Eaton Manufacturing Co. v. United States

66 Cust. Ct. 293, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2362
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 26, 1971
DocketC.D. 4207
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 66 Cust. Ct. 293 (Eaton Manufacturing 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
Eaton Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 66 Cust. Ct. 293, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2362 (cusc 1971).

Opinion

Richardson, Judge:

The ultimate question here presented for our determination in eight (8) protest cases which have been consolidated for trial is the proper classification of certain marine engines and out-drives which were manufactured by Volvo Penta, exported from Sweden, and entered at the ports of Seattle and New York. The merchandise of protest 65/13083, entered at Seattle under entry 19511, consists of marine engines and outdrives which were appraised as separate entities and then classified in liquidation as such under TSUS items 660.44 (internal combustion engines) and 696.15 (parts of yachts or pleasure boats), respectively. It is claimed in the protest that the outdrives should be classified as an entirety with the marine engines under TSUS item 660.44 by reason of headnote 3 of part 4 of schedule 6. Said headnote 3 reads:

An electric motor or other power unit imported with a machine is classifiable with such machine as an entirety if fitted thereto when imported, or, if the machine or its framework is designed to receive the power unit, or if the shipment includes a common base designed to receive both the power unit and the machine.

The merchandise of protests 61/17604, 67/70250 (A) and 68/46572, entered at New York under entries 958584, 928462, and 993755, respectively, also consists of marine engines and outdrives. However, the merchandise of these entries was appraised as entireties and classified in liquidation as such under TSUS item 696.15 as parts of pleasure boats. In protest 67/17604 it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Machine PaRts,” should be classified under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof. In protest 67/ 70250(A) it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Machine Parts,” should be classified under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof, or as an entirety with the marine engines under TSUS item 660.44 by reason of said headnote 3. And in protest 68/46572, it is claimed that the merchandise, [295]*295described as “Machine Paets,” should be classified under TSUS item 660.44 or under TSUS item 678.50.

Protests 67/11820, 68/31959, 67/49180, and 67/69511 involve entries of outdrives made at the port of New York which were classified in liquidation under TSUS item 696.15 as parts of pleasure boats. In protest 67/11820, covering entry 741096, it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Machine Paets,” should be classified under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof. In protest 68/31959, covering entry 1088000, it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Engines and Machine Paets,” should be classified under TSUS item 660.44 as an entirety perforce of said headnote 3, or under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof. No engines were imported under this entry, however. In protest 67/49180, covering entries 1073656 and 939936, it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Machine Paets,” should be classified under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof. In protest 67/69511, covering entry 885877, it is claimed that the merchandise, described as “Machine PaRts,” should be classified under TSUS item 678.50 as machines not specially provided for and parts thereof, or under TSUS item 660.44 as entireties with the marine engines as internal combustion engines by reason of said headnote 3. No engines were imported under this entry either.

At the time of trial most of the aforementioned protests were the subject of motions to amend which had not been acted upon by this division of the court. In protest 65/13083 plaintiff seeks to amend the protest to add an alternative claim that the “merchandise” should be classified under TSUS item 680.45 (fixed ratio speed changers and parts thereof). And the same amendment is sought with respect to protests 67/70250(A), 68/46572, and 68/31959. In protest 67/17604 plaintiff seeks to amend the protest to add the alternative claims that the “merchandise” should be classified under TSUS item 680.45 or under TSUS item 660.44. The same amendments are sought with respect to protest 67/11820. No attempt is made by plaintiff to amend the claims set forth in protests 67/49180 and 67/69511.

At the trial counsel for the plaintiffs stated the plaintiffs’ position herein as follows (E. 3) :

Plaintiffs claims that the imported articles are not entireties, and that the engines are properly dutiable as such, under Item 660.44, T.S.U.S.; and that the outdrives are properly dutiable as fixed ratio speed changers, provided for in Item 680.45, T.S.U.S., or as machines, not specially provided for, under Item 678.50, T.S.U.S.

And the foregoing statement of position is immediately followed by the following statement of counsel for the plaintiffs (E. 3-4) :

[296]*296Should the court hold that the engines and outdrives are en-tireties, plaintiffs alternatively claim that said entirety is properly dutiable as a machine, not specially provided for, under the provision of Item 618.50, T.S.U.S., or as internal combustion engine, under Item 660.44, T.S.U.S., or as a fixed ratio speed changer, under Item 680.45, T.S.U.S.

The threshold question presented by the pleadings herein and statements of counsel as aforesaid concerns the legal sufficiency of characterization of merchandise covered by protests 67/17604, 67/70250(A), and 68/46572 as “Machine PaRts.” Did plaintiffs intend by the use of such term in these protests to embrace both the marine engines and the outdrives? If the answer to this question be in the affirmative, then plaintiffs would have no standing to pursue their primary contention as announced by counsel at the trial. The posture of these protests is such that they support the appraisement and classification of the marine engines and outdrives as an entirety. And no amendment of the protests was sought or obtained at the time of trial which would have presented the issue of “non-entirety” to the court. Cf. Asam Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 37 Cust. Ct. 373, 374, Abs. 60262 (1956).

If on the other hand the term “Machine PaRts” as used in said protest was intended by plaintiffs to apply to only one of two imported articles to which the term could possibly have reference within the context of this case, namely, marine engines or outdrives, it is not clear to the court, without hazarding a guess, exactly which of the two articles is being identified in the protests by the appellation “Machine Parts,” bearing in mind the various part 4, schedule 6 claims advanced by plaintiffs in said protests based on headnote 3 of that part. The term seems more like a classification reference than a description of merchandise — a chameleon-like term which is applicable to both articles.

The term “Machine Parts” was not used on any of the invoices at bar or on any of the official papers connected with the case, in connection with a description of the merchandise. And the disposition of these three protests by the Regional Commissioner of Customs at New York on customs form 4297 does not shed any light on his understanding of the intendment of the protestants, the plaintiffs herein, concerning the identity of the merchandise covered by the protests. He simply affirmed his determination without indicating by notation a description of the merchandise affected in the report on form 4297.

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Related

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73 Cust. Ct. 181 (U.S. Customs Court, 1974)
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477 F.2d 1400 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1973)
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469 F.2d 1098 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1972)
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69 Cust. Ct. 93 (U.S. Customs Court, 1972)
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67 Cust. Ct. 284 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 Cust. Ct. 293, 1971 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eaton-manufacturing-co-v-united-states-cusc-1971.