First Circuit Rules PACA Appeal Provisions Are Jurisdictional

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of an attempted
appeal from an administrative ruling under the Perishable Agricultural
Commodities Act (PACA), agreeing with the district court that the company
which allegedly failed to pay all of the required purchase price on four
truckloads of produce failed to file an appropriate appeal bond within the
prescribed period. The Alphas Co. v. Kopke, No. 12-1581 (1st Cir., decided
February 13, 2013). So ruling, the court affirmed the order of an administrative
law judge, acting on behalf of the Secretary of Agriculture, awarding the
produce supplier $50,025 plus interest.

The bond that Alphas filed had “three material defects: it was not filed within
the prescribed thirty-day appeal period; it was in an amount less than the
amount stipulated; and it did not contain appropriate indemnification
covenants.” Looking to the statute, legislative history and other courts for
guidance, the First Circuit concluded, “In this case, all roads lead to Rome:
The text of the statute, its context, and its historical treatment point unerringly
in the same direction. In line with these signposts, we hold that the
bond requirements of the PACA are mandatory and jurisdictional, and that
the timely filing of a proper bond is a prerequisite for judicial review of a
reparation order.”