De Waubert, Inc. v. United States

36 Cust. Ct. 12
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 1956
DocketC. D. 1747
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 36 Cust. Ct. 12 (De Waubert, 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
De Waubert, Inc. v. United States, 36 Cust. Ct. 12 (cusc 1956).

Opinion

The merchandise involved in this case consists of certain earthenware ornaments and was assessed for duty by the collector at 45 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1518 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the President’s proclamation supplementing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 51898, as artificial flowers, composed wholly or in chief value of materials other than “yarn, threads,” etc.

Plaintiffs claim that the involved importation does not consist of artificial flowers in the tariff sense and that it is properly dutiable at 5 cents per dozen pieces and 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 211 of the tariff act, as modified by the trade agreement with Mexico, T. D. 50797, as decorated earthenware.

[13]*13The competing paragraphs referred to, supra, so far as pertinent, read as follows:

Paragraph 1518:

Artificial or ornamental fruits, vegetables, grasses, grains, leaves, flowers, stems, or parts thereof; and boas, boutonnieres, wreaths, and all articles not specially-
provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of any of the foregoing:
* * * * * ^ *
When composed wholly or in chief value of other materials and not specially provided for:
* * * * * * *
Other_45% ad val.

Paragraph 211:

Earthenware and crockeryware composed of a nonvitrified absorbent body, including white granite and semi-porcelain earthenware, and cream-colored ware, terra cotta, and stoneware, including clock eases with or without movements, pill tiles, plaques, ornaments, charms, vases, statues, statuettes, mugs, cups, steins, lamps, and all other articles composed wholly or in chief value of such ware; * * *:
Painted, colored, tinted, stained, enameled, gilded, printed, ornamented, or decorated in any manner, and manufactures in chief value of such ware, not specially provided for_50 per doz. pieces, and 25% ad va-lorem
Provided, That if the body of such ware is covered wholly or in part with an engobe or a body slip, the engobe or body slip shall for the purposes of this provision be considered a part of the body.

At the trial of the case, the following stipulation was entered into between counsel for the respective parties:

* * * that the body of the articles involved herein, and any engobe or body slip in the manufacture of these articles, is wholly of clay and not artificially colored in accordance with paragraph 211. (R. 5.)

Harry Linton, called on behalf of the plaintiffs, testified that he was then, and for 3 years preceding had been, the sales manager of De Waubert, Inc., the importer herein; that the importer was engaged in business as a hand painter and decorator of mirrors, boxes, vases, sunglasses, and other objects. He further testified that his company imported some of the materials that it painted for decorative purposes. Mr. Linton stated that he was familiar with the merchandise involved in this case and identified plaintiffs’ exhibit 1 as being from the importation under consideration. He further stated that merchandise, such as plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, is not employed or sold as a separate article but is used to decorate other objects, such as mirrors, illustrated by plaintiffs’ exhibit 2; that articles, such as plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, are pasted on and become a permanent part of mirrors, such as [14]*14plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibit 2. The witness further testified that decorative objects, of which exhibit 1 is representative, are used in great quantities as knobs on boxes, such as musical powder boxes (plaintiffs' illustrative exhibit 3). His pertinent testimony on the latter phase of the case is as follows:

Q. On what objects do you use Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 by way of decoration?— A. We have done a big job on them on mirrors.
Q. Do you have a sample of that? — A. The mirrors come in different sizes, but this is the sample we keep before us; we are primarily concerned, you see, with hand painting, but we put on this ornament just in this fashion here. * * *
*******
Q. Now referring to Plaintiff’s Ulus. Ex. #2 for Identification, just what do you do with Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 in decorating Plaintiff’s Exhibit #2? — A. Just-well, we paste it on the mirror just as you see here; we cement it on and the artist paints around it to give it decoration.
Q. Was it your testimony that [sic] is usually done on mirrors? — A. Yes.
Chief Judge Oliver: As it is received by you, is that surface matter on it, or is it white?
Witness: It is in that same color.
Chief Judge Oliver: You don’t paint Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1?
Witness: No, we get them that way.
*******
Q. Are there other uses that you make of the articles involved in this particular protest? — A. Yes, here’s a box that belongs to a manufacturer, we have done thousands of these boxes and they use it as a little knob; we are concerned with the hand painting.
Q. You use an object like Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 which you paste on top of the box? — A. Yes.
Q. Do you know what type of box that is? — A. Yes.
Q. How do you know that? — A. We have made so many of them, thousands of them.
Q. What is that box? — A. It is a musical powder box. (R. 6-7.)
The musical powder box was then introduced in evidence as illustrative exhibit 3, with a decoration similar to plaintiffs’ exhibit 1 attached to the top of it. Mr. Linton then testified further as follows:
Q. During the course of your experience with this firm, have you used Plaintiff’s Exhibit §1 on articles similar to Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 in any other method that, or other than that you have just described? — -A. I can’t recall offhand.
Q. Have you seen articles similar to Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 used in any other way other than the way you have described? — A. I have never seen this object used any other way. (R. 8.)

Under cross-examination, Mr. Linton testified as follows:

X Q. Does Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 in your opinion simulate a red rose?
. * * * * * * *
A. Frankly, I don’t know, but from my years in this line it does not.
X Q. Have you ever seen a red rose? — A. I have.
[15]*15X Q. Does Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 look like a red rose? — A. No.
X Q. What does Plaintiff’s Exhibit #1 look like? — A. I would say a pottery decoration.
X Q. In your opinion does Plaintiff's Exhibit #1 look like a flower? — A. It looks like a floral decoration, I will say that, (R. 8-9.)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Cust. Ct. 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-waubert-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1956.