Berkery, Inc. v. United States

53 Cust. Ct. 196, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2264
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 19, 1964
DocketC.D. 2495
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 53 Cust. Ct. 196 (Berkery, 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
Berkery, Inc. v. United States, 53 Cust. Ct. 196, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2264 (cusc 1964).

Opinions

KjchaedsoN, Judge:

Plaintiffs protest the collector’s refusal to reliquidate the subject entry pursuant to 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520(c) (1) (section 520(c) (1), Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1953), to correct a clerical error, mistake of fact, or other inadvertence occurring hi the appraisement of the involved importations of raffia which were exported from England and entered at New York. A prior protest embracing the same entry and making substantially the same claim was dismissed by this court for prematurity, by reason of the protest having been filed before liquidation. Berbery, Inc., et al. v. United States, 47 Cust. Ct. 102, C.D. 2287. This procedural difficulty has now been surmounted in the instant protest proceeding.

The error, mistake, or other inadvertence complained of arose when the appraiser used the expression “£3/2/0 per lb.” in stating the appraised unit value of the merchandise as advisorily reported by the examiner, instead of the expression “£0/3/2 per lb.” as was the appraiser’s intention. That such an error, mistake, or inadvertence occurred appears to be conceded by the parties, as well as all persons connected with the case administratively, and is amply supported by the record before us, including the record in Berkery, Inc., et al. v. United States, supra, which is incorporated in this protest. The question in this protest is whether the collector properly refused to reliquidate the involved entry pursuant to 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520 (c) (1), to correct such error, mistake, or other inadvertence, in view of action [198]*198taken by plaintiff Daniel F. Young, Inc., in filing an appeal for re-appraisement covering the entry, and later abandoning the appeal, thereby suffering a judgment of dismissal to be entered in the re-appraisement proceeding. The collector’s refusal to grant relief to the plaintiffs by reliquidation is predicated upon a Bureau of Customs ruling that the filing, abandonment, and dismissal of the reappraisement appeal foreclosed further administrative consideration of the matter under 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520(c) (1), in that the appraisement became final upon plaintiffs’ failure to further appeal following the dismissal of the reappraisement appeal, and the rule of res ad-judicata barred administrative redetermination of the question.

The provisions of 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520(c) (1) are as follows:

(c) Nofcliwithstanding a valid protest was not filed, the Secretary of the Treasury may authorize a collector to reliquidate an entry to correct—
(1) a clerical error, mistake of fact, or other inadvertence not amounting to an error in the construction of a law, adverse to the importer and manifest from the record or established toy documentary evidence, in any entry, liquidation, appraisement, or other customs transaction, when the error, mistake, or inadvertence is brought to the attention of the customs service within one year after the date of entry, appraisement, or transaction, or within sixty days after liquidation or exaction when the liquidation or exaction is made more than ten months after the date of the entry, appraisement, or transaction;. . . .

The plaintiffs contend that the dismissal of the reappraisement proceedings herein does not preclude administrative determination of the instant claim under 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520(c) (1).

The merits of the situation out of which the claim at bar arose were not involved in the reappraisement proceeding which culminated in the judgment of dismissal. This is the crux of the matter. Under the doctrine of res adjudicata, which is here relied upon by the defendant, a judgment upon the merits in one suit is held conclusive in another where the parties and subject matter are the same, in respect to matters actually presented to sustain or defeat the right asserted, and also as to any other available matter which might have been presented. Grubb v. Public Utilities Commission of Ohio et al., 281 U.S. 470, 479; Cromwell v. County of Sac., 94 U.S. 351; Chicot County Drainage District v. Baxter State Bank et al., 308 U.S. 371; Joseph Fischer as Liquidating Agent of Schmoll Fils Associated, Inc. v. United States, 38 CCPA 143, 148, C.A.D. 452. However, a trial upon which nothing is determined cannot support a plea of res adjudicata. Manhattan Life Insurance Co. v. Broughton, 109 U.S. 121. A judgment of non-suit, whether rendered because of the failure of the plaintiff to appear and prosecute the action or rendered on consent of the parties, is not conclusive as an estoppel because it does not determine the rights of the parties. United States v. Parker, 120 U.S. 89; Baer Brothers Mercan[199]*199tile Company v. Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, 233 U.S. 479. An entry of a dismissal of a suit by consent is not an abandonment of a claim. Haldeman et al. v. United States, 91 U.S. 584. On tbe otter hand, a retraxit, which is a voluntary renunciation of a claim in open court, differs from a nonsuit and bars further action by the same parties on the same subject matter. United States v. Parker, supra; Virginia Concrete Company v. Board of Supervisors, 197 Va. 821; 91 S.E. 2d 415; 17 Am. Jur. 162, section 91. A judgment of dismissal with prejudice or pursuant to a settlement is a judgment on the merits barring another action for the same cause. Bergeson v. Life Insurance Corporation of America, 265 F. 2d 227; Virginia Concrete Company v. Board of Supervisors, supra.

In the instant case, the abandonment of the appeal for reappraisement was not a retraxit or voluntary renunciation of a claim in open court by the plaintiffs. The judgment of dismissal did not involve the merits and is not a bar to any subsequent action which might properly be brought. The abandonment of the appeal removed or withdrew from judicial consideration all questions pertaining to the appraisement, as effectively as if no appeal had ever been instituted. Bartlett v. Kane, 57 U.S. 263. And the judgment of dismissal, based wholly upon such voluntary act of abandonment by the plaintiff, Daniel F. Young, Inc., simply effectuated that result.

I express no opinion on what may be the reasons why plaintiffs’ counsel obtain their clients’ consent before abandoning cases.

Defendant argues that a reliquidation by the collector under 19 U.S.C.A., section 1520(c) (1), subsequent to the entry of said judgment of dismissal, would contravene the mandate of 28 U.S.C.A., section 2636(a). I do not agree with this argument. In my opinion, the appellate procedures provided for in 28 TJ.S.C.A., section 2636(a) are not applicable to the instant case.

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Asiatic Petroleum Corp. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 47 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 Cust. Ct. 196, 1964 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berkery-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1964.