Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Federal Crop Ins. Corp. v. Merrill

332 U.S. 380

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1947-11-10
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • holding that farmers who did not comply with federal regulations because of misrepresentation by government agent could not recover
  • holding that the government is not bound when its agent enters into an agreement that falls outside the agent's Congressionally delegated authority
  • recognizing that “not even the temptations of a hard case” will provide a basis for ordering recovery of funds that would be expended contrary to law
  • holding that everyone dealing with the Government is charged with knowledge of Federal statutes and lawfully promulgated agency regulations
  • holding that taxpayer “should have known that [revenue officer’s] oral representation of compromise was not binding”
  • holding that employee of federal crop insurer lacked authority to include coverage in an insurance contract for an item specifically excluded by federal statute
  • holding that insured must strictly comply with all terms and conditions of federal insurance policy and recognizing duty of courts to observe conditions defined by Congress for charging the public treasury
  • holding that publication in Federal Register constitutes adequate notice of conditions of insurance

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Federal Crop Ins. Corp. v. Merrill. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Authority status
pending
Cited by
1573 opinions
Distinguished
1 times

Headnotes

  1. Administrative Law — Binding Effect of Published Regulations Rules and regulations promulgated by a federal agency under delegated rule-making authority and published in the Federal Register are binding on all who seek to come within the governing statute, regardless of whether they had actual knowledge of the regulations' contents or of any hardship resulting from innocent ignorance. 332 U.S. 380, 385 (1947)
  2. Administrative Law — Authority of Government Agents Anyone entering into an arrangement with the Government takes the risk of accurately ascertaining that the agent purporting to act for the Government stays within the bounds of his authority, and this is so even though the agent himself was unaware of the limitations upon that authority. 332 U.S. 380, 383–384 (1947)
  3. Administrative Law — Government Liability — Delegated Rule-Making Where Congress confers rule-making power on a government agency to define the terms and conditions of insurance, the regulations the agency adopts limit the Government's liability as though enacted by Congress directly, and recovery cannot be had against the Government for a loss the regulations exclude, no matter how reasonably the claimant believed he had obtained insurance. 332 U.S. 380, 384–385 (1947)
  4. Administrative Law — Government Agencies Distinguished from Private Insurers A wholly government-owned corporation created to administer a federal insurance program is not a private insurance company, so the rules of law that render private insurers liable for the acts and knowledge of their agents are not applicable to the Government agency unless Congress has so provided. 332 U.S. 380, 383 & n.1 (1947)
  5. Administrative Law — Judicial Construction of Regulations A regulation whose meaning is clear will be enforced according to its terms notwithstanding the hardship of the result, and a court may not read the regulation with charitable laxity merely because the case presents a hard one. 332 U.S. 380, 386 (1947)
FEDERAL CROP INS. CORP.v. MERRILL,332 U.S. 380(1947)
68 S.Ct. 1
FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORP.v. MERRILL ET AL., DOING BUSINESS AS MERRILL
BROS.
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF IDAHO.
No. 45.
Argued October 16, 1947.
Decided November 10, 1947.
1. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, a wholly government-owned corporation created by the Federal Crop Insurance Act to insure producers of wheat against crop losses due to unavoidable causes, including drought, promulgated and published in the Federal Register regulations specifying the conditions on which it would insure wheat crops, including a provision making "spring wheat which has been reseeded on winter wheat acreage" ineligible for insurance. Without actual knowledge of this provision, a wheat grower applied to the Corporation's local agent for insurance on his wheat crop, informing the local agent that most of it was being reseeded on winter wheat acreage; but this information was not included in the written application. The Corporation accepted the application subject to the terms of its regulations. Most of the crop on the reseeded acreage was destroyed by drought.Held:The Corporation is not liable for the loss on the reseeded acreage. Pp. 381-386.Page 3812. Having been published in the Federal Register, the Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations are binding on all who seek to come within the Federal Crop Insurance Act, regardless of lack of actual knowledge of the regulations. P. 385.67 Idaho 196,174 P.2d 834, reversed.
The Supreme Court of Idaho affirmed a judgment against the
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation for loss of a wheat crop which
had been reseeded on winter wheat acreage.67 Idaho 196,174 P.2d 834.
This Court granted certiorari.331 U.S. 798.Reversed, p.
386.
Harry I. Randargued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief wereSolicitor General Perlman, Assistant AttorneyGeneral FordandPaul A. Sweeney.A.A. Merrillargued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief wasO.A. Johannesen.
MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER delivered the opinion of the Court.
We brought this case here because it involves a question of importance in the administration of the Federal Crop Insurance Act.331 U.S. 798.

