The United States Supreme Court has a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, co-authored by David A. Domina with three other lawyers, under consideration. The Court will decide whether to review a Sixth Circuit decision against a poultry producer, Alton Terry. Mr. Terry sued Tyson Farms, Inc., because a poultry processor refused to honor his request to be present when his birds were weighed to determine the amounts owed him.
“The Supreme Court is asked to consider two important questions in the Terry case,” Dave Domina said. “First, the Court is asked to decide whether Circuit Courts have misinterpreted the P&S Act when they hold that ‘harm to the marketplace’ must be proven in every case brought under the statute, even cases like Mr. Terry’s where he simply seeks to remediate a packer’s refusal to let him be present to watch his birds be weighed. Second, Domina continued, “The Court is asked to consider the failure of the Terry lower court, and other lower courts, considering P&S cases, to give deference to the US Department of Agriculture’s interpretation of the P&S Act.”
Domina said, “An agency charged with enforcing a statute is entitled to judicial deference in interpretation where the statute’s language is unclear.”
The Supreme Court’s decision to accept or refuse the case is expected around the first of the year.
November, 2010