International Harvest Hat Co. v. United States

5 Cust. Ct. 592, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3271
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 4, 1940
DocketNo. 5045; Entry Nos. 1746, 1847
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 5 Cust. Ct. 592 (International Harvest Hat 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
International Harvest Hat Co. v. United States, 5 Cust. Ct. 592, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3271 (cusc 1940).

Opinion

TilsoN, Judge:

This is an application for a review of the decision of the trial court, in which it found for the second time that the appraised values were the proper dutiable export values of certain so-called harvest hats, imported from Tehuacan, Mexico, by the appellant herein. The original decision of the trial court was reported • in Reap. Dec. 4335. The decision of the Second Division, reversing that decision and remanding the case to the trial court, was reported in Reap. Dec. 4594, and the second decision by the trial court, after remand, is reported in Reap. Dec. 4646.

The concluding paragraph of our remand reads as follows:'

For the reasons stated, the decision and judgment of the trial court is reversed 'and the case remanded with instructions to admit in evidence the price lists, quotations, or affidavits, now marked exhibits 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 for identification, and make new findings of fact after weighing said price lists, quotations, or affidavits, together with the other evidence in this case, and in the light of the other observations made in this opinion. Judgment will be rendered accordingly.

The above remand was, as stated in our opinion, based upon the ruling of the appellate court in the case of United States v. Titan Shipping Co., 25 C. C. P. A. 403, in which case the same trial judge had refused to admit in evidence an affidavit. In the Titan case, supra, the appellate court said:

We agree with the appellate division that the trial court erred in excluding said affidavit, but hold that the appellate division, * * * should have reversed the trial court and remanded the cause for a new trial, or at least have directed the trial court to admit said affidavit in evidence and make new findings after weighing said affidavit, together with the other evidence in the case.

At the trial of this case the appraiser of merchandise at St. Louis, who appraised this merchandise, was asked:

Q. Will you please tell the court upon what figures or information you based your figures? — A. These, figures are the prices that were used by San Martin in shipments of identical merchandise.

He also testified that those shipments were made by San Martin to the port of St. Louis at or about the same time of the shipments in these two cases. From the above testimony and other evidence in the record it is clear that the appraisement of the merchandise in these two cases was based upon the appraisement of merchandise shipped by [594]*594San Martin to the port of St. Louis. It is to be noted that the appraiser stated that the merchandise in these two cases and the merchandise shipped to St. Louis by San Martin, upon which the appraisement in this case was .based, was identical merchandise.

The record shows that the importer in this case purchases and imports everything from the donkey’s back, whether good, bad, or intermediate, except those with holes in them, and the importer grades such hats after he receives them. With reference .to the hats shipped by San Martin the record shows:

Q. Does San Martin sort and grade his hats before he ships them to the United States? — A. Yes; he does.
Q. When you buy from San Martin do you receive the same kind of shipments as when you import direct from Castillo? — A. I would say his grading is better than the merchandise we receive from our own agent.
Q. Better in what way? — A. Better in quality, size, and more accurate according -to pattern and ideas of what they should be.
Q. Does.San Martin ship everything that is taken off the donkey’s back? — A. No.
Q. Does your commissionaire ship you everything off the donkey’s back? — A. Yes, everything except the hats with holes in.

Tbe evidence further shows that Castillo’s contract would not permit bim to go out and buy only first-class hats. The record also establishes that these collectors of hats sell only for cash. Therefore, Castillo’s prices represent purchases made for cash. With reference to San Martin’s sales, the record shows:

Q. Are the hats which you purchase from San Martin purchased on credit? — A. Yes.
Q. Does he sell on credit?- — A. He does.

Notwithstanding the testimony of the appraiser at St. Louis that the merchandise shipped to St. Louis by San Martin, upon which the •appraiser stated he based his appraisement in these two cases-,.-was identical with the merchandise before the court, the record shows otherwise, and there would, therefore, appear to be no basis for the appraiser appraising the instant merchandise at values which he placed upon other merchandise of a higher quality and grade. Hats that include everything that is taken off the donkey’s back are in no sense of the word comparable to. hats better in quality, size, and more "accurate according to pattern and ideas of what they should be.

Exhibit 13 contains the following statement:

The books and records of Pascual San Martin were examined and revealed that Pascual San Martin sells palm leaf hat bodies to the Mexican-American Hat Co., Caradine Hat Co., and the Texas Harvest Hat Co., and others, and that the accounts of these concerns are carried open on Pascual San Martin’s •books for periods of nine months or so.

The action of the appraiser in basing the value he found for the instant merchandise upon the values he found for merchandise shipped [595]*595by San Martin appears to be contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Arthur v. Goddard, 96 U. S. 145, wherein it was held:

The value means the cash value. The price at thirty days’ credit might be different, and the difference would probably be greatly increased by a credit of six months or a year, but' the value or cost would still be the same. The difference would be chargeable to the credit, and not to a difference -in the value of the goods.

See also Lewisohn v. United States, 5 Ct. Cust. Appls. 204; in re Eisenbach Bros., T. D. 23558; and Western Sausage & Provision Co. v. United States, Cir. Reap. 2049.

When the testimony of the appraiser to the effect that he based the values he found for this merchandise upon the values he had found for merchandise shipped to St. Louis by San Martin, is considered in connection with the other testimony as to the dissimilarity of the two shipments and the testimony that the instant merchandise is purchased on a cash basis while the San Martin merchandise was purchased on a credit basis, it is apparent that all presumption in favor of the correctness of the action of the appraiser in this case is lost.

Referring to the price lists or quotations now marked exhibits 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, the vice president of the importing concern testified without contradiction that the prices shown on these exhibits represent the actual prices in Tehuacan, and that on the basis of these price lists or quotations the importer herein purchased the hats in these two cases, in Tehuacan, Mexico. Explaining how these price lists or quotations are used in the purchase of these hats, the witness stated:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Mine Safety Appliances Co.
55 Cust. Ct. 764 (U.S. Customs Court, 1965)
William J. Oberle, Inc. v. United States
8 Cust. Ct. 729 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Cust. Ct. 592, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-harvest-hat-co-v-united-states-cusc-1940.