The relevant facts may be briefly stated. Petitioner (hereinafter called the Corporation) is a wholly Government-owned enterprise, created by the Federal Crop Insurance Act, as an "agency of and within the Department of Agriculture." Sec. 503 of Chapter 30, Act of February 16, 1938,52 Stat. 72,7 U.S.C. § 1503, as amended. To carry out the purposes of the Act, the Corporation, "Commencing with the wheat . . . crops planted for harvest in 1945" is empowered "to insure, upon such terms and conditions not inconsistent with the provisions of this title as it may determine, producers of wheat . . . against loss in yields due to unavoidable causes, including drought. . . ."52 Stat. 74, § 508(a) asPage 382amended,55 Stat. 255, in turn amended by the Act of December 23, 1944, Chapter 713,58 Stat. 918, 7 U.S.C. (Supp. V, 1946), § 1508(a). In pursuance of its authority, the Corporation on February 5, 1945, promulgated its Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations, which were duly published in the Federal Register on February 7, 1945.10 Fed. Reg. 1586.

On March 26, 1945, respondents applied locally for insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act to cover wheat farming operations in Bonneville County, Idaho. Respondents informed the Bonneville County Agricultural Conservation Committee, acting as agent for the Corporation, that they were planting 460 acres of spring wheat and that on 400 of these acres they were reseeding on winter wheat acreage. The Committee advised respondents that the entire crop was insurable, and recommended to the Corporation's Denver Branch Office acceptance of the application. (The formal application itself did not disclose that any part of the insured crop was reseeded.) On May 28, 1945, the Corporation accepted the application.

In July, 1945, most of the respondents' crop was destroyed by drought. Upon being notified, the Corporation, after discovering that the destroyed acreage had been reseeded, refused to pay the loss, and this litigation was appropriately begun in one of the lower courts of Idaho. The trial court rejected the Corporation's contention, presented by a demurrer to the complaint, that the Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations barred recovery as a matter of law. Evidence was thereupon permitted to go to the jury to the effect that the respondents had no actual knowledge of the Regulations, insofar as they precluded insurance for reseeded wheat, and that they had in fact been misled by petitioner's agent into believing that spring wheat reseeded on winter wheat acreage was insurable by the Corporation. The juryPage 383returned a verdict for the loss on all the 460 acres and the Supreme Court of Idaho affirmed the resulting judgment.67 Idaho 196,174 P.2d 834. That court in effect adopted the theory of the trial judge, that since the knowledge of the agent of a private insurance company, under the circumstances of this case. would be attributed to, and thereby bind, a private insurance company, the Corporation is equally bound.

The case no doubt presents phases of hardship. We take for granted that, on the basis of what they were told by the Corporation's local agent, the respondents reasonably believed that their entire crop was covered by petitioner's insurance. And so we assume that recovery could be had against a private insurance company. But the Corporation is not a private insurance company. It is too late in the day to urge that the Government is just another private litigant, for purposes of charging it with liability, whenever it takes over a business theretofore conducted by private enterprise or engages in competition with private ventures.1Government is not partly public or partly private, depending upon the governmental pedigree of the type of a particular activity or the mannerPage 384in which the Government conducts it. The Government may carry on its operations through conventional executive agencies or through corporate forms especially created for defined ends. SeeKeiferKeiferv.Reconstruction Finance Corp.,306 U.S. 381,390. Whatever the form in which the Government functions, anyone entering into an arrangement with the Government takes the risk of having accurately ascertained that he who purports to act for the Government stays within the bounds of his authority. The scope of this authority may be explicitly defined by Congress or be limited by delegated legislation, properly exercised through the rule-making power. And this is so even though, as here, the agent himself may have been unaware of the limitations upon his authority. See, e.g.,Utah Power Light Co. v.UnitedStates,243 U.S. 389,409;United Statesv.Stewart,311 U.S. 60,70, and see, generally,The Floyd Acceptances, 7 Wall. 666.

If the Federal Crop Insurance Act had by explicit language prohibited the insurance of spring wheat which is reseeded on winter wheat acreage, the ignorance of such a restriction, either by the respondents or the Corporation's agent, would be immaterial and recovery could not be had against the Corporation for loss of such reseeded wheat. Congress could hardly define the multitudinous details appropriate for the business of crop insurance when the Government entered it. Inevitably "the terms and conditions" upon which valid governmental insurance can be had must be defined by the agency acting for the Government. And so Congress has legislated in this instance, as in modern regulatory enactments it so often does, by conferring the rule-making power upon the agency created for carrying out its policy. See § 516(b),52 Stat. 72, 77,7 U.S.C. § 1516(b). Just as everyone is charged with knowledge of the United States Statutes at Large,Page 385Congress has provided that the appearance of rules and regulations in the Federal Register gives legal notice of their contents.49 Stat. 502,44 U.S.C. § 307.

