Devonshire Mills Co. v. United States

19 Cust. Ct. 173, 1947 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1185
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 19, 1947
DocketNo. 52046; petition 6526-R (Philadelphia)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 19 Cust. Ct. 173 (Devonshire Mills Co. 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
Devonshire Mills Co. v. United States, 19 Cust. Ct. 173, 1947 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1185 (cusc 1947).

Opinion

Cline, Judge:

This is a petition for the remission of additional duties assessed under section 489, Tariff Act of 1930, for the undervaluation of merchandise.

The merchandise consisted of bleached and unbleached cotton cloth exported from Mexico on June 11, 1943, and entered at Wilmington, Del., on July 1, 1943. The bleached cloth (style No. 666) was entered at 1.73 Mexican dollars per meter [174]*174and appraised at 2.14 Mexican dollars per meter, and the unbleached cloth (style No. 444) was entered at 1.50 Mexican dollars per meter and appraised at 1.80 Mexican dollars per meter.

Frank C. Distler, vice president of the importing company, testified that this was the only importation of cotton cloth the company had ever made; that he had arranged with John A. Steer & Co., customs brokers, to take care of the entry; that he subsequently received from them the entry papers and a so-called request for information or submission sheet, which he looked over casually and signed. The record shows that on or about May 29, 1943, the petitioner had placed a subsequent order for similar merchandise at 1.80 Mexican dollars for style No. 444 and 2.10 Mexican dollars for style No. 666 (respondent’s exhibit 4). However, that order was not noted upon the submission sheet, which was signed by Mr. Distler on or about June 26, 1943 (petitioner’s exhibit 2). Mr. Distler stated that he had not disclosed it because he did not think the purchase price of a subsequent shipment would affect the value of the merchandise in this case and because he thought the price he actually paid for the goods was the price on which he had to pay duty.

Thereafter in August 1943, Mr. Charles Moore of John A. Steer & Co., received a questionnaire from the appraiser to be filled out by Devonshire Mills Co., which he forwarded to Mr. Distler. This questionnaire, executed by Mr. Distler, on August 30, 1943, contains the following (petitioner’s exhibit 1):

57. Have you placed orders subsequent to this purchase, or received by correspondence or otherwise, information indicating a change in the value of this merchandise? Yes,
58. If so, give details. Answer to question 60 covers this.
59. What has been the market tendency from the date of this purchase, advancing or declining? Advancing.
60. Give details of changes. One style advanced from 1.50 pesos to 2.30 pesos. Other style advanced from 1.73 pesos to 2.00 pesos.

Mr. Moore testified that when the questionnaire was returned to him he noticed that there had been merchandise at a higher value but he assumed that it applied to something which happened after the date of exportation of the first shipment.

In November 1943, Mr. Distler was interviewed by Charles L. Turrill, customs agent, at which time he disclosed the correspondence relating to the second order. The correspondence, quoted in Mr. Turrill’s report (respondent’s exhibit 4), indicates that the order was later canceled because of a delay in shipment. Mr. Turrill’s report also contains the following statement:

Mr. Distler stated that the instant shipment was the first importation made by his corporation and that he had no knowledge of customs laws and regulations. According to his recollection, the submission sheet had been filled out and sent to him by the customs brokers making the entry, and that he had signed it' without knowledge that he should have added information relative to the subsequent order.

Mr. Distler testified at the trial that, other than signing the papers prepared by his broker, he did nothing to ascertain the value of the goods.

Mr. Moore testified that he had prepared and filed a submission sheet so that he would have the right to any information that the appraiser might have and that he hoped to have the right to agree afterwards and to make amendments so that a proper dutiable value would appear. However, no attempt to amend the entry ever was made. Mr. Moore stated that the first intimation he had that the entered values were considered incorrect was about December 24, 1943, when the notice of appraisement was sent out; that he had not been told there was anything wrong about the entered values nor had anyone suggested that he amend the entry a.nd that that was contrary to the usual practice.

[175]*175An appeal for reappraisement was filed and prosecuted on tlie theory that the goods were defective, but the court held that the plaintiff had failed to prove the Mexican “standard” quality for these goods or by what degree the imported merchandise differed from such “standard” or the market value in Mexico for “substandard” merchandise. Devonshire Mills Co. v. United States, 15 Cust. Ct. 408, Reap. Dec. 6203.

Mr. Distler testified further that at some time after entry the Government made a demand for the forfeiture value of the merchandise in the amount of 879,303.52 and that this claim was eventually settled for the sum of $50. The correspondence (respondent’s collective exhibit 7) indicates that the demand was made under the provisions of section 592 of the Tariff Act of 1930 because of the failure to disclose the subsequent order on the submission sheet and that the penalty was mitigated to such a small sum because no opportunity was afforded to amend the entry and because “if the appraisement of merchandise was sustained in the appeal to reappraisement it would be subjected to additional duties in the sum of $11,690.67” (petitioner’s exhibit 6). A prior letter from the assistant collector to the commissioner of customs recommended that the liability under section 592 be satisfied by the payment of approximately half the revenue that would have been lost had the appraiser adopted the importer’s entered value (respondent’s collective exhibit 7). The letter also states:

While there appears to have been neglect by the Devonshire Mills Company at the time of entry with respect to its furnishing information to the appraiser as to value nevertheless from the evidence of record the Collector is satisfied that there was no deliberate attempt to defraud the revenue.

Mr. Distler’s attention was called to the following stateihent in a letter from the Commissioner of Customs to the collector at Philadelphia (respondent’s exhibit 5):

The investigating officer of the Customs Agency Service reports that the customhouse broker informed him in the presence of the attorney for the importer that he, the customhouse broker, telephoned the petitioner and inquired as to whether there were any subsequent orders. The reply was in the negative. * * *

Mr. Distler stated, however, that the customhouse broker, John A. Steer & Co., had never asked him specifically whether there were any subsequent orders. Mr. Moore was also asked whether he had made such an inquiry of Mr. Distler and he testified as follows:

I never did; no. I don’t recall it if I did. I won’t absolutely deny it, but I haven’t the slightest recollection, and I think if there had been anything of that kind, I would have taken action. There is nothing in my mind about it. I had several talks with Mr. Lavette [sic] not only on this case, afterwards, of course, when things were moving along. One time in Wilmington with Mr. Sterner, and a couple of times here in Philadelphia I talked with Mr. Levett, but I never remember meeting a special agent in this case at all.

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Related

A. N. Deringer, Inc. v. United States
31 Cust. Ct. 232 (U.S. Customs Court, 1953)
Wilson v. United States
29 Cust. Ct. 343 (U.S. Customs Court, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
19 Cust. Ct. 173, 1947 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/devonshire-mills-co-v-united-states-cusc-1947.