HEART OF AMERICA GRAIN INSPECTION SERVICE, INC.; Thomas J. Clatanoff; Jack L. Covey; Stephen E. Plummer; Monty M. Uptegrove, Plaintiffs, v. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; Stephen Bell; Tommy D. Hopkins, Defendants. STATE OF MISSOURI, ex rel. John L. SAUNDERS, Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HEART OF AMERICA GRAIN INSPECTION SERVICE, INC.; Thomas J. Clatanoff; Stephen E. Plummer; Jack L. Covey; Monty M. Uptegrove, Defendants-Appellees. HEART OF AMERICA GRAIN INSPECTION SERVICE, INC.; Thomas J. Clatanoff; Jack L. Covey; Stephen E. Plummer; Monty M. Uptegrove, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; Stephen Bell; Tommy D. Hopkins, Defendants-Appellees. STATE OF MISSOURI, ex rel. John L. SAUNDERS, Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HEART OF AMERICA GRAIN INSPECTION SERVICE, INC.; Thomas J. Clatanoff; Stephen E. Plummer; Jack L. Covey; Monty M. Uptegrove, Defendants-Appellants.
Nos. 96-3249, 96-3263
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Submitted June 9, 1997. Decided Aug. 26, 1997.
123 F.3d 1098
Rebecca L. McGinnis, Kansas City, MO, argued, for appellees/cross-appellants Heart of America, et al.
Paul Rauschenbach, Assistant Attorney General, St. Louis, MO, argued, for appellee Tommy D. Hopkins in No. 96-3263.
Before BOWMAN and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges, and KYLE,1 District Judge.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture, ex rel John L. Saunders, Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture (the Department); Stephen Bell; and Tommy D. Hopkins appeal from an order of the District Court2 granting summary judgment to Heart of America Grain Inspection Service Inc., Thomas J. Clatanoff, Jack L. Covey, Stephen E. Plummer, and Monty M. Uptegrove (collectively, HOA) on HOA‘s counterclaim for
I.
In 1992, HOA (some of whose employees were employed by the Department before joining HOA) was performing grain weighing, grading, and inspection services in grain warehouses in the Kansas City area that were licensed under the
In September 1992, the Department sent a letter to the grain industry over the signatures of Hopkins, who was then (and was from November 1981 through June 1994) the Division Director of Grain Inspection and Warehousing for the Department, and Mark Weaver, an assistant state attorney general. The letter related the Department‘s position that it had the exclusive right (subject to the rights of grain exchanges and boards of trade) to weigh and supervise the weighing of grain in all warehouses in the state of Missouri. The Department relied for its authority on the Missouri Grain Warehouse Law (the MGWL):
The department shall have the exclusive right to officially weigh or supervise the actual weighing of grain in licensed terminal warehouses subject to the provisions of this chapter, unless the owner or his agent indicates that no official weights are desired and may officially weigh or supervise the actual weighing of grain in public or private warehouses or industries upon application of the owners or operators thereof and their agreement to guarantee the operating costs.
This chapter shall not apply in any respect whatsoever to that part of any operation of any public or private warehouse, elevator, or structure in this state operating under a federal warehouse act, except as such warehouseman may make application for any of the services of the Missouri grain warehouse department, nor shall this chapter prohibit, infringe, or apply to any weighing or weighing supervision in or in connection with a federally licensed warehouse performed by any grain exchange or board of trade.
