Source: http://openjurist.org/664/f2d/377/ford-motor-credit-company-v-s-e-barnhart-and-sons-inc
Timestamp: 2017-08-17 16:43:43
Document Index: 109322501

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1292', '§ 1292', '§ 1292', '§ 110', '§ 1292', '§ 77', '§ 77', '§ 1101', '§ 77', '§ 77', '§ 77']

664 F2d 377 Ford Motor Credit Company v. S E Barnhart & Sons Inc | OpenJurist
664 F. 2d 377 - Ford Motor Credit Company v. S E Barnhart & Sons Inc
664 F2d 377 Ford Motor Credit Company v. S E Barnhart & Sons Inc
664 F.2d 377
33 UCC Rep.Serv. 781
S. E. BARNHART & SONS, INC. and Merle Harr and Betty Harr, Appellees.
At times, the policies behind Rule 54(b) and § 1292(b) may overlap when, as here, a final decision as to one party also involves a controlling principle of law for the litigation. See Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. General Electric Co., 446 U.S. 1, 8 n.2, 100 S.Ct. 1460, 64 L.Ed.2d 1 (1980). The 1961 Note of the Advisory Committee on the Civil Procedural Rules recognized that § 1292(b) might be available in such multi-party situations, but said, "The Rule 54(b) procedure seems preferable for those cases, and § 1292(b) should be held inapplicable to them...." 9 Moore's Federal Practice § 110.22(5) follows this approach, and states, "If an order can be made appealable by a Rule 54(b) certificate, it, and not a § 1292(b) certificate, should be sought."
The district judge interpreted § 77.92(f)(2) as an absolute prohibition against removal of backfilling equipment until reclamation is completed. He construed the regulation as a broad, coercive measure designed to accomplish the legislative aim of protecting the land from the ravages of strip mining. As such, the regulation would even bind plaintiff finance company. The court concluded that the equipment must remain at the site until someone, possibly Ford itself, completes the backfilling.
Although the Pennsylvania state courts have not addressed the issue, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources had earlier adopted the same approach as did the district court here. In a similar factual situation, the Department prohibited a finance company from repossessing backfilling equipment from a mining site. The Environmental Hearing Board, an adjudicatory body within the Department, however, held that § 77.92(f)(2) was directed at operators and not finance companies, since they have no part in creating the condition for which DER would hold them liable. Associates Commercial Corp. v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, Docket No. 78-140-B (July 2, 1979).
Likewise, in several bankruptcy proceedings, DER contended that a trustee in bankruptcy could not remove backfilling equipment where the debtor had not completed reclamation. District and bankruptcy courts rejected this contention, and pointed out that the bond posted by the debtor as a prerequisite to beginning its mining operations was available to meet the backfilling requirements. Zacherl Coal Co. v. Smith, 9 B.R. 952 (Bkrtcy.W.D.Pa.1981); Reddale Coal Co. v. Department of Environmental Resources, No. 79-330 (Bankruptcy Court W.D.Pa. March 31, 1980).
As an administrative agency, the Department of Environmental Resources has only such authority as the legislature grants it. Hi-Craft Clothing Co. v. NLRB, 660 F.2d 910 (3d Cir. 1981). Nothing in the Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act itself refers to financing institutions as such, nor does the authority it gives DER to promulgate regulations extend the Department's reach to finance companies. Moreover, our review of the statute leads us to doubt that the General Assembly ever intended the Department to issue regulations impairing the security interest of creditors created by the legislature in the Uniform Commercial Code. 13 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. §§ 1101-9507 (Purdon Supp.1980).4 In sum, we are convinced, as was the agency's own adjudicatory arm, the Environmental Hearing Board, that § 77.92(f)(2) does not apply to persons in the position of the plaintiff here.
We are not unmindful of the ravages of strip mining, the lack of environmental concern and financial responsibility evidenced by some strip mine operators, or the need, often, for drastic measures to combat these problems. All of these concerns were ably articulated by the district court in its bench opinion and by the appellees and amicus curiae in their briefs and arguments here. We point out, as did the state Environmental Hearing Board in Associates Commercial Corp., supra, that we decide only the issue before us-the applicability of § 77.92(f)(2) to a party whose only contact with the strip mine operator and the mining operation is its security interest in a piece of mining equipment. We express no opinion on whether the same result would obtain in a case where the operator attempted to sell the equipment while it was on the mine site or where the creditor and operator "staged" the default and foreclosure in order to circumvent the regulation.
Defendants assert that they have a right to a possessory lien on the loader. They claim the lien exists not only by virtue of § 77.92(f)(2) itself, but also because of their status as landlords to whom rent in the form of royalties is owing. The district court, however, ruled without explanation that there was no lien, and the later orders do not address the question.
If the district court abuses its discretion in granting a Rule 54(b) certification, the order may be reversed on appeal. Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 521 F.2d 360 (3d Cir. 1975); see also, Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. General Electric Co., 446 U.S. 1, 100 S.Ct. 1460, 64 L.Ed.2d 1 (1980)