Fallani & Cohn, Inc. v. United States

7 Cust. Ct. 148, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1366
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 28, 1941
DocketC. D. 558
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Cust. Ct. 148 (Fallani & Cohn, 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
Fallani & Cohn, Inc. v. United States, 7 Cust. Ct. 148, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1366 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

TilsoN, Judge:

The plaintiff filed this suit seeking to recover from the defendant a certain sum of money alleged to have been illegally exacted as customs duties on a certain importation of napkins. Duty was levied thereon at the rate of 90 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1529 (a) of the act of 1930, presumably upon the theory that the merchandise consisted of “Flax Arts Embd by hand.” The quoted words appear in red ink on the invoice and are the only indication of any kind of any classification by any one. Presumably the above notation was made by the examiner and there is no indication in the official record that the collector accepted or adopted the same as his classification.

The plaintiff claims the merchandise to be properly dutiable at only 30 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1014 of the act of 1930 and the trade agreement with the United Kingdom, T. D. 49753, as napkins finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of flax, not exceeding 120 threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling.

At the trial of the case counsel for the plaintiff limited the claim to the napkins, abandoning as to the other items covered by the protest. Counsel for the respective parties also agreed at the trial that the napkins arc composed wholly of flax, and that they contain less than 120 threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling.

As heretofore stated there is nothing in the record to indicate the classification made by the collector, other than the red-ink notations on the invoice “Flax Arts Embd by hand.” Underneath the above notation appear other figures, letters or characters of some kind which we are not able to decipher and therefore can give no consideration to the same. The aforesaid red-ink notations must be accepted by us as the advisory classification of the appraiser, and in view of the fact that the appraiser’s, advisory classification of the merchandise at 90 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1529, supra, describes it as “Flax Arts Embd by hand,” and as there is no evidence to the contrary “the record is sufficient to establish the fact that the merchandise was classified” by the collector in accordance with the appraiser’s advisory classification. United States v. Bullocks, 24 C. C. P. A. 41, 25 C. C. P. A. 381.

[150]*150The collector having classified the. merchandise as being “Flax Arts Embd by hand,” it was incumbent upon the importer to overcome the presumed correctness of such classification. This burden the importer promptly met by introducing in evidence a sample of the imported merchandise, from' an examination of which we find without hesitation that it is not embroidered in any manner. It should be stated, however, that no contention was made by anyone before this court that the merchandise was embroidered in any maimer, but the case was tried upon the theory and contention on the part of the defendant that the merchandise.was “articles from which threads have been drawn and with threads introduced after weaving to ornament the openwork, except such articles having one row of straight hemstitching adjoining the hem.”

In the Bullocks case, 25 C. C. P. A. 381, the appellate court stated:

* * * Accordingly, the principles of law announced in the quoted excerpt from our decision in the case of United States v. White Sulphur Springs Co., supra, have no application to the issues in the case at bar.

In view of the fact that the situation in the present case is exactly the reverse of the situation in the Bullocks case, supra, it would appear that the above-quoted statement from the Bullocks case is not applicable here, and that the following quotation from the White Sulphur Springs case, 21 C. C. P. A. 203, is applicable:

Where a paragraph of a tariff act makes provision for two or more distinctly different kinds of merchandise and the collector of customs specifically classifies an importation as one of those kinds, the legal presumption that such classification is correct attaches, but such presumption of correctness is limited to the specific classification made, and, in case it be found that the merchandise is not such specific kind, it may not be held that there is a legal presumption that it is some other kind which happens to be included in the same paragraph but of which the appraiser gives no description and the collector makes no mention in his classification. [Italics ours.]

Paragraph 1529 makes provision for two or more distinctly different kinds of merchandise. The collector specifically classified the instant merchandise as one of those kinds, to wit: “Flax Arts Embd by hand” and the legal presumption that such classification was correct attached. However, such presumption of correctness is limited to the specific classification of the merchandise as “Flax Arts Embd by hand,” and when it is found that the merchandise is not such specific kind, it may not be held that there is a legal presumption that it is “articles from which threads have been drawn and with threads introduced after weaving to ornament the openwork, except such articles having one row of straight hemstitching adjoining the hem,” included in the same paragraph but of which the appraiser gives no description and the collector makes no mention in his classification.

Therefore, when the plaintiff entered upon the trial of this case, he was not charged with the onus of overcoming a legal presumption that the merchandise was articles from which threads have been [151]*151drawn and with threads introduced after weaving to ornament the openwork, except such articles having one row of straight hemstitching adjoining the hem. The only legal presumption the plaintiff had to overcome was that the merchandise was “Flax Arts Embd by hand.” On the facts in this case, this holding is in complete harmony with and demanded by the decisions in the Bullocks cases, supra, and the White Sulphur case, supra.

The theory upon which this case was tried and submitted involves the following provision in paragraph 1529 (a) of the act of 1930:

* * * fabrics and articles * * * from which, threads have been omitted, drawn, punched, or cut, and with threads introduced after weaving to finish or ornament the openwork, not including one row of straight hemstitching adjoining the hem; * * *

The hemstitching on the napkins is what is known as “Gigliuccio.” During the trial of the case counsel for the defendant admitted that this hemstitching “is plain or straight hemstitching.” Counsel for the defendant, in his brief filed herein, makes a further concession, as follows:

* * * It is conceded that if the merchandise was not properly classified by the collector under paragraph 1529 (a), it should be dutiable as claimed by the importer. * * *

Counsel for the plaintiff contends that the hemstitching on the napkins constitutes only one row of straight hemstitching adjoining the hem, while counsel for the defendant contends that it constitutes more than one row of such hemstitching, and this is the question presented for determination in this case.

Counsel for the plaintiff offered in evidence herein the record in United States v. Macksoud, 27 C. C. P. A. 218.

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7 Cust. Ct. 148, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fallani-cohn-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1941.