When leaf tobacco is placed on the floor of a leaf tobacco warehouse in a line or row according to custom in the warehouse preceding the actual sale, this act on the part of a person, firm, or corporation must be construed as offering the tobacco for sale, and the tobacco is offered for sale.

(1) No basket, sheet, or container may be used in a tobacco auction warehouse which deviates from the established average weight by a weight in excess of one pound over or under. The average weight must be established by weighing one hundred baskets, sheets, or containers picked at random, and this weight must be divided by one hundred. The average weight must be posted on the scale or scale house in a plain and conspicuous place. Each basket, sheet, or container in the warehouse which does not conform to this requirement must be removed from the premises or destroyed by the operators of the warehouse. Each warehouse must be equipped with a metal test weight which must be equal in weight to the established and posted weight of the basket, sheet, or container. The test weight must be used by the weighmaster in making allowance for the basket, sheet, or container when setting total tare on tare beam of scale to protect himself in the issuing of weight certificates provided for in Chapter 11 of this title.

(2) Warehouse trucks must be of the same weight, and weight needed to bring about this result must be attached permanently by a bolt. The weight must be painted, stenciled, or otherwise conspicuously marked on each truck and also must be posted on the scale or scale house.

(3) If the "even pound" system is used in the buying and selling of tobacco on the warehouse floor, the nearest "even pound" on indicator, dial, or beam must be used.

(4) A tolerance not exceeding two pounds on each basket, sheet, or container of tobacco weighing not more than one hundred fifty pounds and a tolerance of four pounds on each basket, sheet, or container of tobacco weighing more than one hundred fifty pounds must be considered a reasonable variation in weight. The variation is allowable only when supported by the facts in each case and applicable to each individual basket, sheet, or container of tobacco. Allowance must not be made for variations in weight on baskets, sheets, or containers erroneously weighed or illegally packed.

(5) A buyer of leaf tobacco at auction who makes a claim for an adjusted settlement with a warehouse, based on reweighing done by a licensed weighmaster, shall present his claim in writing to the warehouseman within twenty-four hours after the purchase of the tobacco. A warehouseman may require of the buyer that a claim for an adjusted settlement must be based upon reweights established by the weighmaster who originally weighed the tobacco on scales of tested accuracy.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 66-166; 1971 (57) 241; 1994 Act No. 501, Section 2, eff August 25, 1994.

Effect of Amendment

The 1994 amendment deleted "the Public Weighmasters Act" from the end of paragraph (1), and made grammatical changes throughout.