following definitional section:
SEC. 2251. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this chapter:
(1) DAMAGING WEATHER.--The term "damaging weather" includes but is not limited to drought, hail, excessive moisture, freeze, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or excessive wind, or any combination thereof.
(2) RELATED CONDITION.--The term "related condition" includes but is not limited to insect infestations, plant diseases, or other deterioration of a crop of a commodity, including aflatoxin, that is accelerated or exacerbated naturally as a result of damaging weather occurring prior to or during harvest.
FACT Act, Pub.L. No. 101-624, § 2251, 104 Stat. 3359, 3974 (1990). Teichman sought relief pursuant to subchapter B, entitled "Orchards," which provides:
SEC. 2255. ELIGIBILITY.
(a) LOSS.--Subject to the limitation in subsection (b), the Secretary of Agriculture shall provide assistance, as specified in section 2256, to eligible orchardists that planted trees for commercial purposes but lost such trees as a result of freeze, earthquake, or related condition in 1990, as determined by the Secretary.
(b) LIMITATION.--An eligible orchardist shall qualify for assistance under subsection (a) only if such orchardist's tree mortality, as a result of the natural disaster, exceeds 35 percent (adjusted for normal mortality).
§ 2255, 104 Stat. at 3974. This provision was extended by the Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1992, Pub.L. No. 102-229, 105 Stat. 1701 (1991), to cover losses that occurred in 1991.
The Secretary denied Teichman's claim for relief because tree loss caused by fire blight is not covered by § 2255 of the FACT Act. The Secretary stated that § 2255(a) covers tree loss resulting from freeze, earthquake, or conditions relating to freezes and earthquakes, which fire blight is not. The Secretary reasoned that the definition of "related condition" in § 2251(2) does not apply to "related condition" as that term is used in § 2255(a).
After his administrative appeals failed, Teichman filed this action in federal district court against the Secretary seeking a declaratory judgment that fire blight constitutes a "related condition." The parties agreed that the district court should resolve this matter solely upon the administrative record. Teichman moved for summary judgment. He argued that fire blight is a "related condition" as defined in § 2251(2) and that § 2251 applies to § 2255(a). To support the latter contention, Teichman noted that the definitions in § 2251 explicitly apply to chapter 3, and that § 2255 is a part of that chapter.
The district court agreed with the Secretary's interpretation of § 2255 and ruled that Teichman's tree loss from fire blight was not covered by that section. The court explained that the definition of "related condition" contained in § 2251(2) applies only to subchapter A, "Annual Crops." Teichman v. Espy, 899 F.Supp. 353, 357 (W.D.Mich.1995). In other words, "related condition" in § 2255(a) does not mean the same thing as "related condition" in § 2251(2).
The court noted that in the 1989 version of the FACT Act, the portions of the statute that are labeled "subchapters" are called "subtitles." Id.; see also Disaster Assistance Act of 1989 ("DAA"), Pub.L. No. 101-82, 103 Stat. 564 (1989). The definition of "related condition" was therefore explicitly limited to the "Annual Crops" subtitle. DAA, Pub.L. No. 101-82, § 112, 103 Stat. 564, 576-77 (1989). It did not apply to the "Orchards" subtitle, which includes § 2255(a)'s predecessor. See DAA, Pub.L. No. 101-82, § 121(a), 103 Stat. 564, 577 (1989).
The court rejected Teichman's argument that Congress intended to expand coverage under § 2255(a) beyond loss due to "freeze, earthquake or related condition" when it renamed the subtitles "subchapters," and amended the definition of "related condition" to apply to "this chapter." The court reasoned that if Congress had wanted to achieve that result, it simply could have used the same or similar coverage language in subchapter B ("Orchards") as it did in subchapter A ("Annual Crops"). Teichman, 899 F.Supp. at 357. Moreover, the court noted that Congress used the words "chapter" and "subchapter" interchangeably throughout the 1990 FACT Act. Id. For example, the "Limitations on Assistance" provisions in subchapters B ("Orchards") and C ("Forest Crops") both contain definitions for the term " 'person' for purposes of this chapter." See FACT Act, Pub.L. No. 101-624, §§ 2257(b)(1), 2263(b)(1), 104 Stat. 3359, 3974-75 (1990). Noting that the exact same definition is set forth in both subchapters, the court reasoned that it would be redundant for Congress to prescribe the definition of "person" in both subchapters if it truly intended those definitions to apply to the entire chapter. Teichman, 899 F.Supp. at 357.
To support its conclusion that the definition of "related condition" in § 2251(2) does not apply to § 2255(a), the court also focused on the "as determined by the Secretary" language of § 2255(a). The court explained that this language empowers the Secretary to determine whether tree loss resulted from freeze, earthquake, or a condition related to freeze or earthquake, and therefore receives coverage under § 2255(a). Id. at 358.
Teichman cited a conference report stating that "fire blight may be a 'related condition' for purposes of section 2251 of [the FACT Act] and losses should be eligible for disaster payments where the condition has been accelerated or exacerbated naturally as a result of damaging weather." See H.R. CONF. REP. NO. 102-394 (1991). The court discounted this report and explained that it only indicates that conference members intended for fire blight to be a "related condition" under § 2251. Because the court had already concluded that § 2251(2)'s definition of "related condition" does not apply to § 2255(a), the conference report did not advance Teichman's cause. Teichman, 899 F.Supp. at 358.
The court concluded that the Secretary's decision to deny Teichman's claim for relief is consistent with the FACT Act's mandate and does not frustrate the policies that Congress sought to implement. Id. The district court therefore denied Teichman's motion and because the facts were not in dispute, entered judgment in favor of the Secretary. Teichman timely appealed.
We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, using the same test applied by the district court. Henegar v. Banta, 27 F.3d 223, 225 (6th Cir.1994) (citation omitted). "The decision to deny a motion for summary judgment, while ordinarily reviewed for an abuse of discretion, is reviewed de novo when it is based on the resolution of a legal issue rather than on the presence of a material issue of fact for trial." Douglas v. Argo-Tech Corp., 113 F.3d 67, 70 (6th Cir.1997) (citation omitted).
This case centers around the Secretary's interpretation of § 2255 of the FACT Act, and whether that section covers the loss of apple trees due to fire blight. When reviewing an agency's construction of a statute which it administers, we are confronted with two questions. We must first determine whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise issue at hand. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2781, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). "If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress." Id. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2781-82 (footnote omitted). If, however, ...
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