Accordingly, the Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations were binding on all who sought to come within the Federal Crop Insurance Act, regardless of actual knowledge of what is in the Regulations or of the hardship resulting from innocent ignorance. The oft-quoted observation inRock Island, Arkansas Louisiana Railroad Co. v.United States,254 U.S. 141,143, that "Men must turn square corners when they deal with the Government," does not reflect a callous outlook. It merely expresses the duty of all courts to observe the conditions defined by Congress for charging the public treasury. The "terms and conditions" defined by the Corporation, under authority of Congress, for creating liability on the part of the Government preclude recovery for the loss of the reseeded wheat no matter with what good reason the respondents thought they had obtained insurance from the Government. Indeed, not only do the Wheat Regulations limit the liability of the Government as if they had been enacted by Congress directly, but they were in fact incorporated by reference in the application,2as specifically required by the Regulations.3Page 386

We have thus far assumed, as did the parties here and the courts below, that the controlling regulation in fact precluded insurance coverage for spring wheat reseeded on winter wheat acreage. It explicitly states that the term "wheat crop shall not include . . . winter wheat in the 1945 crop year, and spring wheat which has been reseeded on winter wheat acreage in the 1945 crop year." (Sec. 414.37(v) of Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations,10 Fed. Reg. 1591.) The circumstances of this case tempt one to read the regulation, since it is for us to read it, with charitable laxity. But not even the temptations of a hard case can elude the clear meaning of the regulation. It precludes recovery for "spring wheat which has been reseeded on winter wheat acreage in the 1945 crop year." Concerning the validity of the regulation, as "not inconsistent with the provisions" of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, no question has been raised.

The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.Reversed.

MR. JUSTICE BLACK and MR. JUSTICE RUTLEDGE dissent.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, dissenting.
I would affirm the decision of the court below. If crop insurance contracts made by agencies of the United States Government are to be judged by the law of the State in which they are written, I find no error in the court below.Page 387If, however, we are to hold them subject only to federal law and to declare what that law is. I can see no reason why we should not adopt a rule which recognizes the practicalities of the business.

It was early discovered that fair dealing in the insurance business required that the entire contract between the policyholder and the insurance company be embodied in the writings which passed between the parties, namely, the written application, if any, and the policy issued. It may be well enough to make some types of contracts with the Government subject to long and involved regulations published in the Federal Register. To my mind, it is an absurdity to hold that every farmer who insures his crops knows what the Federal Register contains or even knows that there is such a publication. If he were to peruse this voluminous and dull publication as it is issued from time to time in order to make sure whether anything has been promulgated that affects his rights, he would never need crop insurance, for he would never get time to plant any crops. Nor am I convinced that a reading of technically-worded regulations would enlighten him much in any event.

In this case, the Government entered a field which required the issuance of large numbers of insurance policies to people engaged in agriculture. It could not expect them to be lawyers, except in rare instances, and one should not be expected to have to employ a lawyer to see whether his own Government is issuing him a policy which in case of loss would turn out to be no policy at all. There was no fraud or concealment, and those who represented the Government in taking on the risk apparently no more suspected the existence of a hidden regulation that would render the contract void than did the policyholder. It is very well to say that those who deal with the Government should turn square corners. ButPage 388there is no reason why the square corners should constitute a one-way street.

The Government asks us to lift its policies out of the control of the States and to find or fashion a federal rule to govern them. I should respond to that request by laying down a federal rule that would hold these agencies to the same fundamental principles of fair dealing that have been found essential in progressive states to prevent insurance from being an investment in disappointment.

MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS joins in this opinion.
  1. Page 383 Judging from the legislative history of the Act, the Government engaged in crop insurance as a pioneer. Private insurance companies apparently deemed all-risk crop insurance too great a commercial hazard. See Report and Recommendations of the President's Committee on Crop Insurance, H. Doc. No. 150, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 2-4, 11-12; H.R. Rep. No. 1479, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 2; 81 Cong. Rec. 2866, 2867, 2887, 2891, 2893, 2895; Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry on S. 1397, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., 125, 185. But this does not affect the legal issues. It merely underscores the fact that the undertaking by the Government is not an ordinary commercial undertaking, and thereby reenforces the conclusion that the rules of law whereby private insurance companies are rendered liable for the acts of their agents are not bodily applicable to a Government agency like the Corporation, unless Congress has so provided. ↩
  2. Page 385 "H. Acceptance by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. — It is understood and agreed that upon acceptance of the application by a duly authorized representative of the Corporation as evidenced by his approval below, the insurance contract shall be in effect, provided the application has been submitted in accordance with the provisions of the application and the applicable Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations. It is further understood and agreed that the accepted application and the applicable Wheat Crop Insurance Regulations, including any amendments thereto, constitute the contract between the Corporation and the insured." ↩
  3. Page 385 "§ 414.3Acceptance of applications by the Corporation. (a) Upon acceptance of an application by a duly authorized representative Page 386 of the Corporation, the insurance contract shall be in effect, provided such application is submitted in accordance with the provisions of the application and of these regulations, including any amendments thereto."10 Fed. Reg. 1586. The regulation defined "insurance contract" as "the contract of insurance entered into between the applicant and the Corporation by virtue of the application for insurance and these regulations and any amendments thereto."10 Fed. Reg. 1591. ↩