B. A. McKenzie & Co. v. United States

58 Cust. Ct. 460, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2363
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 29, 1967
DocketC.D. 3020
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 58 Cust. Ct. 460 (B. A. McKenzie & 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
B. A. McKenzie & Co. v. United States, 58 Cust. Ct. 460, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2363 (cusc 1967).

Opinion

Bao, Chief Judge:

The merchandise involved in these cases, consolidated at the trial, is described on the invoices as louver doors or as bifold door units, in various sizes. Plaintiff’s brief limits the claim to single panels or two panels hinged together, in the following sizes:

Height: 78% inches
Widths: 834,11%, 13%, 14%, 15 %, 17%, and 23% inches
Thickness: 1% inches

The merchandise covered by protests 64/23411 and 65/16271 consists of two panels, hinged together and having certain hardware thereon. It appears that any claims as to wooden shoji doors in various sizes on the entry covered by protest 65/3456, and the panels in size 14% by 94% inches on the entry covered by protest 65/13129, have been abandoned.

The merchandise was imported from Japan during 1963 and 1964. It was assessed with duty at 16% per centum ad valorem as manufactures or articles of wood, not specially provided for, and is claimed to be properly dutiable at 15 per centum ad valorem as doors. The assessment and the claim are under the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, as to merchandise entered prior to August 31, 1963, and under the Tariff Schedules of the United States 'as to merchandise entered thereafter.

The pertinent provisions of the statutes are as follows:

Paragraph 412, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and [462]*462Trade, 84 Treas. Dec. 403, T.D. 52373, supplemented by Presidential proclamation, 85 Treas. Dec. 138, T.D. 52476: ■

Manufactures of wood or bark, or of which, wood or bark is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for:
Other (except * * *)-16%% ad val.

Paragraph 412, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 91 Treas. Dec. 150, T.D. 54108:

Manufactures of wood or bark, or of which wood or bark is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for:
Doors_ 15% ad val.

Tariff Schedules of the United States:

206.30 Wood doors with or without their hardware _ 15% ad val.
* ” ’ * * * sk
207.00 • Articles not specially provided for, of wood_16%% ad val.

The following witnesses testified at the trial on behalf of the plaintiff: James C. Picha, president of Allied Building Components, the importer herein; Donald MacDonald, manager and vice president of Seattle Door Company; Robert Rose, assistant sales manager of Palmer G. Lewis Company; Valen K. Kramer, vice president in charge of sales of Allied Building Components; and Charles D. Walker, importer, manufacturer,' and seller of louver doors and shutters. Defendant called Jack F. Howland, whose business, J. F. Howland Associates, relates to home furnishings and home decorating.

The official papers, samples illustrative of the imported merchandise, and catalogs and brochures were received in evidence.

Exhibit 6 consists of a full louvered panel, 11% inches wide and 78% inches high, and exhibit 7 consists of a panel louvered in part and in part with a raised panel, 11% inches wide and 78% inches high. Exhibit 1 consists of two panels 78% inches high and 11% inches wide, hinged together and having certain hardware thereon. Mr. Picha testified' that the hardware was described on a sheet attached to the invoice, as 2-B hardware. It is listed there as — ■

1 pair upper pivot assemblies 1 pair guide wheel assemblies 1 pair lower pivot pin

Mr. Picha stated that panels without hardware are imported in exact width and height for bifold door use and that hinges and hardware [463]*463are added after importation. Such panels and those imported with the hardware already attached are sold with an extra carton containing a track and lower housing and a set of instructions for mounting. The witness said he had planned or designed the hardware for use with the track and described it as follows:

The guide wheels have a dowel fit process, which means that they do not have to have a wood screw to hold them in. Therefore, in use they don’t work loose. The lower housing has a patented adjustment feature. Therefore, when the door goes in the opening, it can be adjusted to the outer square opening. The track is of a vinyl material, and has an adhesive feature on it. * * *

It appears from the brochures and instruction sheets (exhibits 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11) that the track is attached to the top of an opening, and the lower housing is positioned on the floor directly under the track. The pivot on the top of the outside edge of one pair of panels is inserted into the upper pivot housing. The pivot on the bottom of the panel fits into the lower housing. The pair of panels is then slid onto the track. Two hinged panels forming a single unit or two sets of hinged pairs may be used to close an opening. The top appears to fit closely to the track, and the bottom is flush with the sill. To open, one panel is folded against another. The panels are taut when closed. Knobs may be placed on the panels to assist in opening and closing.

Mr. Picha testified that the panels with the hardware, as in exhibit 1, are designed to be used only with importer’s track and mountings. He stated that the standard widths of doors are 2 feet 6 inches, 2 feet 8 inches, 3, 4, 5, and 6 feet, and that the standard heights or opening sizes are 6 feet 8y2 inches and 8 feet. He explained that the doors sold by his firm have to be made a quarter inch undersize in width and an inch and three-eighths undersize in height in order to work. At one time, his firm made doors 78% inches high because the original hardware took a little less in height room.

According to the witness, the sole business of the importer is the selling of bifold wooden doors all over the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. The units are sold to independent wholesalers, such as Palmer G. Lewis, lumber yards, large builders, and national chains, such as United States Plywood, and Ward’s. His firm has also ordered and purchased door panels in exact heights and widths from a domestic manufacturer, Seattle Door Company, and has added the hardware in the same way as to the imported panels. Mr. Picha estimated that his firm had imported 150,000 units in the past 5 years.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 Cust. Ct. 460, 1967 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-a-mckenzie-co-v-united-states-cusc-1967.