BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc. v. United States

57 Cust. Ct. 541, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1875
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 20, 1966
DocketR.D. 11195; Entry Nos. 1074971; 898394
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Cust. Ct. 541 (BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc. 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
BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc. v. United States, 57 Cust. Ct. 541, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1875 (cusc 1966).

Opinion

Wilson, Senior Judge:

The above appeals for reappraisement were consolidated for purposes of trial. The merchandise is invoiced [543]*543as 'hexamethylenediamine 85 percent (hereafter referred to as HMD) which was manufactured and exported by Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik, AG, of Ludwigshafen, Germany, on December 28, 1961, and June 16, 1963, in B63/10631 and B63/9911, respectively. The importer is Biddle Sawyer Corp. of New York, N.Y. The appeals were filed by BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc.

Entry was made at $1.13 per pound, less nondutiable charges on the basis of export value, as defined in section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, T.D. 54165. This merchandise is not enumerated in the “Final List” published in T.D. 54521.

Appraisement was made at $1.83 per pound on 100 percent purity basis, net packed, under American selling price section 402 (e) of said amended act, as the appraiser determined the merchandise to be dutiable under paragraph 27(a) (3) (5) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, at 25 percent ad valorem and 314 cents per pound.

The plaintiff contends that the merchandise is not provided for in said paragraph 27(a) (3) (5) and is, therefore, not subject to appraisement on the basis of American selling price as “it is not a coal-tar product even though derived in part from benzene, because it does not have the chemical structure of a coal tar product; it is an aliphatic and not an aromatic compound” and also “that the imported material is not similar to any of the products named in either paragraph 27 or 1651 for the same reason.”

The Government contends that the merchandise is a derivative of a coal-tar product and, therefore, was properly appraised on the basis of American selling price.

At the outset, we are confronted by the contention of the defendant that the court is without jurisdiction to hear and decide the appeals at bar. This matter must be disposed of before passing to the consideration of the cases on their merits. On this question, raised for the first time in defendant’s brief, a point of law only is presented since there is no controversy concerning the pertinent facts.

The plaintiff’s first argument on this point is that the defendant’s objection to the court’s jurisdiction was untimely. It was not necessary, however, that the Government challenge the court’s jurisdiction before or during the trial. That question may be raised at any time for clearly a decision of a court without jurisdiction is a nullity. Our appellate court has, as a matter of fixed practice, heard arguments against the jurisdiction of the Customs Court even though the matter was not raised in the trial court. In fact, the Court of Appeals, where questions of law only are involved, has heard and determined such questions even though not involving jurisdiction. See United States v. Collin & Gissel (Ludwig Baer), 29 CCPA 96, C.A.D. 176.

[544]*544In the case of United States v. Klytia Corporation, 29 CCPA 109, C.A.D. 178, the court sua sponte raised tbe question of jurisdiction, although it was not referred to in the tribunals of the Customs Court and not presented by counsel for either party at any stage of the proceedings in the lower or the appellate court. On this point, page 113, the court stated:

During our study of the case we discovered a jurisdictional question in connection with the so-called duress entries which was not referred to by the tribunals of the Customs Court and which was not raised by counsel either below or here, but which under numerous authorities it is our duty to raise sua sponte and act upon. * * *

It was, therefore, not untimely for the defendant to present the question of jurisdiction for the first time in its brief. That brings us to the inquiry, does this court have jurisdiction in the case at bar?

The defendant contends that the appeals are invalid and that the court is without jurisdiction to hear and decide them because they do not conform to the requirements of 19 U.S.C.A., section 1501(a), which reads in part as follows:

§ 1501. Notice of appraisement; reappraisement
* * * The decision of the appraiser, including all determinations entering into the same, shall be final and conclusive upon all parties unless a written appeal for a reappraisement is * * * filed by the consignee or his agent with the collector within thirty days after the date of personal delivery, or if mailed the date of mailing of written notice of appraisement to the consignee, his agent, or his attorney. Every such appeal shall be transmitted with the entry and the accompanying papers by the collector to the United States Customs Court, * * *.

The defendant argues that since the importer and consignee, as appears from the official papers, is Biddle Sawyer Corporation and not BASF Colors and Chemicals, Inc., the appeals, as filed, do not comply with the requirements of 19 U.S.C.A., section 1501(a), and are, therefore, invalid. The defendant further asserts that there is no evidence in the record to indicate that the plaintiff is the consignee or agent of such consignee.

These claims, however, are not supported by the record before the court. Plaintiff’s first witness, Robert Chavkin, vice president of Biddle Sawyer Corp., the consignee designated in the official papers, testified as follows:

Q. Did you authorize BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc. to file the appeals to reappraisement which are before the Court this afternoon? — A. I did. (R. 4 — 5.)

This testimony stands uncontroverted. Furthermore, the official papers before the court indicate a timely filing and the notice of appeal [545]*545contains the following information: That the appeals covered “all the merchandise on which the value has been advanced by the appraiser imported in the name of Biddle Sawyer Corporation for the account of BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc. via [steamship is named] entered at this port on 1/9/62 [as to Entry No. 898394, R63/10631] and on 6/27/63 [as to Entry No. 1074971, R63/9911].” On each appeal appears the typewritten signature of “BASF Colors & Chemicals, Inc.” over the printed words “(Consignee or Agent)” and in print, “Sharretts, Paley & Carter, Attorneys, 80 Broad Street, New York 4, New York.”

Under the adjudicated cases, the record is sufficient to establish a valid and timely filing of the appraisements at bar. The record amply establishes that all parties were aware that the owner and consignee of the merchandise was Biddle Sawyer Corp. and that the plaintiff signed only in its capacity as agent of the consignee and not as consignee. No one was misled in any way through the method followed in perfecting the appeals.

A typewritten signature, if authorized, is sufficient to validate a document. Veolay, Inc., J. E. Bernard & Co. v. United States, 21 CCPA 268, 274, T.D. 46804, citing cases; Clinton Smullyan Associates v. United States, 35 CCPA 7, 9, C.A.D. 363, citing Fritzsche Brothers v. United States, 16 Treas. Dec. 331, T.D. 29359.

In United States v. T. M. Duche & Sons, Inc., et al., 52 Cust. Ct. 624, A.R.D. 170, the court held that an tmsigned

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Cust. Ct. 541, 1966 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/basf-colors-chemicals-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1966.