Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul

Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 8, 1963 Decided May 13, 1963
Full case name	Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc., et al. v. Paul, Director of the Department of Agriculture of California, et al.
Citations	373 U.S. 132 (more) 83 S. Ct. 1210; 10 L. Ed. 2d 248; 1963 U.S. LEXIS 1617
Holding
California Agricultural Code §792 neither violates the Supremacy Clause nor the Equal Protection Clause.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by Warren, Harlan, Stewart, Goldberg
Dissent	White, joined by Black, Douglas, Clark

Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132 (1963), was a 1963 decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court declined to invalidate a California law that imposed minimum fat content standards on avocados sold in the state, including those imported from other states. The law prohibited the sale of avocados that did not contain at least 8% oil by weight. Florida, a major avocado producer, employed, for wholesale marketing purposes, a federal standard unrelated to oil content. Most Florida avocados that were marketable at home failed to meet the California standard, because they were a different variety from those sold in California, with a lower fat content. Accordingly, Florida avocado growers brought this suit, arguing (unsuccessfully) that the California law (1) was preempted by federal law, (2) violated equal protection, and (3) unduly burdened and interfered with their right to engage in interstate commerce. The case is widely used in law school casebooks on constitutional law and federal jurisdiction as illustrative of preemption issues.

There are three principal races or groups of avocado: Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian, named for the areas where they were originally cultivated. Mexican avocados have foliage with an anise scent and small fruits about the size of a plum, with black or purple smooth skin. Guatemalan avocados have larger, blackish-green, rough-skinned fruits. The West Indian avocado has the largest fruits, up to 2 lbs (1 kg), with smooth light green skin. Mexican avocados have the highest oil content; West Indian the lowest. The important cultivars now in commercial production are mostly hybrids between these three original races.

In 1925, California enacted a law requiring that "all avocados, at the time of picking, and at all times thereafter, shall contain not less than 8 percent of oil, by weight of the avocado excluding the skin and seed." In 1925, practically all the avocados in the United States came from California. The purpose of this legislation was to prevent the marketing of immature avocados, which never ripen properly, but decay or shrivel up and become rubbery and unpalatable. The effect of marketing immature avocados is to antagonize consumers; this increases future sales resistance against buying avocados.

In 1925, most of the avocados grown in California were, as they are at the present time, from trees derived from Mexican varieties (e.g. Haas avocados). Such avocados contain at least 8% oil when mature. The Florida avocado growers, however, mostly cultivate West Indian, Guatemalan, and hybrid varieties, which may reach maturity and be acceptable and reach their prime for marketing prior to reaching an 8% oil content, or they may never reach that level of oil content. All members of the Court agreed that there is no health issue; the question is "a purely economic one."