J. Ray McDermott & Co., Inc. v. United States

354 F. Supp. 280, 69 Cust. Ct. 197, 69 Ct. Cust. 197, 1972 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2461
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1972
DocketC. D. 4394; Court 71-6-00465
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 354 F. Supp. 280 (J. Ray McDermott & Co., 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
J. Ray McDermott & Co., Inc. v. United States, 354 F. Supp. 280, 69 Cust. Ct. 197, 69 Ct. Cust. 197, 1972 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2461 (cusc 1972).

Opinion

RAO, Judge:

The merchandise described on the entry involved in this civil action was imported for use in constructing an offshore oil drilling platform, “Spark,” in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The merchandise was described on the invoices as follows:

(1) Jacket for McDermott Project No. 3629

Jacket with holding line and buoy

(2) Box Girder Tank Deck Section for Three-legged Drilling Platform

(3) Components for McDermott Project No. 3629

Pipe Piles Other Components

These items were manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan and were imported into Anchorage, Alaska on or about July 14, 1968. The first two were liquidated at 13 per centum ad valorem under item 652.98, Tariff Schedules of the United States, as modified by T.D. 66-9, as other structures or parts of structures of base metal. The third item was liquidated at 6.5 per centum ad valorem under item 652.94, as modified by T.D. 68-9, as columns, pillars, posts, beams, girders, and similar structural units of iron or steel other than cast iron or alloy iron and steel.

Plaintiff contends that the first two items should also be classified under item 652.94, as modified, on the ground that the jacket is a structural unit of iron or steel other than cast iron or alloy iron or steel similar to columns, pillars and posts and that the box girder or platform section is a structural unit of iron or steel other than cast iron or alloy iron or steel similar to beams and girders.

In the alternative, plaintiff contends that the girder or platform section and the jacket section, either separately or as an entirety, are properly classifiable as a part or parts of excavating, boring, or extracting machinery, whether stationary or mobile, for minerals, under item 664.05, as modified by T.D. 68-9.

*282 The pertinent provisions of the tariff schedules, as modified, are as follows:

Schedule 6, Part 3:
Hangars and other buildings, bridges, bridge sections, lock-gates, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, door and window frames, shutters, balustrades, columns, pillars, and posts, and other structures and parts of structures, all the foregoing of base metal:
Of Iron or steel:
* # # * s¡t >¡c
Columns, pillars, posts, beams, girders, and similar structural units:
Not In part of alloy Iron or
steel:
>:< >;< * >;< íf >x
652.94 Other........... 6.5% ad val.
>¡c # # >Je #
952.98 Other ..................... 13% ad val.
Schedule 6, Part 4:
664.05 Mechanical shovels, coal-cutters, excavators, scrapers, bulldozers, and other excavating, levelling, boring, and extracting machinery, all the foregoing, whether stationary or mobile, for earth, minerals, or ores; pile drivers; snow plows, not self-propelled; all the foregoing and
parts thereof.............. 9% ad val.
General Headnotes and Rules of Interpretation
ife # # s¡< >¡e
10. General Interpretative Rules. For the purposes of these schedules—
>;< s;« j¡< ¡H
(ij) a provision for "parts" of an article covers a product solely or chiefly used as a part of such article, but does not prevail over a specific provision for such part.

A preliminary question is presented as to what portion of the imported merchandise has been brought within the jurisdiction of the court by this action. Plaintiff claims that the action includes both the article described as a jacket or jacket section and the article called a box girder, box girder tank section, or platform.

Defendant claims that the action covers only the jacket.

The entry describes the merchandise as—

Buildings of iron or steel, N.S.P.F.: Other
Oil-well drilling platform jacket section, girder sections, pipe piles

The protest filed with the district director at Anchorage, Alaska contains the following:

The above entry covered an oilwell platform jacket imported together with a quantity of American goods returned. Protest is hereby lodged against the liquidation of the jacket at 13% ad valorem under TSUS item 652.9800.
It is hereby further claimed that the oilwell jacket is properly dutiable under TSUS item number 652.9400, or if not under TSUS 652.9400 then at least more properly under TSUS item 664.-0565 than under TSUS item 652.9800. Reference was made to certain draw-

ings and other material offered in support of the claim, the protest concluding with the statement that the above information and facts were sufficient to allow reliquidation of the entry under item 652.9400 or item 664.0565.

The district director denied the importer’s claim and a civil action was commenced in this court by the filing of a summons' describing the merchandise as “oilwell platform jacket.” The complaint contains the following:

6. The merchandise involved herein consists of an oilwell platform gasket [sic] 1

******

8. Plaintiff contends that the platform is a structural unit similar to beams or girders and that the jacket is a structural unit similar to columns, pillars or posts, all of which are properly dutiable at 6.5% ad valorem under Item 652.94, as modified by T.D. 68-9.

10. The platform in question is a structural unit similar to beams or girders and the jacket in question is a structural unit similar to columns, pillars or posts.

Section 1582 of title 28 of the United States Code, as amended by the Customs Courts Act of 1970, provides that the Customs Court shall not have jurisdic *283 tion of an action, unless a protest has been filed and denied, or in the case of American manufacturer’s actions, all administrative remedies have been exhausted.

Section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Courts Act of 1970, prescribes that a protest “shall be filed in writing with the appropriate customs officer * * * setting forth distinctly and specifically each decision described in subsection (a) of this section as to which protest is made; each category of merchandise affected by each such decision as to which protest is made; and the nature of each objection and reasons therefor.”

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Bluebook (online)
354 F. Supp. 280, 69 Cust. Ct. 197, 69 Ct. Cust. 197, 1972 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-ray-mcdermott-co-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1972.