Pennington Seed, Inc. v. United States

Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge COFFIN.

COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge.

The Secretary of Agriculture required appellant Pennington Seed, Inc., to destroy or dispose of grass seed shipments that contained a “noxious weed” banned by one of two federal statutes governing seed importations. In this lawsuit, Pennington claims that the shipments fell under the jurisdiction of (and were permitted by) the other seed statute, that the destruction order therefore was unauthorized, and that the government is obligated to compensate the company for its losses. The district court upheld…