Opinion ID: 550930
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The District Court's Authority to Order Segregation of Trust Assets

Text: 19 The district court also held that Section 499e(c) did not authorize federal courts to order PACA defendants to create segregated trust accounts in order to enforce payments to trust beneficiaries. Frio Ice, 724 F.Supp. at 1376-77. The district court relied on the decisions in Fresh Western Marketing v. M & L Food Center, 707 F.Supp. 515, 516 (S.D.Fla.1989); DeBruyn Produce Co. v. Victory Foods, Inc., 674 F.Supp. 1405 (E.D.Mo.1987). 20 The district court's reliance on DeBruyn is mistaken. The DeBruyn court adopted the wrong test for determining the scope of a federal court's authority to fashion equitable relief. The DeBruyn court refused to segregate trust assets into a court-supervised account because it could find no positive grant of authority to do so from either the statute or the legislative history. Id. at 1409. 7 21 As noted in II(A) supra, the proper test for finding restrictions on the equitable powers of federal courts is a clear congressional command to preclude such relief. Califano, 442 U.S. at 705, 99 S.Ct. at 2559. No such restriction can be found in the statute or its legislative history. It is true that Congress sought to minimize the burden of the PACA trust on produce dealers. That is why the statute permits a PACA trust to exist as a nonsegregated floating trust that permitted commingling of assets. H.Rep. No. 543, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 4, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 405, 407; See also 7 C.F.R. Sec. 46.46(c). At the same time, the central purpose of Section 499e(c) is to ensure payment to trust beneficiaries. Segregation often may be the only means by which a federal court can prevent dissipation. H.Rep. No. 543, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 4, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 405, 407. The legislative history noted that once the trust is dissipated it is almost impossible for a beneficiary to obtain recovery. Id. at 411. Congress recognized that dissipation of trust assets would undermine PACA and made such dissipation a violation of the statute. 7 U.S.C.A. Sec. 499b(4) (West Supp.1990). Thus, preventing dissipation of the trust is a key purpose of PACA. Segregation of trust assets is an important tool for achieving that purpose. For these reasons, the district court's finding that it did not have the authority to segregate trust assets is erroneous. 22 In the instant litigation, however, the plaintiff sought only the segregation of sufficient trust funds to cover its claims against Sunfruit. Segregation of only part of the trust solely to accommodate a beneficiary's singular interest is inappropriate because the statutory trust exists for the benefit of all unpaid produce suppliers. See 7 U.S.C.A. Sec. 499e(c)(2) (West Supp.1990). Upon a showing that the trust is being dissipated or threatened with dissipation, 8 a district court should require the PACA debtor to escrow its proceeds from produce sales, identify its receivables, and inventory its assets. It should then require the PACA debtor to separate and maintain these produce-related assets as the PACA trust for the benefit of all unpaid sellers having a bona fide claim. 7 U.S.C.A. Sec. 499e(c)(3). Each beneficiary would then be entitled to its pro rata share. 23