PACA Trust Provision Webinar – Session Recording and Presentation Now Availablee

On January 29, 2013, the USDA published the session recording and presentation materials from its recent PACA Trust Provision Webinar.  If you missed the webinar or would like to view it again, below is a link to a recording of the event.

PACA Trust Webinar Session Recording

As you will see, the USDA hosts the session recording and you will need to follow the directions provided to listen to the recorded session.

For those of you who do not wish to listen to the recorded event, you may find the presentation materials with speaker notes here:  PACA Trust Webinar – January 2013

Given the significant amount of questions asked during the webinar, the speakers were unable to answer them.  So, the USDA and I invite you to ask your questions directly to any of the speakers.

Karla Whalen – Director, PACA Division

Tel: (202) 720-4180  E-mail: karla.whalen@ams.usda.gov

Josephine Jenkins – Acting Chief, Investigative Enforcement Branch, PACA Division

Tel: (202) 720-0616  E-mail: josephine.jenkins@ams.usda.gov

Jason Klinowski, Esq. – PACA Trust Attorney, Freeborn & Peters LLP

Tel: (312) 360-6536  E-mail: jklinowski@freebornpeters.com

USDA Practice Tip – Single Transaction Rule

A produce buyer is not at liberty to breach a contract with a produce seller via nonpayment on an invoice simply because the buyer perceives that a seller is indebted to them.  A buyer who accepts produce becomes liable to the seller for the full purchase price thereof, less any damage resulting from any breach of contract by the seller.  Ocean Breeze Export, Inc. v. Rialto Distributing, Inc., 60 Agric. Dec. 840 (2001)(emphasis added).  

An offset is not a defense to a buyer’s non-payment.  See Standard Fruit & Steamship Company v. Jos. Notarianni & Company, Inc., 41 Agric. Dec. 1425 (1982)(finding the buyer defenseless against a seller’s unpaid invoice claim and holding that the buyer owed the gross invoice amount, unless it can prove offsetting credits. )

What does this mean?  Every produce transaction/file must stand on its own.  It also means that a buyer cannot justify its failure to make full payment promptly under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act simply because the seller may owe the buyer some amount on an unrelated produce transaction/file.