This dispute is between the buyer and seller of agricultural property, wherein plaintiff McKim filed suit against seller Kauffman for his failure to convey to McKim two-thirds of the seller’s agricultural bases, including his peanut quota, as provided by the purchase contract. The case was heard by a jury and the jury awarded $8,000 to
According to the trial сourt’s ruling and to the appellee, under the decisions of Conifer Farms v. Brent,
Appellant contends the dispute was not with the ASCS determination; rather, the ASCS officer testified the ASCS would have had no problem giving appellant a two-thirds allotment and would have done so if Kauffman had come to the ASCS office and signed the necessary transfer form, but because Kauffman did not sign the necessary forms, the allotment was made according to ASCS determination according to its regulations. Held:
The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to appellee Kauffman. According to the record, it would have been fruitless for аppellant to pursue all ASCS procedural remedies because the problem lay not with the ASCS ruling under its regulations, which appellant does not actually contest, but with Kauffman’s refusal to file the necessary transfer forms to еffect a two-thirds reconstitution of his peanut allotment. According to the trial testimony of the ASCS officer, which is now а part of the record and which moreover was by stipulation considered in the summary judgment procedure, if Kauffmаn had filed the necessary transfer form, an allotment of two-thirds to McKim would not have been in violation of ASCS regulations and
In his breach of contract suit, appellant addressed Kauffman’s refusal to file the necessary transfer forms pursuant to his agreement to sell and convey in the contract for the sale of the real estate and “agricultural bases.” This breach of contract suit is not a challenge to the ruling which the ASCS made; in fact, appellant in effect concedes this pаrticular ASCS ruling was required on account of Kauffman’s refusal to file the transfer forms. According to the evidence оf the ASCS officer, the ruling would have been different if Kauffman had filed the transfer forms. Kauffman’s failure to file the necessary transfer forms in this case was not the domain of the ASCS office; it is the domain of Georgia law as to enforcemеnt of contractual obligations.
The parties’ contract required Kauffman to convey two-thirds of his peanut аllotment; he refused to do it, and according to the evidence if he had done it by filing the necessary transfer form, thе two-thirds allotment would have been granted. The jury’s determination that Kauffman caused McKim $8,000 damage by failing to comрly with his contractual obligations for conveyance of two-thirds of his peanut allotment is not an attempt to еncroach upon the jurisdiction of the ASCS under federal law, and it does not challenge the findings of the ASCS; in fact, the jury’s verdict in effect upholds the ASCS determination giving McKim a 55 percent allotment and finds that Kauffman was liable for failing to сonvey a two-thirds allotment. This case is riot controlled by Carr v. Glass, supra, because it is not clear in that opinion that the dispute was not centered upon the determiriation by the ASCS, and it appeals the purchaser’s damage in that case was caused by his failure to pursue all ASCS procedural remedies. This case is more related to Combustion Engineering v. Norris,
Judgment reversed.
