Bud Berman Sportswear v. United States

62 Cust. Ct. 901, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3545
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 3, 1969
DocketR.D. 11657; Entry No. 713280
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 62 Cust. Ct. 901 (Bud Berman Sportswear 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
Bud Berman Sportswear v. United States, 62 Cust. Ct. 901, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3545 (cusc 1969).

Opinion

Rao, Chief Judge:

This is an appeal for reappraisement of an importation of men’s cotton sport and dress shirts from Hong Kong. The items of merchandise were entered at their invoice unit prices per dozen, which were exclusive of handling and freight charges. They were appraised at f.o.b. unit prices per dozen which, as will be explained, infra, were approximately 2.3 per centum more than the ex-factory prices.

At the trial of this case the parties hereto entered into the following stipulation which was read into the record:

(1) That Mr. Harry Fichtenbaum, formerly a line examiner of merchandise at the Port of New York, advisorily appraised the instant merchandise at the red ink figures indicated on the invoice covered by the above entitled appeal for reappraisement. This being the case before the Court this morning.
(2) That his advisory appraisements were based upon the statutory export value, as defined in Section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, of “such” merchandise, as defined under Section 402(f) (4) (A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act; that neither party challenges the said basis of appraisement.
(3) That in arriving at his advisory values, Mr. Fichtenbaum determined that such merchandise was freely sold or offered for sale for exportation to the United States only at a price which included, as an integral part thereof, delivery by the seller F.O.B. ship, and he therefore added to the “ex-factory” prices invoiced in the instant entry an amount which he determined in each instance to be the pro-rata share of the invoiced “Handling Charges Paid For Your Behalf,” totaling $1,152.76.
(4) That the former Assistant Appraiser at the Port of New York, Aaron Bodner, adopted the values advisorily returned by Examiner Fichtenbaum and that such values became the official appraised values for the merchandise herein.
(5) That the sole issue herein is whether such merchandise was, at or about the time of exportation thereof, freely sold or freely offered for sale to all purchasers, for exportation to the United States, on an ex-factory basis.
That ends the proposed stipulation.
Mh. HARRIS: We so stipulated, your Honor.

Said section 402(b) reads as follows:

(b) Export Value. — For the purposes of this section, the export value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the [903]*903time of exportation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing appraisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold, or in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for exportation to the United States, plus, when not included in such price, the cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States.

The record in this case further consists of the affidavit of Mr. William T. L. Yao, managing director of Smart Shirts Manufacturers, Ltd., of Hong Kong, manufacturer of the imported shirts, and the record in Bud Berman Sportswear, Inc. v. United States, 55 Cust. Ct. 574, Reap. Dec. 11056, affirmed Id. v. Id., 57 Cust. Ct. 733, A.R.D. 211, affirmed Id. v. Id., 55 CCPA 28, C.A.D. 929, incorporated herein. The incorporated case involved the same or similar imported shirts as in this present action. In that case, the said Mr. Yao appeared and gave testimony in behalf of the importer. Other evidence offered was testimony by Mr. Harry Fichtenbaum, customs examiner1 at the port of New York, who also was the examiner in the present case, a report submitted by the defendant, drawn up by Mr. Stewart H. Adams, the United States Customs Kepresentative at Hong Kong, and various contracts and written memoranda depicting the dealings between the plaintiff and Smart Shirts.

The issue in the incorporated case which is the same as that in the present case was therein stated to be “when and under what circumstances charges which accrue subsequent to the time when goods manufactured in a foreign country leave the factory, or the principal market, are part of the market value of such or similar merchandise.”

It is a well established principle that where goods are freely offered for sale or are sold ex-factory, or in the principal market of the country of exportation if it be other than the factory, at prices exclusive of inland freight and other charges involved in transporting the merchandise to the port of exportation, then such additional charges are not part of the statutory value of the merchandise. United States v. Lyons, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 639, T.D. 41484. However, where these costs are included in purchase price of the merchandise, and the items are not offered for sale or sold without their inclusion, then said charges become an integral part of the actual cost of the goods and thus become part of the statutory value of the imported merchandise. Albert Mottola, etc. v. United States, 46 CCPA 17, C.A.D. 689.

By statute, the value found by the appraiser is presumed to be the value of the merchandise, and the burden falls upon the plaintiff not only to disprove the appraisement, but to prove the value as claimed. [904]*90428 U.S.C., section 2633; Brooks Paper Company v. United States, 40 CCPA 38, C.A.D. 495.

Ordinarily, to achieve this result, the challenging party is required to establish every issue material to the case, and if he fails to do so, the value set by the appraiser will stand. Brooks Paper Company v. United States, supra. However, the courts have held that where the appraisement consists of a combination of two or more separable elements which have been joined to reach a final value, and where the party challenging said appraisement does not question all of the components, then that party may rely upon the presumption of correctness to establish that part of the appraised value not in contention, where to do so will not destroy the balance of the appraisement. United States v. Dan Brechner & Co., 38 Cust. Ct. 719, A.R.D. 71, Bud Berman Sportswear, Inc. v. United States, supra.

In this case, as in the incorporated Bud Berman case, the appraised value was determined by adding to the ex-factory prices on the invoice an amount calculated to be the pro rata share of the invoiced handling charges to wit approximately 2.3 per centum of the ex-factory prices. It is the addition of this amount to the ex-factory unit prices to which plaintiff is objecting.

Under the rule of the Brechner and Bud Berman cases, supra, and of our appellate court’s recent decision in United States v. Chadwick-Miller Importers, Inc., et al., 54 CCPA 93, C.A.D. 914, where an appraisement is stated in terms of an ex-factory price plus disputed charges, the appraisement is separable and the party challenging it may rely upon the presumption of correctness as to all elements thereof not contested. Here, since plaintiff does not challenge the per se

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Related

Bud Berman Sportswear, Inc. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 752 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
Paredes v. United States
63 Cust. Ct. 557 (U.S. Customs Court, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
62 Cust. Ct. 901, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bud-berman-sportswear-v-united-states-cusc-1969.