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

37 Cust. Ct. 591
United States Customs Court·Decided December 7, 1956·No. Reap. Dec. 8708; Entry No. A-4897·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Mollison, Judge:

This appeal for reappraisement is before me on rehearing granted after decision was rendered by Chief Judge Oliver, which is reported as A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States, 34 Cust. Ct. 452, Reap. Dec. 8390. In view of the excellent summary of the facts and the law applicable thereto set forth by Chief Judge Oliver in the opinion referred to, it will be unnecessary to repeat the details here in full. Chief Judge Oliver found that the plaintiff, whose primary claim is for values based upon cost of production, had failed to offer sufficient evidence to overcome the presumption of correctness attaching to the values found by the appraiser; specifically, that the plaintiff had failed to establish that there was no foreign value for the merchandise.

The evidence shows that the doors involved were a patented article, the sole manufacturer of which in Canada was the exporter. It also shows that, at the time of exportation of the doors here in issue, such doors were offered for sale in Canada for home consumption at three levels of trade, viz, by the manufacturer, by wholesalers or jobbers (hereinafter called “wholesalers”)} to whom the manufacturer sold, and by lumber dealers (hereinafter called “dealers”) who purchased from either the manufacturer or the wholesalers. The dealers sold only to consumers.

The manufacturer offered the merchandise for home consumption to only two classes of trade, viz, certain wholesalers, selected on a territorial and warehouse space basis, and to dealers. The offered prices to the dealers were list prices net and depended upon the quantity ordered, the highest price being charged for quantities of 1 to 9 doors and the lowest for carload lots. The offered prices to the selected wholesalers was 10 per centum, less than the prices charged dealers for similar quantities.

[593]*593The manufacturer did not offer the merchandise to all wholesalers, but only to selected wholesalers. Moreover, it clearly appears that the manufacturer imposed restrictions upon the resale of the doors by the wholesalers to whom it sold, limiting them to sales to dealers and only at prices which the manufacturer fixed.

Chief Judge Oliver found that, in view of the foregoing limitations and restrictions, there was no foreign value for the merchandise at the manufacturer's level of offers for sale, but, in view of the fact that the record failed to show that sales at the wholesalers' or dealers' levels were restricted, he held that the plaintiff had failed to eliminate statutory foreign value as the proper basis for appraisement of the doors in question.

Cited as authorities for this action are Glanson Co. v. United States, 31 Cust. Ct. 473, A. R. D. 33, and United States v. H. W. Robinson & Co. et al., 19 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 274, T. D. 45436.

Moreover, the chief judge found, such evidence on the point as existed in the record indicated that wholesalers and dealers could freely offer the merchandise to all persons who wished to buy.

The chief judge granted a motion for rehearing, made on behalf of the plaintiff, the supporting affidavit in which indicated that evidence could be presented to establish that neither the wholesalers nor the dealers offered the merchandise for sale within the conditions laid down in the foreign value statute, section 402 (e) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

On the rehearing, with the obvious purpose of establishing that the appraised values had an erroneous basis, plaintiff called to the stand the appraiser at the port of entry, who testified that the merchandise was appraised at the manufacturer’s selling price for 1 to 9 doors. Since the chief judge had ruled that no foreign value for the merchandise at the manufacturer’s level existed, because of the limitations and restrictions imposed by the manufacturer on sales at its level, it seems clear that one of the findings upon which the appraised value rested was shown to be erroneous by this evidence.

Nevertheless, the plaintiff was under the burden of establishing the correct values of the merchandise and, for this purpose, called to the stand the sales manager of the Canadian manufacturer and exporter, who had previously testified in the case.

The testimony of this witness before me on the rehearing represents some amplification, some explanation, and, in some respects, a change from his prior testimony, which he stated was given in part under a misapprehension. Having examined the record and observed the witness personally, the court is satisfied that the purpose of counsel in interrogating the witness as to his prior inconsistent testimony was solely to elicit the truth and that the testimony given on the latest rehearing should be accepted as representing the evidence given by [594]*594the witness in the matter. No effort was made on the part of the defendant to offer evidence to contradict or controvert the same.

The evidence given by the witness was to the effect that, at the wholesalers’ level, there were restrictions requested by the manufacturer and adhered to by the wholesalers in respect to (1) the class of purchaser to whom they could resell, and (2) the resale price. According to the evidence, the wholesalers limited themselves to sales to dealers and barred sales to consumers, including those who might have wished to purchase in wholesale quantities, such as contractors, builders, owners of public and private buildings, etc., and did not sell the doors at any prices lower or higher than those charged by the manufacturer in its sales to dealers.

Further, according to the evidence, dealers were bound to sell only to consumers and did not sell to anyone for resale.

It, therefore, appears that at the three levels at which merchandise such as that here involved was offered for sale in Canada such offers were accompanied by restriction as to resale, which barred their consideration as free offers for sale within the meaning contemplated by the valuation statute. United States v. Heemsoth-Kerner Corp., 31 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 75, C. A. D. 252, and United States v. Graham & Zenger, Inc., 31 id. 131, C. A. D. 262.

The facts set forth above compel a finding that no foreign value, as the term is defined in section 402 (c) of the Tariff Act, as amended, existed for merchandise such as that here involved. The evidence shows that the doors here involved were of a ventilated construction, which was patented, and that no other ventilated construction doors were made or offered for sale in Canada. Therefore, no foreign value for similar merchandise existed, nor, for that matter and for the same reasons, did an export or United States value for similar merchandise exist.

The record shows that the same situation as to restrictive sales practices obtained in the offer of the merchandise for sale in Canada for exportation to the United States and that at the two levels of trade at which it was offered for same in the United States, i. e., the wholesalers’ and dealers’, the sale restrictions applied. It, therefore, follows for the same reasons that no export value or United States value, as defined in the act, existed for such or similar merchandise, requiring recourse, for the valuation of the merchandise, to the cost of production portion of the statute, section 402 (f), which is quoted in full in the margin.1

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A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States, 37 Cust. Ct. 591 (cusc 1956).

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