by the Secretary or a court of competent jurisdiction. (June 25, 1940, ch. 421, § 1, 54 Stat. 557; July 1, 1941, ch. 267, § 1, 55 Stat. 432; July 22, 1942, ch. 516, § 1, 56 Stat. 689; July 12, 1943, ch. 215, § 1, 57 Stat. 422.) AMENDMENTS 1943-Act July 12, 1943, cited to text, substituted "Secretary" for "Secretary of Agriculture". § 205. General duty as to services.-It shall be the duty of every stockyard owner and market agency to furnish upon reasonable request, without discrimination, reasonable stockyard services at such stockyard: Provided, That in any State where the weighing of livestock at a stockyard is conducted by a duly authorized department or agency of the State, the Secretary, upon application of such department of agency, may register it as a market agency for the weighing of livestock received in such stockyard, and upon such registration such department or agency and the members thereof shall be amendable to all the requirements of this chapter; and upon failure of such department or agency or the members thereof to comply with the orders of the Secretary under this chapter he is authorized to revoke the registration of such department or agency and to enforce such revocation as provided in section 216 of this title. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 304, 42 Stat. 164; May 5, 1926, ch. 240, 44 Stat. 397.) § 206. Rates and charges generally; discrimination.—All rates or charges made for any stockyard services furnished at a stockyard by a stockyard owner of market agency shall be just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory, and any unjust, unreasonable, or discriminatory rate or charge is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 305, 42 Stat. 164.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 207. Schedule of rates; filing and exhibition; change in rates; suspension; penalties.-(a) Within sixty days after the Secretary has given public notice that a stockyard is within the definition of section 202 of this title, by posting copies of such notice in the stockyard, the stockyard owner and every market agency at such stockyard shall file with the Secretary, and print and keep open to public inspection at the stockyard, schedules showing all rates and charges for the stockyard services furnished by such person at such stockyard. If a market agency commences business at the stockyard after the expiration of such sixty days such schedules must be filed before any stockyard services furnished. (b) Such schedules shall plainly state all such rates and charges in such detail as the Secretary may require, and shall also state any rules or regulations which in any manner change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such rates or charges, or the value of the stockyard services furnished. The Secretary may determine and prescribe the form and manner in which such schedules shall be prepared, arranged, and posted, and may from time to time make such changes in respect thereto as may be found expedient. (c) No changes shall be made in the rates or charges so filed and published, except after ten days' notice to the Secretary and to the public filed and published as aforesaid, which shall plainly. state the changes proposed to be made and the time such changes will go into effect; but the Secretary may for good cause shown, allow changes on less than ten days' notice, or modify the requirements of this section in respect to publishing, posting, and filing of schedules, either in particular instances or by a general order applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions. (d) The Secretary may reject and refuse to file any schedule tendered for filing which does not provide and give lawful notice of its effective date, and any schedule so rejected by the Secretary shall be void and its use shall be unlawful. (e) Whenever there is filed with the Secretary any schedule, stating a new rate or charge, or a new regulation or practice afefcting any rate or charge, the Secretary may either upon complaint or upon his own initiative without complaint, at once, and if he so orders without answer or other formal pleading by the person filing such schedule, but upon reasonable notice, enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of such rate, charge, regulation, or practice, and pending such hearing and decision thereon the Secretary, upon filing with such schedule and delivering to the person filing it a statement in writing of his reasons for such suspension, may suspend the operation of such schedule and defer the use of such rate, charge, regulation, or practice, but not for a longer period than thirty days beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect; and after full hearing, whether completed before or after the rate, charge, regulation, or practice goes into effect, the Secretary may make such order with reference thereto as would be proper in a proceeding initiated after it had become effective. If any such hearing cannot be concluded within the period of suspension the Secretary may extend the time of suspension for a further period not exceeding thirty days, and if the proceeding has not been concluded and an order made at the expiration of such thirty days, the proposed change of rate, charge, regulation, or practice shall go into effect at the end of such period. (f) After the expiration of the sixty days referred to in subdivision (a), no person shall carry on the business of a stockyard owner or market agency unless the rates and charges for the stockyard services furnished at the stockyard have been filed and published in accordance with this section and the orders of the Secretary made thereunder; nor charge, demand, or collect a greater or less or different compensation for such services than the rates and charges specified in the schedules filed and in effect at the time; nor refund or remit in any manner any portion of the rates or charges so specified (but this shall not prohibit a cooperative association of producers from bona fide returning to its members, on a patronage basis, its excess earnings on their livestock, subject to such regulations as the Secretary may pre scribe); nor extend to any person at such stockyard any stockyard services except such as are specified in such schedules. (g) Whoever fails to comply with the provisions of this section or of any regulation or order of the Secretary made thereunder shall be liable to a penalty of not more than $500 for each such offense, and not more than $25 for each day it continues, which shall accrue to the United States and may be recovered in a civil action brought by the United States. (h) Whoever willfully fails to comply with the provisions of this section or of any regulation or order of the Secretary made thereunder shall on conviction be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 306, 42 Stat. 164.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 208. Unreasonable or discriminatory practices generally.It shall be the duty of every stockyard owner and market agency to establish, observe, and enforce just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory regulations and practices in respect to the furnishing of stockyard services, and every unjust, unreasonable, or discriminatory regulation or practice is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 307, 42 Stat. 165.