Opinion ID: 325002
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the administrative background

Text: 9 Several months later the Department of Agriculture moved against DeVita Fruit Company. On April 27, 1971, the Department's Consumer and Marketing Service sent a letter to the company calling attention to its outstanding financial obligations to the unpaid shippers. The letter advised that '(s)uch violations are sufficient grounds for instituting disciplinary action which could result in the revocation or suspension of your license,' and that the company's explanation should be submitted within 20 days. 25 On June 22, no response having been received, the Service filed a complaint charging the company with violations of the Act by reason of its failure to pay the shippers and seeking revocation of the company's license. 26 Copies of the letter and complaint were sent to the company's officers, including Quinn, and no formal answer to the complaint was filed within the 20-day period allowed therefor. 27 10 On July 13, 1971, however, during the period for answering the complaint, Quinn's attorney sent to the Division a letter asking for the opportunity to appear at a hearing 'to present factual evidence and legal arguments which will show that (Quinn) was not 'responsibly connected' with the DeVita Fruit Company at the time of the alleged violations of the (Act) which form the basis for the subject complaint.' The letter recited the facts disclosing the nature of Quinn's relationship with the company and was accompanied by supporting affidavits. 11 On August 16, 1971, the Division moved for the issuance of a hearing examiner's report in default proceedings 28 and again recommended that DeVita Fruit Company's license be revoked. A copy of this motion was sent to Quinn's attorney on August 19 together with a letter stating the Division's view that the request for a hearing to show that Quinn was not 'responsibly connected' with the company was 'not responsive to the allegations of the complaint,' and so was not considered an answer to the complaint. 12 On August 25, Quinn's counsel wrote that he wished to dispute the charge that the company's violations were 'flagrant or repeated' on the ground that the company's default was occasioned by reasonable expectations of a large business loan which did not materialize. 29 In response to the hearing examiner's direction that Service state on the record its position on counsel's request, the Service filed an opposition on the ground that 'no useful purpose would be served in holding an oral hearing on the violations alleged in the Complaint because on its face the Request shows there is no issue as to whether the violations were repeated.' The opposition added that '(t)here is no assertion that the violations did not occur, but rather an implicit admission that they did, with an expressed intention merely to challenge the character of those violations. . . . Whether these violations constitute flagrant violations of the Act need not be considered since the Act speaks in the disjunctive as regards 'repeated or flagrant' violations, and 47 violations are clearly 'repeated. In turn, Quinn's counsel replied that his letter of August 25 was not intended to suggest 'that we conceded that the violations actually occurred or that if any did occur they were 'repeated' within the meaning of the statute.' The reply reiterated facts descriptive of the relationship which Quinn bore to the company. 13 On October 29 the hearing examiner filed a recommended decision. As to the request to reopen the proceedings, the examiner pointed out that DeVita Fruit Company had not answered the complaint and held that Quinn's attempt to raise a defense based on the unsuccessful loan applications for 'the apparent purpose (of) show(ing) that (the alleged violations) were not flagrant' did not negate their character as repeated violations. 30 The examiner thus concluded that the request to reopen should be denied. On the merits, the examiner proposed revocation of the company's license, concluding that the company's nonpayment of the reparation award and its failure to account for the remainder of the 47 lots of fruits and vegetables 'constituted willful flagrant and repeated violations of' the unfair conduct provisions of the Act. 31 The examiner dimissed Quinn's lack-of-responsible-connection data with the observation that it indicated a 'primary interest . . . to obviate the provisions of the Act which affect officers of an organization found to have violated the Act, or collateral consequences of violations found.' Quinn filed exceptions to the recommended decision, restating earlier arguments, and asked that the proceeding be reopened to enable him 'to present factual evidence and legal argument as to the merits of the Complaint and his contention that he was not 'responsibly connected' with DeVita Fruit Company within the meaning of' Section 8(b). 14 The Secretary's final decision and order, by the Department's judicial officer, came on February 16, 1972. It adopted in all respects the recommended decision of the hearing examiner and revoked the license of DeVita Fruit Company. By letters of February 22, 1972, the Consumer and Marketing Service notified Quinn and his new employer of the decision and of Quinn's resulting ineligibility for employment under the Act for a period of one year from the effective date of the decision. 32 Quinn presented a petition for reconsideration and for reopening of the proceedings, 33 which the Consumer and Marketing Service resisted on the ground that the only proper issues in the proceedings were whether the alleged violations occurred and whether they were repeated or flagrant, and that uncontroverted facts required answers to both questions in the affirmative. The Service further asserted that 'Mr. Quinn's real interest in contesting the allegations of violations in this proceeding is not to defend against the violations, but rather to endeaver to avoid the subsequent effect on his employment status should such violations ultimately be found to have occurred;' and that '(q)uestions as to whether Mr. Quinn was 'responsibly connected' with (DeVita Fruit Company) are not proper for consideration in this proceeding. Therefore, all arguments which have been made with respect to Mr. Quinn's status are irrelevant, and Mr. Quinn must seek any remedy he may have in this regard in the courts.' 15 Quinn's petition for reconsideration was denied on April 4, 1972, and the effective date of revocation of the company's license was reset. On April 16, the Service sent Quinn's employer a letter directing Quinn's discharge for the one-year period, and sent Quinn a letter informing him of his ineligibility for employment during that period by licensees under the Act. Then followed the petition for review by this court, 34 attacking the action taken against the company as well as against Quinn. 35