General Wool Co. v. United States

60 Cust. Ct. 970, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2385
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 16, 1968
DocketA.R.D. 240; Entry No. 10113
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 60 Cust. Ct. 970 (General Wool 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
General Wool Co. v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 970, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2385 (cusc 1968).

Opinion

Landis, Judge:

This case is before us on an application to review the decision of the trial judge as to the dutiable value, under section 402 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938, T.D. 49646, of wool rag rugs exported from Japan between April 27, 1950, and April 18, 1952. General Wool Co., Inc., et al. v. United States, 56 Cust. Ct. 730, R.D. 11177.

The decision covered 23 appeals for reappraisement, consolidated for trial, contesting the statutory export value basis at which the wool rag rugs were appraised under section 402(d), and claiming cost of production, under section 402(f), as the proper basis for valuation.

There is no question here and no error is raised with the finding below that, as a matter of fact, there was no foreign, export, or United [972]*972States basis, as defined in section 402, as amended. Each of those bases, in the order stated and when established, is a more preferred basis than cost of production for valuing merchandise under amended section 402.

What appellants (plaintiffs below) ask us to review is the additional finding of the trial judges that the evidence was insufficient to establish cost of production as the correct basis of appraisement, and his conclusion affirming the appraised export values, as a matter of law, on the ground that the proofs were inadequate to establish the claimed cost of production values. While we can agree with appellants that where there is no foreign, export, or United States basis for valuation, as the trial judge found, cost of production is the proper basis of ap-praisement, this does not change the meat of the decision below holding that the evidence was inadequate to prove cost of production values. Statutory basis and value on that basis are, in this respect, like two sides of the same coin. Both must be established when issue is raised as to the basis of appraisement. United States v. Berben Corporation, 49 Cust. Ct. 497, A.R.D. 147; Gerhard & Hey Co., Inc. (Art Book Publications, Inc.) v. United States, 20 Cust. Ct. 431, Reap. Dec. 7580.

Appellants, nevertheless, allege that the proofs of cost of production values are adequate; that the trial judge erred in finding they were not; in denying a motion for rehearing in order to perfect the proofs as to cost of production values, and in sustaining the appraised export values on a nonexistent export value basis.

We summarily dismiss the alleged error committed in denying the motion for rehearing, and the alleged legal error sustaining the appraised export values. “The law is well settled that there can be no appeal from an order granting or rejecting an application for a rehearing,” Waller-Muller Co. v. United States, 21 CCPA 318, T.D. 46833, unless there has been an abuse of discretion. United States v. International Graphite & Electrode Corp., 25 CCPA 74, T.D. 49066. ISTo such abuse is alleged, and we find none. We do not substitute our discretion for the discretion of a colleague who took the action of which appellants complain, United States v. A. N. Deringer, Inc., 42 Cust. Ct. 711, 717, A.R.D. 102. Especially so, when we note that these are very old appeals, of long standing in this court, the earliest appeal being filed in 1954, with trial counsel, the same as on the briefs, retained in 1955, and trial delayed, for whatever reason, until 1964. It is equally well established that an appraisement, however erroneous, must stand in the absence of proof of the correct dutiable value. Kobe Import Co. v. United States, 42 CCPA 194, 198, C.A.D. 593, cited in the decision below.

Before getting into the only assigned error of any merit, that is, the weight and probative value of the proofs as to what it cost to pro-[973]*973cluce the wool rag rugs, it will help to understand the background of the import transactions in these appeals, as painted in the testimony of David Flitterman, and the affidavit of Harry Flitterman (exhibit 1 with attached subexhibits 1 through 11), which constitute the sole record.

These wool rag rugs were manufactured and produced in Japan by three different firms, each succeeding the other, and taking over the contract of its predecessor. The first contract between Hatsushiba Orimono Kogyo Kyodo Kumiai of Osaka Prefecture, Japan (hereinafter Hatsushiba), and General Wool Company, Inc., of El Monte, California (hereinafter General Wool, Calif.), was negotiated sometime in 1949. Under it General Wool, Calif., called the owner, agreed to deliver 000,000 pounds of wool rags to Hatsushiba for processing in Japan into wool rag rugs. The value of the delivered rags, United States dollars, per pound, net, was set at $0.1625 (all figures hereinafter recited are United States dollars). The value of the processed wool rag rugs, when exported to the United States, was set at $0.1475 per square foot. In consideration (i.e. payment) for all this, General Wool, Calif., agreed to deliver to Hatsushiba 300,000 pounds of wool rags, valued at $0.1625 per pound, net. Although not part of the contract, Harry Flitterman recites in his affidavit that it was understood that it would take 0.6 of a pound of wool rag material to make 1 square foot of rug; that 0.3 of a pound of rag material was an acceptable charge for processing 1 square foot of rug, adding up to 0.9 of a pound of rag material necessary to fabricate 1 square foot of rug. The arrangement was of short duration. There were various differences and, in April 1950, Hatsushiba consented that its contract be taken over by a newly formed company, General Wool Company, Inc., Japan Branch (hereinafter General Wool, Japan), managed or otherwise supervised by Plarry Flitterman. Only one shipment from Hatsushiba, covered by reappraisement Ho. 247704-A, is involved in these consolidated appeals.

General Wool, Japan, continued operations under the terms of the Hatsushiba contract until the end of 1950. On January 1,1951, a new contract was negotiated between General Wool, Japan, and General Wool, Calif., with substantially the same terms as the Hatsushiba contract, except that a new value was set for processed wool rag rugs, when exported to the United States, of $0.24% cents per square foot, f.o.b. Kobe. It was also decided that 0.7 of a pound of wool rag material was necessary to process 1 square foot of rug and that the processing charge should be computed at 0.8 of a pound of rag material per square foot of rug valued at $0.1625 per pound, net, making 1.5 of a pound of material necessary to fabricate 1 square foot of rug. These changes, in the amount of material necessary to fabricate 1 [974]*974square foot of rug, were also retroactively applied to a portion of the wool rag rugs processed by General Wool, Japan, under the original Hatsushiba contract. The General Wool relationships lasted until April 1951, when a new company called International Products, Inc., J apan Branch, was formed to process the rags into rugs, and take over the contract of General Wool, Japan. The exports from General Wool, Japan, cover the period from May 1950, to June 6, 1951, in eight of these consolidated appeals.

The balance of these appeals, 14 in all, cover exports from International Products, Inc., J apan, pursuant to the old General Wool, Japan, contract, as amended and extended, under substantially the same terms.

The official papers reflect the following invoiced and appraised values for the relevant export periods:

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Bluebook (online)
60 Cust. Ct. 970, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-wool-co-v-united-states-cusc-1968.