A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States

34 Cust. Ct. 452
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 18, 1955
DocketReap. Dec. 8390; Entry No. A-4897
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 34 Cust. Ct. 452 (A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States, 34 Cust. Ct. 452 (cusc 1955).

Opinion

Oliver, Chief Judge:

This appeal for reappraisement relates to merchandise that is described on the invoice as “Unik Doors No. 90- — - Stain Grade,” and which was exported by Canada Flushwood Door, Ltd., of Terrebonne, Quebec, and imported by the Concord Lumber Co., Inc., of Albany, N. Y. Entry was made at prices enumerated below. Appraisement was made at higher unit prices, which the appraiser regarded as foreign value, as such value is defined in section 402 (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938. The entered and appraised values of the different sizes of doors under consideration are as follows:

[453]*453Entered value Size (Canadian dollars) Appraised value (Canadian, dollars)

1'6" x 6'6" x 1%"_ $6. 20 $6. 30

1'8" x 6'6" x 1%"_ 6. 20 6. 30

2'0” x 6'6" x 1%"_. 6. 20 6. 30

2'4" x 6'6” x l%"_ 6. 60 6. 80

2'6" x 6'6” x 1%"_ 6. 80 2'8" x 6'6" x 7. 00 7. 00 7. 15

(all prices are less 0.090909% and less 5%)

Plaintiff's claims, as set forth in counsel's brief, are that “the cost of production is the proper basis for determining the dutiable values of the above doors and that the cost of production is the same or less than the above entered values; or in the alternative that the freely offered export and foreign values of the above merchandise are the same or less than the above entered values.”

The case has been the subject of hearings at Rouses Point, N. Y., where the merchandise was entered, and also at New York, N. Y. The record consists of the oral testimony of two witnesses and certain records of sales. All of the evidence was offered by plaintiff.

An employee of the Canadian exporting company testified, first, at Rouses Point and, later, at New York. The witness stated that he has been associated with the company for 18 years. He began his employment as an accountant. At present, he is the sales manager, having supervision over all sales. His testimony will support the following summation.

The Canadian exporter is a manufacturer of flushwood doors. The shipment under consideration consisted of different sizes of a door of peculiar design, identified as “The Unix ‘90’ Geeen Seal Dooe” (plaintiff’s exhibit 2), which is a patented article, the sole manufacturer thereof being the Canadian exporter. It is of a laminated construction that forms the framing of the door. The frame is filled with an egg cratelike construction of 4-inch squares, divided into three sections. “This door is ventilated all throughout. It is the only door manufactured in Canada that way.” Sales by the Canadian manufacturer in the foreign market for home consumption are in carload lots and in quantities of less than carload lots. A carload lot is understood to be a minimum of 600 doors, but sometimes the quantity is as many as “1100 doors in a car.” At the time of exportation of the present merchandise, the manufacturer confined its sales in the Canadian market for home consumption to two classes of purchasers, i. e., [454]*454wholesalers and lumber dealers, each of whom bought for resale. Wholesalers, who had warehouse facilities for storing the doors they purchased, received a discount of 10 per centum. Lumber dealers had no such storage facilities, so they paid the list price net.

The Canadian manufacturer’s sales of these doors to the United States were confined to distributors who were required to provide adequate storage facilities for the merchandise. Each distributor was limited in the sale of these doors to a definite area or territory, allocated by the Canadian manufacturer and exporter. The distributors were further restricted in their disposition of the doors, being required to sell to lumber dealers for resale.

Nine groups of invoices were received in evidence (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1). They were identified as representing all sales by the Canadian manufacturer of “Unik No. 90” doors during the months of December 1949, January 1950, and February 1950. An examination of them shows that in several groups, particularly those relating to transactions in the foreign market for home consumption (plaintiff’s collective exhibits 1-A, 1-B, 1-D, 1-E, 1-G, and 1-H), many individual invoices refer to one order, indicating that they are partial deliveries under a single contract or a general order, rather than separate sales. For example, in the groups allegedly relating to carload lots sold in the foreign market for home consumption, 7 of the invoices, bearing dates in December 1949 (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1-A), 9 of the invoices, bearing dates in January 1950 (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1-D), and 12 of the invoices, bearing dates in February 1950 (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1-G), relate to the Canadian manufacturer’s order C-3937. It is also observed that a very small percentage of these invoices cover a carload lot (600 doors, or more). The witness testified that these invoices are grouped according to the quantity ordered and not according to the quantity shipped. As they have been presented before me, however, the invoices cannot be taken as showing the quantity ordered under any particular or given contract.

The witness also offered testimony concerning various elements relating to the cost of production of these doors, but, in view of my disposition of this case, it is unnecessary to outline that phase of the testimony.

The vice president of the importing corporation, the Concord Lumber Co., Inc., of Albany, N. Y., testified that the said corporation is a distributor of these doors in a certain territory in the United States, fixed by the Canadian exporter, and that the corporation’s sales in this country are restricted to lumber dealers who resell the doors.

Plaintiff’s principal claim, alleging statutory cost of production (section 402 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930) as the proper basis for appraisement of this merchandise, is based on the premise that [455]*455“the goods are not freely offered for sale to all purchasers in Canada or for export to the United States or in the United States.” As supporting that contention, I find from the record, as hereinabove outlined, that the “Unit No. 90” doors in question are patented articles of special construction; that they are manufactured exclusively by the Canadian exporter of the shipment in question; that the Canadian manufacturer and exporter restricts itself in the disposition of the merchandise in the foreign market for home consumption by selling only to wholesalers and lumber dealers at different prices, depending on the status of the purchaser; and that the manufacturer also limits its sales to the United States to selected distributors, who are restricted in their disposition of the merchandise in this country under a requirement to sell, within allotted territories, only to lumber dealers for resale.

While it can be said that the Canadian manufacturer, at the time of exportation of the present merchandise, limited its sales in the foreign market for home consumption to certain classes of purchasers, i. e., wholesalers and lumber dealers, at different prices, depending on the category of the purchaser, the condition is not sufficient, in the light of the present record, to eliminate statutory foreign value as the proper basis for appraisement of the doors in question. Pertinent to this phase of the discussion is testimony, elicited on cross-examination of the sales manager of the Canadian manufacturer, reading as follows:

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Related

Maher-App & Co. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 598 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States
37 Cust. Ct. 591 (U.S. Customs Court, 1956)

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34 Cust. Ct. 452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-n-deringer-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1955.