White Eagle Co-Op Assoc. v. Johanns, 3:05-CV-620 AS.

CourtUnited States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court of Northern District of Indiana
Citation508 F.Supp.2d 664
Docket NumberNo. 3:05-CV-620 AS.,3:05-CV-620 AS.
PartiesWHITE EAGLE COOPERATIVE ASSOC., Dean Martin d/b/a CRD Dairy Farms, Erie Cooperative Association, Inc., Family Dairies USA, National All-Jersey, Inc., Lanco Dairy Farms Cooperative, Central Equity Milk. Cooperative, Inc., and Continental Dairy Products, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Mike JOHANNS, Secretary of Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, and United States Department of Agriculture, Defendants, and Dairy Farmers of America, Inc., Michigan Milk Producers Assoc., Inc., NFO, Inc., Land O'Lakes, Inc., Dairylea Cooperative Inc., and Dean Foods Company, Intervenors/Defendants.
Decision Date21 August 2007

J. Thomas Vetne, John H. Vetne, Timothy W. Woods, Brian M. Kubicki, South Bend, IN, Ryan K. Miltner, Kristine H. Reed, Yale Law Office LP, Waynesfield, OH, for Plaintiffs.

Justin M. Sandberg, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Clifford D. Johnson, AUSA, South Bend, IN, for Defendants.

John H. Lloyd, IV, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun, South Bend, IN, Marvin Beshore, PHV, Law Offices of Marvin Beshore, Harrisburg, PA, Charles M. English, PHV, Jr., Wendy M. Yoviene, PHV, Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP, Washington, DC, for Intervenors/Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on various diapositive motions filed by the parties. Specifically, this Court considers the following motions: (1) Defendants Mike Johanns, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture ("Secretary") and the United States Department of Agriculture's ("USDA" or "agency") (collectively "Government Defendants") Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 101) filed on July 21, 2006; (2) Intervenor/Defendant Dean Foods Company's Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 110) filed on October 2, 2006; (3) Intervenor/Defendants Dairy Farms of America, Dairylea Cooperative, Inc., Land O'Lakes, Inc., Michigan Milk Producers Association, Inc., and NFO, Inc.'s (collectively, with Dean Foods Company, "Intervenor Defendants") Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 113) filed on October 2, 2006; and (4) Plaintiffs White Eagle Cooperative Association, Dean Martin d/b/a CRD Dairy Farms, Erie Cooperative Association, Inc., Family Dairies USA, National All-Jersey, Inc., Lanco Dairy Farms Cooperative, Central Equity Milk Cooperative, Inc., and Continental Dairy Products, Inc.'s (collectively "plaintiffs") cross-motion for Summary Judgment on Count I (Docket No. 118) filed on November 7, 2006. Because Defendant Dean Foods and the Intervenor Defendants rely on and incorporate the Government Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, including both the statement of material facts and certain legal arguments, all motions filed by all Defendants (collectively "Defendants") are addressed simultaneously. Oral arguments were heard on these motions in South Bend, Indiana on March 9, 2007, and the issues have been fully briefed.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

This case concerns a milk marketing order promulgated under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act ("AMAA"). The marketing system governing many dairy farmers ("producers") and milk handlers is extremely intricate, causing one appellate court judge to remark, "the `milk program' is exquisitely complicated.... The milk problem is so vast that fully to comprehend it would require an almost universal knowledge ranging from geology, biology, chemistry and medicine to the niceties of the legislative, judicial and administrative processes of government." Queensboro Farms Products v. Wickard 137 F.2d 969, 974-75 (2d Cir.1943).

The basic idea behind the milk, marketing scheme is as follows:

federal milk regulation may be perhaps most easily understood by remembering one principle: all federally regulated Grade A milk is treated equally. Regardless of whether it, becomes the finest cream or the lowliest milk powder, the AMAA provides that the dairy farmer will receive the same minimum price for the farmer's milk.

Lois Bonsal Osler, An Overview of Federal Milk Marketing Orders, 5 San J Ag. LRev. 67, 68 (1995). Fortunately, beyond the above description, this Court need not delve into the intricacies of the milk marketing scheme, except to note that the minimum price paid to dairy farmers is regulated and governed by regional Milk Marketing orders, which are promulgated by the USDA. See Alto Dairy v. Veneman, 336 F.3d 560, 562-65 (7th Cir.2003) (providing a thorough summary of the federal scheme regulating the price of milk and, in particular, the Mideast region of the system).

