Cellas (Inc.) v. United States

18 C.C.P.A. 237, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 88
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedNovember 10, 1930
DocketNo. 3317
StatusPublished

This text of 18 C.C.P.A. 237 (Cellas (Inc.) v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cellas (Inc.) v. United States, 18 C.C.P.A. 237, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 88 (ccpa 1930).

Opinion

Garrett, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The merchandise in this case is antipasto, composed, according to the stipulation, “of fish, olives, onions, gherkins, artichokes, and oil.”

It was assessed for duty at 30 per centum ad valorem under that portion of paragraph 720 of the Tariff Act of 1922 which reads as follows:

Par. 720. Fish (except shellfish), by whatever name known, packed in oil or in oil and other substances, 30 per centum ad valorem; * * *

The importer protested claiming the proper classification to be under that portion of the same paragraph (720) which reads:

* * * all fish (except shellfish), pickled, salted, smoked, kippered, or otherwise prepared or preserved (except in oil or in oil and other substances), in immediate containers weighing with their contents not more than fifteen pounds each, 25 per centum ad valorem; * * *

An alternative claim in the protest was “20% ad valorem under par. 1459,” but this is not insisted upon and will not be further considered.

The Customs Court overruled the protest and the importer appeals. In its decision the Customs Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Brown, says:

This protest attempts to raise again a settled issue which was fully treated in G. A. 8933, T. D. 46665, 47 Treas. Dee. 135, and again reiterated in Abstract 51382, 49 Treas. Dec. 1154.

No testimony was taken in the court below, the case being submitted upon the following stipulation:

It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between counsel that all the merchandise on the invoice covered by the protest herein consists of antipasto composed of fish, olives, onions, gherkins, artichokes, and oil; that fish is the component of chief value therein, but the aggregate quantity or bulk of the other components, excluding the oil, exceeds that of the fish component; that the said merchandise is packed in tins weighing with their contents not more than fifteen (15) pounds each, and that it is similar in all material respects to the antipasto, the subject of the decision of the Court of Appeals in Russo v. United States, 11 Ct. Oust. Appls. 288.
The protest is submitted on this stipulation.

Importer relies upon tbe decision of this court in the case of Russo & Co. v. United States, 11 Ct. Cust. Appls. 288, T. D. 39101, and the [239]*239reasoning in United States v. Delapenha & Co. et al., 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 209, T. D. 40225, both, of which cases arose under the Tariff Act of 1918.

In the Russo & Co. case, the merchandise was, according to the stipulation, supra, the same as that here involved. It had there the same name — “antipasto.”

This court, speaking through the late Judge Barber, then said of the article:

* * * It is neither fish packed in oil, or in oil and other substances in tins, nor fish in tins under paragraph 216. It is rather a nonenumerated manufactured article, and because it is manufactured of more than two materials it must, by-reason of * * * paragraph 386, be assessed at the highest rate at which it would be chargeable if composed of its component material of chief value, viz, fish.

The opinion then continues:

Fish, not shellfish, in tins, is, under the second clause of * * * paragraph 216, dutiable at 15 per cent ad valorem, and this “antipasto” therefore takes that rate of duty as claimed by the importers.

The relevant portion of paragraph 386 of the act of 1913 above referred to reads:

* * * and on articles not enumerated, manufactured of two or more materials, the duty shall be assessed at the highest rate at which the same would be chargeable if composed wholly of the component material thereof of chief value; * * *

The language immediately above quoted was retained in identical words in the Tariff Act of 1922 and is a part of paragraph 1460. It is generally known as the mixed-materials clause.

In the Delapenha case, supra, the merchandise was quite similar to that of the Russo case and of the instant case, in so far as its ingredients were concerned, but it was there in glass jars, instead of being, as in the Russo case and in this case, in tins. It was held, following the Russo case, to be a nonenumerated manufactured article, but, apparently by reason of its being in glass jars, which were not mentioned in the second clause of paragraph 216, but were mentioned in the first clause, act of 1913, it was held that it should take the rate of the first clause of that paragraph.

In other words, in the Russo case, the court held that, in view of the fact that the merchandise consisted not of fish alone but of a mixture of ingredients, it, in the contemplation of the statute was (a) not fish packed in oil, and (b) not fish packed in oil and other substances. This eliminated the goods from the first clause of paragraph 216, act of 1913. The court further held that, in the contemplation of the statute, the merchandise was (c) not fish in tins, and this eliminated it from the second clause of the paragraph.

[240]*240The effect of these holdings was to decide that the goods did not eo nomine, or of themselves, fall within any part of the paragraph 216. They were accordingly held to be nonenumerated manufactured articles, and, as such, subject to the mixed-materials clause of paragraph 386, sufra. The ingredient of chief value in the merchandise was the fish, and it was determined that this fish was of a character, being in tins, which, were it the sole article in the package, would subject it to the second clause of paragraph 216 and, therefore, it was held that the duty rate of that clause should apply. Paragraphs 216 and 386 were applied in connection with each other, as the law provided.

In the Delafenha case, by the same process of reasoning as that applied in the Russo case, the merchandise was first eliminated from paragraph 216 and then held to be a nonenumerated manufactured article, but, being in glass jars rather than in tin packages, it was held to be subject to the rate of duty provided in thej^rsi clause of 216.

It thus appears that the distinction between the cases rested, in part at least, upon the character of the containers (one tins and the other glass jars) in which the merchandise was imported.

Subsequent to the time when these cases originated under the Tariff Act of 1913, the Tariff Act of 1922 was enacted. We think it will be proper to set forth the material provisions of the respective pertinent fish paragraphs in parallel columns:

Act of 1918

Par. 216. Fish, except shellfish, by whatever name known, packed in oil or in oil and other substances, in bottles, jars, kegs, tin boxes, or cans, 25 per centum ad valorem; all other fish, except shellfish, in tin packages, not specially provided for in this section, 15 per centum ad valorem; * * *

Act of 198%

Par. 720.

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Related

Russo & Co. v. United States
11 Ct. Cust. 288 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1922)
United States v. Delapenha
12 Ct. Cust. 209 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1924)
United States v. Post Fish Co.
13 Ct. Cust. 155 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1925)
United States v. Hudnut
15 Ct. Cust. 463 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1928)

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18 C.C.P.A. 237, 1930 CCPA LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cellas-inc-v-united-states-ccpa-1930.