Gold Kist, Inc. v. Alimenta (U. S. A.), Inc.
Gold Kist, Inc. v. Alimenta (U. S. A.), Inc.
Opinion of the Court
Appellee Alimenta initiated this action for damages against appellant Gold Kist in the Superior Court of Fulton County for the alleged breach of certain contracts to sell shelled peanuts. Gold Kist filed an answer and a counterclaim seeking compensatory and exemplary damages based upon Alimenta’s purported violation of Section 9 (b) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 USC § 13 (b)). This appeal is from the grant of Alimenta’s motion to dismiss that counterclaim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Held:
We affirm. “In considering the propriety of state-court jurisdiction over any particular federal claim, . . . the presumption of con
As pointed out by Gold Kist, the exclusive jurisdiction provisions of 7 USC § 25 cited above did not become effective until January 11, 1983, and were not made applicable to causes of action accruing before that date. See 7 USC § 25 (d). However, even though Gold Kist’s counterclaim was filed prior to that date, review of the case law and legislative history persuade us that the amendment was intended to expressly confirm an exclusive federal jurisdiction already conferred by federal courts or implied by other statutory provisions. See Kelly v. Carr, supra at 804-06. Indeed, in determining whether a private cause of action was implicit in the statutory scheme as a supplement to the express enforcement provisions, the Act also being silent in this regard, the Supreme Court considered the congressional intent as we have done here in reaching the conclusion that such a remedy was available. See Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Curran, 456 U. S. 353 (V) (102 SC 1825, 72 LE2d 182) (1982). We are convinced that Congress through the 1982 amendment meant to preserve rather than to create an exclusive federal forum, having recognized that “[i]n this way . . ., a readily available, coherent body of law [was] most likely to evolve, subject to review and correction within the single, unified system of Federal courts employing common proce
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.