Court Opinion

ID: 9490879
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:57:32.658051+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:22.476802
License: Public Domain

LOKEN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In this circuit, the critical inquiry in determining whether a shipment between two points in the same State is nonetheless interstate commerce focuses on “the shipper’s fixed and persisting intent at the time of the shipment.” Roberts v. Levine, 921 F.2d 804, 812 (8th Cir.1990), quoting from a 1990 decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission. In my view, the district court correctly analyzed farmer Kuenzel’s fixed and persisting intent at the time he shipped corn for spot sale at the nearby Bunge terminal. I would therefore affirm for the reasons stated in that court’s thorough Memorandum Opinion and Order of February 18, 1997. By focusing on farmer Kuenzel’s knowledge of what would happen to his corn after he sold it, rather than his intent to sell it at a local marketplace, the court has expanded the concept of interstate commerce beyond what Congress and the responsible federal agency have determined to be a sensible division of federal-state regulatory responsibilities.