In 1993, the Department found it necessary to revise its regulations to reflect its position on the certification of grain weights. Also, during the 1993 Missouri legislative session, sections 411.015 and 411.681 were revised to eliminate the portions of those sections that prohibited state regulation of federally licensed warehouses.3
On August 2, 1993, HOA filed a complaint in the District Court seeking a declaratory
On July 21, 1994, the Department as a state agency was dismissed from HOA‘s suit on Eleventh Amendment grounds. On January 25, 1995, HOA‘s claim against Hopkins for declaratory and injunctive relief (Count I) was dismissed because he was no longer an employee of the Department. The District Court also granted summary judgment to Hopkins on HOA‘s Count II, tortious interference with business relationships, concluding that Hopkins was entitled to official immunity because sending the September 1992 letter was a discretionary act. In January 1996, the court granted Hopkins summary judgment on HOA‘s
The Department appeals, challenging the standing of the HOA individual plaintiffs to bring suit and the District Court‘s decision on preemption. HOA cross appeals, challenging all of the court‘s decisions adverse to HOA (except for the Eleventh Amendment dismissal of the Department and the dismissal of Count I as to Hopkins and Bell), and further claiming that the court erred in denying HOA‘s motion to compel discovery of certain Department files. We affirm.
II.
The Department argues that the individual HOA plaintiffs are without standing to sue, and that the District Court erred by not dismissing them. According to the Department, the claims of the individual plaintiffs are merely derivative of the corporation‘s claims. We reject this argument.
It is true that the judiciary has created a prudential standing requirement “that a litigant must normally assert his own legal interests rather than those of third parties.” Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U.S. 797, 804, 105 S. Ct. 2965, 2970, 86 L. Ed. 2d 628 (1985). We believe, however, that the HOA individual plaintiffs are not third parties without standing merely because they are asserting claims along with HOA, their corporation. “[A] shareholder with a direct, personal interest in a cause of action [may] bring suit even if the corporation‘s rights are also implicated.” Franchise Tax Bd. v. Alcan Aluminium Ltd., 493 U.S. 331, 336, 110 S. Ct. 661, 665, 107 L. Ed. 2d 696 (1990). The HOA individual plaintiffs have such direct and personal interests, as they are among those who personally are prevented from practicing their trade by virtue of the state‘s actions—as they would be regardless of their affiliation with HOA. Moreover, each is licensed under the
III.
The Department also claims that the District Court erred in concluding that the Department‘s stance on third-party supervision of grain weighing and certification of grain weights is preempted by the
Under the Supremacy Clause,
There are several methods by which courts may discern that Congress intends to preempt state law when it enacts certain federal legislation. First, a federal law may expressly preempt a state law. See Wisconsin Pub. Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597, 604-05, 111 S. Ct. 2476, 2481-82, 115 L. Ed. 2d 532 (1991). Next, preemption will occur of necessity if a state law and a federal law are in direct conflict. When “‘compliance with both federal and state regulations is a physical impossibility’ or when a state law ‘stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress,‘” then the state law is preempted. Id. at 605, 111 S. Ct. at 2482 (quoting Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142-43, 83 S. Ct. 1210, 1217, 10 L. Ed. 2d 248 (1963), and Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67, 61 S. Ct. 399, 404, 85 L. Ed. 581 (1941)) (citations omitted). Also, congressional intent to preempt may be inferred from enactment of federal laws that are “so pervasive as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it.” Rice, 331 U.S. at 230, 67 S. Ct. at 1152. In addition, preemption will be presumed if the subject matter of the legislation concerns “a field in which the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject,” or if the objective of the federal law or the duties it imposes “reveal the same purpose.” Id.
In Rice, the Court determined that “the special and peculiar history” of the
Federal grain weighing licenses were issued to the individual HOA plaintiffs and to other HOA employees pursuant to
Within the provisions of the
Because Congress intended the
The Department also suggests that the District Court should “have deferred its decision [on preemption] until it had received evidence on the implementing agency‘s interpretation of the statute.” Department‘s Brief at 18. The court did have before it two letters from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), but the Missouri Department of Agriculture in its brief criticizes that correspondence because the court described it as “‘informally’ presented” and “‘conclusory.‘” Id. at 19. The Department argues that it should be given the opportunity to present evidence from the USDA that “will confirm that the
Moreover, no one here is challenging the USDA‘s interpretation of a statute that the agency is charged to administer. It is not a USDA regulation that is under fire here; it is the Missouri Department of Agriculture‘s enforcement of state law in the face of federal legislation on the same subject. To the extent the two statements from the USDA that are already in the record are so contrary to one another as to create an issue of fact (that is, whether or not the USDA thinks the
IV.