The relevant facts in this case are as follows: on February 17, 2005 the USDA published a hearing notice in the Federal Register, scheduling a hearing in Wooster, Ohio to convene on March 7, 2005 (Pl. Br. 91 at 14), see also 70 Fed.Reg. 8043 (Feb. 17, 2005); 70 Fed.Reg. 10337 (Mar. 3, 2005). The hearing notice explicitly stated that employees of the Office of the Market Administrator of the Mideast Milk Marketing Area would be participating in the decision-making process. (Pl. Br. 91 at 14). See also 70 Fed.Reg. 8043 (Feb. 17, 2005). The salaries of the employees of the Mideast Milk Marketing Area ("Dairy Program employees") are indirectly paid by producers, who are charged a fee, which then goes into a pool out of which the Market Administrator pays the salaries of Dairy Program employees (Pl. Br. 118, 13-14)

During the March, 2005 hearing, the plaintiffs actively participated and representatives of the cooperative testified. (Pl. Br. 91 at 14). Four months later, on July 17, 2005 the USDA published a tentative partial decision. 70 Fed.Reg. 43335. Then on September 26, 2005 the USDA announced that the order had been approved by a referendum of eligible producers and was published on October, 1, 2005. 70 Fed.Reg. 56113.

On September 26, 2005, the plaintiffs sent a letter to the USDA alleging that Dairy Program employees who work for the Mideast Milk Marketing Area had a pecuniary interest in the proceeding (Pl. Br. 91 at 17). The final partial decision was published on January 23, 2006. 71 Fed.Reg. 3435 (2006). Later that same year, plaintiffs brought the present action.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW1
A. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD OF REVIEW

Pursuant to Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is proper only if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, the trial court has properly construed the claims, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Lockwood v. American Airlines Inc., 107 F.3d 1565, 1576 (Fed. Cir.1997). See also Nebraska v. Wyoming, 507 U.S. 584, 590, 113 S.Ct. 1689, 123 L.Ed.2d 317 (1993); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, a court must view all facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); NUCOR Corp. v. Aceros Y Maquilas de Occidente, 28 F.3d 572, 583 (7th Cir.1994).

The moving party bears the burden of identifying those portions of "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits" that the moving party believes demonstrate an absence of genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Once this burden is met, the nonmoving party "must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Becker v. Tenenbaum-Hill Assocs., Inc., 914 F.2d 107, 110 (7th Cir.1990); Schroeder v. Lufthansa German Airlines, 875 F.2d 613, 620 (7th Cir.1989). "[A] party who bears the burden of proof on a particular issue may not rest on its pleading, but must affirmatively demonstrate, by specific factual allegations, that there is a genuine issue of material fact which requires trial." Beard v. Whitley County REMC, 840 F.2d 405, 410 (7th Cir.1988). Therefore, if a party fails to establish the existence of an essential element on which the party bears the burden of proof at trial, summary judgment is proper.

When parties file cross motions for summary judgment, each motion must be assessed independently, and denial of one does not necessitate the grant of the other. M. Snower & Co. v. United States, 140 F.2d 367, 369 (7th Cir.1944). Rather, each motion evidence only that the movant believes it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the issues within its motion and that trial is the appropriate course of action if the court disagrees with that assessment. Miller v. LeSea Broadcasting, Inc., 87 F.3d 224, 230 (7th Cir.1996).

B. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD OF REVIEW

Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and (h)(3) authorize the court to dismiss claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. If a plaintiff cannot establish standing to sue, then relief from this court is not possible, and a dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) is the appropriate disposition. See American Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 2119 v. Cohen, 171 F.3d 460, 465 (7th Cir.1999).

In ruling on a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) for want of standing, the district court must accept as true all material allegations of the complaint, drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiffs favor. Lee v. City of Chicago, 330 F.3d 456, 468 (7th Cir.2003) (citing Retired Chicago Police Assoc. v. City of Chicago, 76 F.3d 856, 862 (7th Cir.1996, r'hrng denied, cert. denied)). The plaintiff, as the party invoking federal jurisdiction, bears the burden of establishing the required elements of standing. Retired Chicago Police Assoc., 76 F.3d at 862 (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). Those elements are (i) an injury in fact, which is an invasion of a legally protected interest that is concrete and...

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