FEDERAL PROCEDURE-APPEAL UNDER FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG & COSMETIC ACT--SCOPE OF ADMIRALTY APPEAL COMPARED WITH APPEAL UNDER THE NEW FEDERAL RULES

Authors

De Witte Chatterton, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Appellee, the United States government, by a proceeding in rem, sought to condemn two shipments of canned oysters packed by appellant, the C. C. Company, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, on the ground that the oysters were wholly or partially decomposed. The district court found for the appellee on conflicting evidence of experts, and appellant appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On the theory that procedure on appeal should conform to appeals in admiralty, the circuit court of appeals reviewed the whole case de novo, reversed the district court on the ground that, while there was substantial evidence to warrant the findings of the trial court, the government had not proved its case by clear and convincing evidence as required in forfeiture cases. On rehearing, it was pointed out that the procedure on appeal for these cases should conform to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and on this basis, the court held that since the district court's findings of fact were not "clearly erroneous" they must be affirmed. C. C. Company v. United States, (C.C.A. 5th, 1945) 147 F. (2d) 820.

Recommended Citation

De W. Chatterton, FEDERAL PROCEDURE-APPEAL UNDER FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG & COSMETIC ACT--SCOPE OF ADMIRALTY APPEAL COMPARED WITH APPEAL UNDER THE NEW FEDERAL RULES, 44 Mich. L. Rev. 301 (1945).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol44/iss2/7