7 U.S.C. § 2139
Section 2139 · Principal-agent relationship established
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Cox v. United States Department of Agriculture (1991)
Most recently applied in Wilson v. United States Department of Agriculture (May 1995)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
When construing or enforcing the provisions of this chapter, the act, omission, or failure of any person acting for or employed by a research facility, a dealer, or an exhibitor or a person licensed as a dealer or an exhibitor pursuant to the second sentence of section 2133 of this title, or an operator of an auction sale subject to section 2142 of this title, or an intermediate handler, or a carrier, within the scope of his employment or office, shall be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such research facility, dealer, exhibitor, licensee, operator of an auction sale, intermediate handler, or carrier, as well as of such person.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1976—Pub. L. 94–279 inserted “or an intermediate handler, or a carrier,” after “section 2142 of this title,” and substituted “operator of an auction sale, intermediate handler, or carrier, as well as of such person.” for “or an operator of an auction sale as well as of such person.” after “research facility, dealer, exhibitor, licensee,”.
1970—Pub. L. 91–579 inserted references to persons acting for or employed by exhibitors, persons licensed as exhibitors, and operators of auction sales subject to section 2142 of this title.
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–579 effective one year after Dec. 24, 1970, see section 23 of Pub. L. 91–579, set out as a note under section 2131 of this title.