Amalgamated Sugar Co. v. United States

60 Cust. Ct. 268, 281 F. Supp. 373, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2504
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 13, 1968
DocketC.D. 3361
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 60 Cust. Ct. 268 (Amalgamated Sugar Co. 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
Amalgamated Sugar Co. v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 268, 281 F. Supp. 373, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2504 (cusc 1968).

Opinion

Foe», Judge:

The importations involved in this protest consist of merchandise invoiced as a “Twin Amarilla Pump” and described as a rotary displacement magma pump, together with rotors and other parts for such a pump. The merchandise was classified as pumps for liquids and parts thereof and assessed with duty at the rate of 12 per centum ad valorem under item 660.90 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States. Plaintiff claims the merchandise is entitled to free entry under the provisions of TSUS item 666.20 as machinery for use in the manufacture of sugar and parts thereof.

The tariff description, item 660.90, pursuant to which the subject merchandise was classified, appears in TSUS under schedule 6 (“Metals and Metal Products”), part 4 (“Machinery and Mechanical Equipment”), subpart A (“Boilers, Non-Electric Motors and Engines, and Other General Purpose Machinery”), and reads as follows:

Pumps for liquids, whether or not fitted with measuring devices; liquid elevators of bucket, chain, screw, band, and similar types; all the foregoing whether operated by hand or by any kind of power unit, and parts thereof_ 12% ad val.

The tariff description, item 666.20, pursuant to which the subject merchandise is claimed to be classifiable, also appears in TSUS under schedule 6, part 4, but under subpart O (“Agricultural and Horticultural Machinery; Machinery for Preparing Food and Drink”), and reads as follows:

Industrial machinery for preparing and manufacturing food or drink, and parts thereof:
Machinery for use in the manufacture of sugar, and parts thereof-:- Free

The testimonial record in this case consists of the testimony given by two witnesses for the plaintiff: Mr. Burnall S. Brown, plaintiff’s vice president and general superintendent, and Mr. Sylvester M. Heiner, plaintiff’s chief engineer. In major part, the testimony of these witnesses may be summarized to facilitate the presentation in this decision of the facts developed upon the trial, as follows:

There are three stages in the sugar-manufacturing process: Extraction, purification, and crystallization. The subject pump and pump parts are used in connection with the crystallization stage. At a point in the sugar-manufacturing process, prior to the involvement of the subject importations, the sugar juices become a substance called [270]*270magma, or fillmass, a combination of sugar impurities and water. The magma is pumped into crystallizing tanks, then to an affinator, where the separation of the sugar and the “mother liquid” takes place. The imported pump, installed in plaintiff’s Rupert, Iowa, factory is used to pump the magma into the crystallizing tank. The imported pump parts, installed in plaintiff’s factory at ISTyssa, Oregon, are used to pump the magma from the affinator to a holding tank above the centrifugal machine.

Magma was described as a highly viscous material having a consistency similar to taffy. It is approximately 92 percent solid and 8 percent water. The magma is heated to 50 degrees centigrade and is warm when going through the pump. It does not flow easily nor can it be poured as syrup, but when heated, it becomes less viscous and more fluid and will flow much more readily. Mr. Brown would not call magma a liquid, but thought it would seek a level when placed in a container. Mr. Heiner defined a liquid as a fluid which seeks a uniform level when placed in a receiver.

The witnesses agreed that the pump and pump parts are necessary in the manufacture of sugar and are integral parts of the sugar-manufacturing process. Mr. Heiner stated that, to his knowledge, the pump was designed for handling magma in a sugar factory. When asked if the pump would be of any other use except as part of the sugar-manufacturing machinery, Mr. Brown replied that his firm could not use it for any other purpose. When asked a similar question, Mr. Heiner answered that it could be used for other purposes, but it may make a poor application as a water pump. or. a pump for oil or syrup for the reason that there would be slippage between the rotor and the pump case. The pump would pump molasses, but, again, it would be a poor application.

The law, of course, is well settled that the collector is presumed to have found every fact necessary to sustain his classification. Novelty Import Co., Inc. v. United States, 53 CCPA 28, C.A.D. 872. Underlying the classification here is the collector’s finding that the subject merchandise consists of pumps, and pump parts, which are used for liquids. It is equally well settled that the burden of proof is on a protestant to show by substantial evidence not only that the collector’s classification is wrong, Brown Boveri Corp., Gehrig Hoban & Co., Inc. v. United States, 53 CCPA 19, C.A.D. 870, but also to establish that the classification for which he contends is correct. Novelty Import Co., Inc. v. United States, supra.

With respect to the twofold evidentiary burden imposed upon plaintiff, it is to be noted that defendant concedes (at page 7 of its brief) the imported merchandise falls within the provisions for machinery for use in the manufacture of sugar. However, for reasons which will be discussed below, we do not agree with defendant’s concession.

[271]*271Plaintiff does not argue that the importations are not a pump and pump parts, but directs the attack against the collector’s classification upon the contention that the substances which the importations are capable of pumping are not liquids. Toward that end, much of plaintiff’s evidence is intended to establish that magma is not a liquid and, therefore, the merchandise was not properly classified under item 660.90 which is limited to pumps for liquids.

Accepting the validity of plaintiff’s hypothesis, the first question is whether plaintiff has established that the importations are not within the provisions for pumps and parts in item 660.90 because they do not satisfy the adjective limitation “for liquids” contained in that tariff description.

In order to resolve the question, the court may take judicial notice of certain established facts of physical science. All matter has three states of material aggregation, the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous. Antonymous to the solid state, liquids and gases are considered to be fluid substances. A fluid is defined in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966, as—

a substance that alters its shape in response to any force however small, that tends to flow or conform to the outline of its container, and that includes gases and liquids and in strictly technical use certain plastic solids and mixtures of solids and liquids capable of flow.

A liquid, in turn, may be understood in accordance with the definition contained in Webster’s New International Dictionary, second edition, 1956:

liquid n. 1. A substance in the liquid state. Liquids differ from gases in being only slightly compressible, and in being incapable of indefinite expansion. They differ from solids in the ease with which their particles move upon one another, causing them to adapt themselves to the shape of the containing vessel. Some liquids are very viscous, however, no sharp line can be drawn between liquids and solids. Liquid and fluid are often used synonymously, but fluid has the broader signification, including both liquids and gases. [Emphasis quoted.]

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Bluebook (online)
60 Cust. Ct. 268, 281 F. Supp. 373, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amalgamated-sugar-co-v-united-states-cusc-1968.