PACA Docket No. D-97-0017. Stay Order WESTERN SIERRA PACKERS, INC. PACA Docket No. D-97-0004. Decision and Order MICHAEL J. MENDENHALL. PACA-APP Docket No. 97-0008. Decision and Order STEVEN J. RODGERS. PACA-APP Docket No. 96-0002. Order Lifting Stay REPARATION DECISIONS MESA PRODUCE, INC. V. ROMNEY & ASSOCIATES, INC., ET AL. 1577 1578 1607 1649 PREMIUM VALLEY PRODUCE, INC. V. SAM WANG FOOD CORP., INC. PACA Docket No. R-98-0153. Decision and Order 1684 THE CHUCK OLSEN Co. v. PRODUCE DISTRIBUTORS INC., ET AL. PACA Docket No. R-98-0083. Decision and Order FRIEDRICH ENTERPRISES, INC., ET AL. V. BENNY'S FARM FRESH DISTRIB. PACA Docket No. R-98-0134. Decision and Order MISCELLANEOUS ORDERS QUEEN CITY FARMS, INC. PACA Docket No. D-97-0020. Order Denying Petition for Reconsideration and Reopening Hearing JSG TRADING CORP., GLORIA AND TONY ENTERPRISES, ET AL. 1689 1695 1704 BOBBY E. ROBERTSON, D/B/A BOBBY ROBERTSON PRODUCE. ROMNEY & ASSOC., INC., A/T/A R&R DISTRIBUTING. PACA Docket No. D-98-0007. Decision and Order 1742 GROCERY IMPORT & EXPORT INTERNATIONAL CORP., ET AL. 1458 PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES ACT COURT DECISIONS ANDERSHOCK'S FRUITLAND, INC., AND JAMES A. ANDERSHOCK v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. No. 96-4238. Decided August 10, 1998. (Cite as 151 F.3d 735) Perishable agricultural commodities - Failure to pay - Sanction License revocation. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Judicial Officer's revocation of the license of a dealer regulated under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) for repeated failures to pay for produce over an extended period of time, was proper. The court stated that relevance is a matter of substantive policy and that it is within the agency's power to decide that the reasons for a PACA licensee's repeated failures to pay for produce are not relevant to sanction. United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit Before FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and KANNE, Circuit Judges. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge. Dealers regulated by the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act must "truly and correctly. . . account and make full payment promptly in respect of any transaction". 7 U.S.C. § 499b(4). The Secretary of Agriculture has defined "promptly" as "within 10 days after the day on which the produce is accepted". 7 C.F.R. § 46.2(aa)(5). Section 8(a) of the PACA, 7 U.S.C. § 499h(a), authorizes the Secretary to revoke the license of any dealer who commits "flagrant or repeated" violations of § 499b. Between May 1994 and May 1995 Andershock's Fruitland failed to pay the agreed purchase prices of 113 lots of agricultural commodities, a total of more than $245,000. It did not finish paying these sums until 1997, almost a year after the administrative hearing, and the bulk of repayment was accomplished by giving Thomas Produce, its biggest creditor, an equity interest in the dealership in lieu of cash. The Secretary revoked its license under the Department's rule that "repeated failures to pay a substantial amount of money over an extended period of time" lead to revocation rather than a lesser sanction. Caito Produce Co., 48 Agric. Dec. 602, 611-13 (1989). |