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

44 Cust. Ct. 630
United States Customs Court·Decided April 7, 1960·No. Reap. Dec. 9656; Entry Nos. A-4033; A-4058; A-3770; A-3960·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Donlon, Judge:

Four appeals to reappraisement have been consolidated for purposes of trial. The merchandise consists of steam traps, which were exported from Canada. Plaintiff abandoned its appeals as to all the imported steam traps except only those that were enumerated by statement in open court. Such steam traps are identified in the invoices (which are of record) either by the letter “S” or the letter “P.” These steam traps, as to which the appeals are now prosecuted, are the invoice items that are set forth in the annexed schedule A, which is made a part of this decision and the accompanying judgment order.

There being no evidence of record to overcome the presumption, as to all other merchandise, that the appraiser’s valuations are correct, the appraisements will be affirmed as to such merchandise.

The official papers in the four appeals are in evidence.

Defendant concedes that these steam traps were valued by the appraiser on the basis of cost of production. Plaintiff agrees that cost of production is the proper basis of appraisement, and in its suit controverts only the computation of cost of production values, as determined by the appraiser. This issue is before us on plaintiff’s appeals. The appraiser’s computation of cost of production is the material issue that plaintiff has raised.

Defendant did not file any appeal to reappraisement as to the merchandise of these appeals, and is, therefore, not in position to controvert the actions and decisions of the appraiser.

[632] The first issue to be resolved is whether plaintiff has sufficiently overcome the presumption of correctness that attaches to the appraiser’s action. Plaintiff argues that it has done so. Defendant argues that it has not. In this argument defendant relies, first, and it would appear chiefly, on an alleged failure of plaintiff, notwithstanding its acceptance of the appraiser’s basis of valuation, to negative, by adequate proofs, the existence of a foreign or export or United States value, for both such and similar merchandise, as a condition precedent to upholding appraisement on the basis of cost of production.

That plaintiffs have a heavy burden of proof in appeals to reap-praisement, is undoubted. It badly serves the efficient and orderly disposition of judicial work, however, for the Government to seek to enlarge this burden beyond the scope of issues in litigation in an appeal. As defendant correctly observes in its brief (p. 9), citing as authority Brooks Paper Company v. United States, 40 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 38, C.A.D. 495, the plaintiff’s burden is to prove the action of the appraiser erroneous and to establish some other dutiable value as the proper one; and, to do this, plaintiff must meet every material issue that is involved in the case. What are the material issues involved in this case ?

In the Brooks case, supra, the material issue was not whether appraisement should be at foreign or export value, for plaintiff there contended that these values were the same. What plaintiff litigated as the material issue in the Brooks case, was the amount of value. Our appeals court found that plaintiff had not borne its burden of proving what was the usual wholesale quantity in which the merchandise was offered, that being an element of valuation. There is no suggestion in the Brooks litigation that negativing any kind of value was a material issue. The holding of the appeals court is adequately summarized in a sentence in the final paragraph of its opinion in the Broohs case:

. . . The appellate division was, in our opinion, correct in holding that the evidence is insufficient to establish the usual wholesale quantities and that appellant has therefore failed to establish all the elements necessary for the court below to make a valid appraisement. [P. 51; emphasis supplied.]

In support of its argument that a plaintiff who does not challenge the basis of appraisement, but who does challenge the computation and that only, must, nevertheless, meet, as a material issue, those factors of appraisement which have not been controverted, defendant cites 13 cases. Not one of the cited cases holds this proposition for which defendant argues.

In United States v. Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc., 32 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 187, C.A.D. 305, there was no material issue as to the [633] basis of appraisement. The basis of the appraiser’s valuation was cost of production, as it is here. The sole controversy in the Dunhill case was whether an English purchase tax was or was not an item entering into the computation of cost of production. That was the material issue in the Dunhill case.

In United States v. Thomas & Co., 21 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 254, the basis of valuation found by the appraiser was United States value. The importer claimed appraisement on the basis of foreign or export value. Therefore, basis was a material issue in the Thomas case. The appeals court affirmed the finding of the appellate division that the importer had met its burden by proving what the foreign value of similar merchandise was.

In United States v. The American Bluefriesveem, Inc., 22 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 67, the merchandise was valued by the appraiser at United States value. This basis of appraisement was challenged by the importer. Basis, therefore, was a material issue in the case. As in the Thomas case, sufra, there were sufficient proofs of the values (foreign or export, as to different articles) of similar merchandise.

In United States v. Irving Massin & Bros., 16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 19, the material issue, likewise, was as to whether certain merchandise was similar, in the statutory sense. While disassociating itself from the concept of similarity that had been expressed by the appellate division, the appeals court found that this error of definition was harmless, on the facts of record before it.

In T. W. Holt & Co. v. United States, 23 Cust. Ct. 243, Reap. Dec. 7714, the appraiser used foreign value. The importer, claiming export value instead, made the basis of appraisement a material issue, in which negativing the appraiser’s foreign value, by sufficient proofs, was obligatory.

In Japan Import Co. v. United States, 24 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 167, appraisal was on the basis of the American selling price of a domestic article, pursuant to Presidential proclamation. The importer contended that the Presidential proclamation was unconstitutional, as an unlawful delegation by Congress of the taxing power; that there was no like or similar domestic (American) article; and that appraisement should be on the basis of foreign value. These were all material issues, because the importer made them so by its controversy in the litigation. Our appeals court held against the importer on the constitutional issue; and, as to foreign value, found that “there is substantial evidence in the record in support of the finding that the imported articles and the domestic articles were like or similar.” (P. 177.) Accordingly, the importer had not negatived the basis of ap-praisement, which it had made a material issue in the Japan Import case.

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A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 630 (cusc 1960).

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