J. M. P. R. Trading Corp. v. United States

33 Cust. Ct. 226, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 594
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1954
DocketC. D. 1658
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 33 Cust. Ct. 226 (J. M. P. R. Trading Corp. 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
J. M. P. R. Trading Corp. v. United States, 33 Cust. Ct. 226, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 594 (cusc 1954).

Opinion

Ford, Judge:

The suit listed above was filed by the plaintiffs herein seeking to recover a certain sum of money alleged to have been illegally exacted as customs duties upon an importation of nylon fishing lines. The collector classified the merchandise as “Mfrs. of silk by similitude crins artificial imitation of cat gut ‘Nylon,’ ” and levied duty thereon at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1211 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802.

Plaintiffs claim said merchandise to be properly dutiable at 20 per .centum ad valorem under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not specially provided for, or at the rate of 25 per centran ad valorem under paragraph 5 of said act as chemical elements, chemical salts and compounds, and com[228]*228binations and. mixtures of any of tbe foregoing, all tbe foregoing obtained naturally or artificially and not specially provided for.

No evidence was offered, and no argument made, in support of tbe claim under said paragraph 5, sufra,. Therefore, in line with tbe bolding by the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in United States v. Brenner, 19 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 105, T. D. 45243, tbe claim under said paragraph 5 will be considered as abandoned. As stated by tbe court—

* * * But the Government made no objection to the testimony of use offered by appellee and, so far as the record shows, it never contended that the testimony, in order to be relevant, should have related to an earlier date. Neither in its brief nor upon oral argument has that point been made before us, and therefore, even though one of appellant’s assignments of error might be construed to be broad enough to cover such a contention, it, not having been made in the court below nor in argument.before us, should be deemed abandoned. United States v. Sandoz Chemical Works, 16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 392, T. D. 43119; Hammond et al. v. United States, 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 251, T. D. 41876.

Tbe involved paragraphs are as follows:

Pab. 1211. All manufactures, wholly or in chief value of silk, not specially provided for, 35 % ad val.
Pab. 1312. Manufactures of filaments, fibers, yarns, or threads, of rayon or other synthetic textile, and textile products made of bands or strips (not exceeding one inch in width) of rayon or other synthetic textile, all the foregoing, wholly or in chief value of rayon or other synthetic textile, not specially provided for, 27}4j5 per lb. and 35% ad val.
Pab. 1313. Whenever used in this Act the terms “rayon” and “other synthetic textile” mean the product made by any artificial process from cellulose, a cellulose hydrate, a compound of cellulose, or a mixture containing any of the foregoing, which product is solidified into filaments, fibers, bands, strips, or sheets, whether such products are known as rayon, staple fiber, visca, or cellophane, or as artificial, imitation, or synthetic silk, wool, horsehair, or straw, or by any other name whatsoever.
Pab. 1558. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on the importation of * * * all articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not specially provided for, a duty of 20 per centum ad valorem.
Pab. 1559. That each and every imported article, not enumerated in this Act, which is similar, either in material, quality, texture, or the use to which it may be applied to any article enumerated in this Act as chargeable with duty, shall be subject to the same rate of duty which is levied on the enumerated article which it most resembles in any of the particulars before mentiohed; * * *.

Paragraphs 1312 and. 1313 are set out above by reason of tbe fact tbat, while not abandoning tbe collector’s classification under paragraph 1211, tbe defendant makes tbe alternative contention tbat tbe involved merchandise is dutiable under said paragraph 1312, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 82 Treas. Dec. 305, T. D. 51802.

At tbe trial, there was admitted in evidence as plaintiffs’ collective exhibit 1 tbe interrogatories and answers thereto of two witnesses residing in France, to wit, Henri Jean Drevet and Marc Saby. [229]*229Exhibits “A” and “B” were attached as a part of the interrogatories of Mr. Drevet. Exhibit 1-A was admitted in evidence as representing the involved merchandise, except as to size, exhibit 1-A being 40/100 millimeters, whereas the involved merchandise is 16/100, 18/100, and 20/100 millimeters. Photostats of pages 921 and 922 of the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, edited by Dean Kirk and Professor Othmer, were marked exhibit 2 for identification. Illustrative exhibit 3 was marked in evidence as representing a braided silk line. Defendant’s exhibit A was marked in evidence as a sample of a fabric made from 20/100 millimeter monofilament nylon. Defendant’s exhibits B and C were admitted in evidence as representing material for automotive seat covers, woven from monofilament nylon 20/100 and 22/100 millimeters in diameter. Defendant’s exhibit D was admitted in evidence as representing hair cloth for use as padding in the shoulders of suits, woven from 20/100 millimeter nylon monofilament in one direction with, a fill of cotton in the other direction.

In addition to the exhibits, admitted in evidence as set out above, plaintiffs offered the testimony of three witnesses and defendant offered the testimony of one witness.

Before summarizing the evidence contained in the entire record, we shall first consider the alternative claim of the defendant under paragraph 1312, supra, and the evidence tending to support or disprove that contention. It is not disputed that the involved merchandise was manufactured by Societe Rhodiaceta and by it sold to Societe “La Soie,” which, in turn, sold it. to the plaintiffs herein. Regarding the materials used and the processes employed in producing the involved merchandise, Marc Saby testified as follows:

Q. Are you personally familiar with the materials used and the processes employed in the manufacture of the nylon monofilament sold by your company to La Soie? — A. Yes.
Q. Please describe fully the manufacturing process and name and describe the raw materials used? — A. Our firm effects the complete chemical synthesis of the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of nylon, namely, acids, amines and amino acids which are then processed into nylon polimer. The latter is in turn submitted to spinning in its molten form, in order to become a mono-filament which, after being drawn out, finally acquires its permanent characteristics.
To sum it up, our firm takes care of the whole manufacturing process, starting with benzene up to the resulting monofilament which is sold to Societe “La Soie.”
* * * * * * *
The main steps of the processing are: transformation of the benzene into phenol; of the phenol into cyclohexanol; of the cyclohexanol into adipic acid or into amino caprolaetame; transformation of the adipic acid into hexamethylene diamine.

Plaintiffs’ witness, Dr. Snell, described wbat occurs chemically in the above process as follows:

[230]*230A.

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Bluebook (online)
33 Cust. Ct. 226, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-m-p-r-trading-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1954.