Check a produce invoice or notice used to preserve a PACA trust
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Extract the trust wording on the face of the invoice, or the written notice of intent to preserve trust benefits, and the dates of acceptance, payment due, and the notice. Do not draft the invoice legend or the notice.
- What the lawyer must review
- The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service trust page states that a licensee may preserve trust rights by placing this wording on the face of the invoice, and that the wording must be exact: "The perishable agricultural commodities listed on this invoice are sold subject to the statutory trust authorized by section 5(c) of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499e(c)). The seller of these commodities retains a trust claim over these commodities, all inventories of food or other products derived from these commodities, and any receivables or proceeds from the sale of these commodities until full payment is received." An unlicensed seller, or a licensee who does not use that wording, must give a written notice of intent to preserve trust benefits, including the names and addresses of the seller, commission merchant, or agent and the debtor, the date of the transaction, the commodity, the invoice price, the payment terms, and the amount past due and unpaid. Notice is given within 30 days from the day payment was due, or from notice that a timely submitted payment was dishonored. The lawyer compares the file with that wording and those dates. The licensing page states that licensees must maintain trust assets. ABA Model Rules 1.1 and 5.3 and Formal Opinion 512 leave the comparison with the lawyer.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Potential support includes extracting and organising information and preparing preliminary structure or wording. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Trace every relied-on figure to its source, confirm dates and assumptions, and independently recalculate totals or derived amounts.
- Confirm the appropriate instructions, permissions and cultural context with the relevant people before using information or communicating the result.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.