We come now to HOA‘s cross appeal of the District Court‘s decisions regarding its Count II, the state law claim for tortious interference with business relationships. HOA challenged Hopkins‘s action in sending to the grain industry the September 1992 letter declaring that only Department employees could certify weights, and Bell‘s statements to individuals within the grain industry that HOA was in violation of state law and that HOA was unable, for financial reasons, to provide the services it was offering to the grain industry.
As to Hopkins, the District Court concluded that he had acted within the scope of his official duties in sending the letter and that, because it was a discretionary act, he was entitled to official immunity. The court therefore granted him summary judgment. We have reviewed de novo and conclude that HOA has demonstrated no genuine issue of material fact on the question of whether Hopkins‘s sending of the letter was discretionary or ministerial, and that Hopkins thus is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. We do not consider HOA‘s argument that Hopkins acted in bad faith by sending the letter and therefore waived his right to claim official immunity, as this claim was not raised in the District Court. See Smith v. City of Des Moines, Iowa, 99 F.3d 1466, 1473 (8th Cir. 1996) (“We will not reverse a grant of summary judgment on the basis of an argument not presented below.“).
HOA also contends that the District Court improperly granted summary judgment to Bell on the tortious interference claim against him. The court did not address the distinction between discretionary and ministerial acts in Bell‘s case because HOA did not make the argument that Bell‘s actions were ministerial. The court also found that it was unnecessary to decide the question of whether Bell acted in bad faith, a claim that HOA did raise as to Bell‘s actions. Instead the court concluded that, to the extent Bell‘s statements were unlawful, they
V.
The District Court also granted summary judgment to Hopkins and Bell on all claims HOA raised under
We first consider HOA‘s
In its January 1996 order, the court granted summary judgment to Hopkins on HOA‘s
HOA claims its right to procedural due process was violated because Hopkins did not meet with the HOA individual plaintiffs in person before sending the September 1992 letter to representatives of the grain industry. The District Court, assuming that HOA‘s interest in its business was protected by the Due Process Clause, held that the correspondence between the Department and HOA or its representatives that was exchanged before the letter was circulated was sufficient to provide any process due HOA, and therefore granted Hopkins‘s motion for summary judgment. We have reviewed de novo, and agree with the District Court that HOA received protection for its interests that fully comports with any rights it may have had to procedural due process, and that Hopkins was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
HOA also argues that it has a cause of action against Hopkins under
The District Court‘s decision to grant summary judgment to Bell on HOA‘s Count III is affirmed for the reasons articulated above concerning Hopkins.
HOA also contends in its cross appeal that it was improperly denied summary judgment on a claim for injunctive relief brought against the Department under the auspices of
The District Court‘s decisions on HOA‘s Count III are affirmed.
VI.
Finally, HOA argues that the District Court5 erred in denying its motion to compel production of certain Department files. We review for a “gross abuse of discretion” on the part of the District Court. Kinkead v. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., 49 F.3d 454, 457 (8th Cir. 1995).
The Department produced certain responsive documents from its files pursuant to HOA‘s requests, but HOA contends that the complete contents of the files were relevant and should have been produced. The District Court noted that HOA had claimed that it knew, based on certain deposition testimony, that the Department had withheld responsive documents. According to the District Court, however, HOA was unable to identify those documents (or any others) that they wanted and that the Department had failed to produce. The court reviewed the motion to compel at length and in detail, and we see no abuse of discretion, much less a “gross” abuse, in its decision to deny the motion to compel. Therefore, we affirm the District Court‘s denial of HOA‘s motion to compel.
VII.
The orders of the District Court are affirmed in all respects.