B. Holman, Inc. v. United States

3 Cust. Ct. 130, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1770
United States Customs Court·Decided October 4, 1939·No. C. D. 218·Published

Opinion

Evans, Judge:

This cause is before the court on a motion to dismiss protests filed against the collector’s so-called reliquidations of the entries involved and also against his refusal to post such.reliquidations. The protests are identical and are in the following language:

Notice of dissatisfaction is hereby given with and protest is hereby made against your refusal to reliquidate the entry below listed under and after the passage of the Tariff Act of 1930. That if your action in endorsing on said entry “No Change Tariff Act of 1930” dated July 30, 1931, which was brought to the importer's attention within sixty days of the date of this protest, constitutes a re-liquidation, we hereby protest said reliquidation and claim that the merchandise described on said invoices as goats, goatskins, or moufflons on which duty has been assessed at 25% is properly dutiably at 20% under Par. 1558, or is free of duty under Par. 1681, or is properly dutiable at 10% under Par. 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

We further protest your refusal of March 20, 1936 to post such reliquidation dated July 30, 1931.

We further claim that the assessment of duties made herein is illegal and void.
The above claims severally and collectively are alternatively made under the paragraphs or sections cited, both directly, and by virtue of the “similitude” and “component material of chief value” clauses of Par. 1559 of the Tariff Act of June 17, 1930 and under the rules relating to the ordinary meaning of words, the commercial designation of the merchandise, or the chief or principal use thereof.

At the trial of the issue the Government moved to dismiss, whereupon the importer’s attorney asked for time in order that stipulations of fact might be agreed upon for submission to the court for its con[131]*131sideration when passing upon the motion. The stipulations are identical except as to the initials of the clerks of the collector’s office appearing thereon and the dates of the alleged reliquidations.

We set forth the stipulation in protest 867698-G as follows:

It is stipulated by and between the respective parties herein as follows:
1. That the merchandise involved in this entry consisted of moufflons (goatskins) imported under the Tariff Act of 1922.
2. The entry was liquidated on the 2nd day of April, 1930, assessing duty on the merchandise at 25% under Par. 1420 of the Tariff Act of 1922, and that on the face of the entry appears the stamp reading:
“Liquidated April — 2—30”
3. That said merchandise all remained in warehouse until after June 17, 1930, the date of the enactment of the Tariff Act of 1930.
4. That there appears on the inside of the entry paper the following:
“JULY 30 1931 (Initials) JJS No change under Act of 1930 Ver. (Initials) WHM (Initials) MMG”
5. That the initials JJS. WHM, and MMG were placed thereon by the following customs officials, holding the following positions:
Initials Name Position
JJS J. J. Smith Liquidator, Collector’s Office.
WHM W. H. Morehead liquidator, Comptroller’s Office.
MMG M. McGann Clerk, Warehouse Division, Collector’s Office.
6. That there has never been any posting in the Custom House in the port of New York under the Tariff Act of 1930 of a reliquidation of said entry after salid date of July 30, 1931, nor any posting of any liquidation or reliquidation since the passage of the Tariff Act of 1930.
7. Written demand was made under date of March 9, 1936, upon the Collector either to reliquidate or repost a liquidation under the Tariff Act of 1930 of the entry in question.
8. That refusal so to reliquidate or post a liquidation under the Tariff Act of 1930 was made by the Collector of Customs under date of March 20, 1936.
9. That the protest herein was filed within sixty days of said date of March 20, 1936.
10. That protest against the original liquidation of April 2, 1930, was duly filed under the Act of 1922, and thereafter and on or about April 22, 1936, a motion was made in this court to amend said protest so as to include a claim for reclassification under the Tariff Act of 1930, which motion was denied by the United States Customs Court, First Division, May 12, 1936, and said protest dismissed, which said decision is now the subject of appeal to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Suit No. 4093, now pending undetermined before that court.

Subsequently stipulations were filed in which it was agreed that as to protest 867701-G, the merchandise covered by entry 17663 was. withdrawn from warehouse and duty paid thereon on July 6, 1833, and January 17, 1934, respectively, and that none of the merchandise covered by said entry remained in warehouse subsequent to. January 17, 1934. As to protest 867698-G it was agreed that all of [132]*132the merchandise covered by entry 20789 was withdrawn from warehouse for consumption and duty paid on August 18, 1930.

Since the motion raises the question of the sufficiency of the protest we set forth the provisions of the statute (the Tariff Act of 1930) governing protests as follows:

SBC. 514. PROTEST AGAINST COLLECTOR’S DECISIONS.
Except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 516 of this Act (relating to protests by American manufacturers, producers, and wholesalers), all decisions of the collector, including the legality of all orders and findings entering into the same, as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable, and as to all exactions of whatever character (within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury), and his decisions excluding any merchandise from entry or delivery, under any provision of the customs laws, and his liquidation or reliquidation of any entry, or refusal to pay any claim for drawback, or his refusal to reliquidate any entry for a clerical error discovered within one year after the date of entry, or within sixty days after liquidation or reliquidation when such liquidation or reliquidation is made more than ten months after the date of entry, shall, upon the expiration of sixty days after the date of such liquidation, reliquidation, decision, or refusal, be final and conclusive upon all persons (including the United States and any officer thereof), unless the importer, consignee, or agent of the person paying such charge or exaction, or filing such claim for drawback, or seeking such entry or delivery, shall, within sixty days after, but not before such liquidation, re-liquidation, decision, or refusal, as the case may be, a's well in cases of merchandise entered in bond as for consumption, file a protest in writing with the collector setting forth distinctly and specifically, and in respect to each entry, payment, claim, decision, or refusal, the reasons for the objection thereto. The reliquidation of an entry shall not open such entry so that a protest may be filed against the decision of the collector upon any question not involved in such reliquidation.

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B. Holman, Inc. v. United States, 3 Cust. Ct. 130, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1770 (cusc 1939).

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