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 209. Liability to individuals for violations; enforcement generally. (a) If any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer violates any of the provisions of sections 205, 206, 207, or 208 of this title, or of any order of the Secretary made under sections 201-203, 205-217 of this title, he shall be liable to the person or persons injured thereby for the full amount of damages sustained in consequence of such violation. (b) Such liability may be enforced either (1) by complaint to the Secretary as provided in section 210 of this title, or (2) by suit in any district court of the United States of competent jurisdiction; but this section shall not in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this chapter are in addition to such remedies. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 308, 42 Stat. 165.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 210. Proceedings before Secretary for violations generally; action to enforce order of Secretary.-(a) Any person complaining of anything done or omitted to be done by any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "defendant") in violation of the provisions of sections 205, 206, 207, or 208 of this title, or of an order of the Secretary made under sections 201-203, 205-217 of this title, may, at any time within ninety days after the cause of action accrues, apply to the Secretary by petition which shall briefly state the facts, whereupon the complaint thus made shall be forwarded by the Secretary to the defendant, who shall be called upon to satisfy the complaint, or to answer it in writing, within a reasonable time to be specified by the Secretary. If the defendant within the time specified makes reparation for the injury alleged to be done he shall be relieved of liability to complainant only for the particular violation thus complained of. If the defendant does not satisfy the complaint within the time specified, or there appears to be any reasonable ground for investigating the complaint, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to investigate the matters complained of in such manner and by such means as he deems proper. (b) The Secretary, at the request of the livestock commissioner, board of agriculture, or other agency of a State or Territory, having jurisdiction over stockyards in such State or Territory, shall investigate any complaint forwarded by such agency in like manner and with the same authority and powers as in the case of a complaint made under subdivision (a). (c) The Secretary may at any time institute an inquiry on his own motion, in any case and as to any matter or thing concerning which a complaint is authorized to be made to or before the Secretary, by any provision of sections 201-203, 205-217 of this title, or concerning which any question may arise under any of the provisions of sections 201-203, 205-217 of this title, or relating to the enforcement of any of the provisions of sections 201-203, 205-217 of this title. The Secretary shall have the same power and authority to proceed with any inquiry instituted upon his own motion as though he had been appealed to by petition, including the power to make and enforce any order or orders in the case or relating to the matter or thing concerning which the inquiry is had, except orders for the payment of money. (d) No complaint shall at any time be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant. (e) If after hearing on a complaint the Secretary determines that the complainant is entitled to an award of damages, the Secretary shall make an order directing the defendant to pay to the complainant to sum to which he is entitled on or before a day named. (f) If the defendant does not comply with an order for the payment of money within the time limit in such order, the complainant, or any person for whose benefit such order was made, may within one year of the date of the order file in the district court of the United States for the district in which he resides or in which is located the principal place of business of the defendant or in any State court having general jurisdiction of the parties, a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims damages, and the order of the Secretary in the premises. Such suit in the district court shall proceed in all respects like other civil suits for damages except that the findings and orders of the Secretary shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, and the petitioner shall not be liable for costs in the district court nor for costs at any subsequent stage of the proceedings unless they accrue upon his appeal. If the petitioner finally prevails, he shall be allowed a reasonable attorney's fee to be taxed and collected as a part of the costs of the suit. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 309, 42 Stat. 165.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 211. Order of Secretary as to charges or practices; prescribing rates and practices generally. Whenever after full hearing upon a complaint made as provided in section 210 of this title, or after full hearing under an order for investigation and hearing under an order for investigation and hearing made by the Secretary on his own initiative, either in extension of any pending complaint or without any complaint whatever, the Secretary is of the opinion that any rate, charge, regulation, or practice of a stockyard owner or market agency, for or in connection with the furnishing of stockyard services, is or will be unjust, unreasonable, or discriminatory, the Secretary (a) May determine and prescribe what will be the just and reasonable rate or charge, or rates or charges, to be thereafter in such case observed as both the maximum and minimum to be charged, and what regulation or practice is or will be just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory to be thereafter followed; and (b) May make an order that such owner or operator (1) shall cease and desist from such violation to the extent to which the Secretary finds that it does or will exist; (2) shall not thereafter publish, demand, or collect any rate or charge for the furnishing of stockyard services more or less than the rate or charge so prescribed; and (3) shall conform to and observe the regulation or practice so prescribed. (Aug. 15, 1921, ch. 64, § 310, 42 Stat. 166; Aug. 10, 1939, ch. 663, 53 Stat. 1351.) CROSS REFERENCE Application to certain licensees, see section 218c of this title. § 212. Prescribing rates and practices to prevent discrimination between intrastate and interstate commerce.-Whenever in any investigation under the provisions of sections 201-203, 205217 of this title, or in any investigation instituted by petition of the stockyard owner or market agency concerned, which petition is hereby authorized to be filed, the Secretary after full hearing finds that any rate, charge, regulation, or practice of any stockyard owner or market agency, for or in connection with the buying or selling on a commission basis or otherwise, receiving, marketing, feeding, holding, delivery, shipment, weighing, or handling, not in commerce, of livestock, causes any undue or unreasonable advantage, prejudice, or preference as between persons or localities in intrastate commerce in livestock on the one hand and interstate or foreign commerce in livestock on the other hand, or any undue, unjust, or unreasonable discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce in livestock, which is hereby foreign commerce in livestock, which is hereby forbidden and declared to be unlawful, the Secretary shall prescribe the rate, charge, regulation, or practice thereafter to be observed, in such manner as, in his judgment, will remove such advantage, preference, or discrimination. Such rates, charges, regulations, or prac |