John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States

54 Cust. Ct. 513, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2564
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 25, 1965
DocketReap. Dec. 10902; Entry Nos. 6738; 5707; 1819; 2704
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 54 Cust. Ct. 513 (John V. Carr & Son, 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
John V. Carr & Son, Inc. v. United States, 54 Cust. Ct. 513, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2564 (cusc 1965).

Opinion

Richardson, Judge:

These appeals involve the proper dutiable value of merchandise which is described on each of the invoices as a “IR'O" Tamp-A-Door Baling Press.” These baling presses, four in number, were exported at different times from Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and entered at Detroit, Mich. They were manufactured in Canada by Canadian Locomotive Co., Ltd., of Kingston, hereinafter referred to as Canadian, for Chattanooga Welding & Machine Co. of Chattanooga, Tenn., hereinafter referred to as Chattanooga, and shipped to American customers of Chattanooga. It appears that the baling press is composed of two basic parts, namely, a superstructure and hydraulic power units or motors. Only the superstructure was made by Canadian. The motors were furnished and shipped by Chattanooga to Canadian, who, in turn, assembled them to the superstructure which it manufactured on orders from Chattanooga, and then [514]*514exported complete to the United States. In each instance, what was bought by Chattanooga and sold by Canadian consisted of only part of a machine, although what was delivered and imported into this country consisted of a complete machine. No charge was made by Canadian for the motors which it assembled to the press. And for each superstructure, Chattanooga was billed in the amount of $55,000, United States dollars, by Canadian, according to the invoices on the basis of which entry was made by the plaintiff broker.

Upon appraisement, the baling presses were advanced in value to $96,000 Canadian currency, per machine, net, packed. This amount included the sum of $24,915 Canadian currency, per machine, which is representative of the amount for United States materials constructively segregable, namely, the motors which were entered as duty free American goods returned. The values of the motors are not in issue. What is in issue is the value of the superstructure. It was originally claimed by plaintiff that either United States value or cost of production constitutes the proper basis of valuation of the involved presses. However, upon final submission of the case, plaintiff argued that there was no United States value and that only cost of production is the proper basis of valuation of the subject merchandise. Defendant contends that foreign value, represented here by the appraised values, constitutes the proper dutiable values of the merchandise by reason of plaintiff’s failure to prove otherwise.

The evidence is both documentary and testimonial. Plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1 consists of an affidavit of one W. David Stevens, sales manager of the Industrial and Process Equipment Division of Canadian Locomotive Company, Ltd., to which is annexed a form letter utilized by the manufacturer to offer the merchandise for sale, and a brochure illustrating the merchandise. According to the affidavit, and prior to the exportation of the subject merchandise, Canadian obtained a license from Chattanooga, who had patent applications pending both in the United States and Canada relating to certain features of the baling press, to manufacture and to sell the press in Canada and in countries other than the United States. Mr. Stevens made attempts to sell the baling press in Canada but was not successful in doing so. Offers were made to metal scrap dealers in Canada, but no attempt was made to sell to machinery dealers. Offers were made in the form of the aforesaid letter which gave dimensions of various types of presses offered, including the presses at bar, but did not mention a price.

To anyone interested in buying the press, Canadian quoted a price of $96,000 (Canadian currency) f.o.b. the factory in Kingston, which price included engineering services and instruction in the installation and operation of the press and a year’s warranty against faulty work[515]*515manship and defective materials. No sales were made, and Mr. Stevens was of the opinion that no market existed in Canada for the size press here involved, whose distinguishing attribute appeared to be its capacity to take a complete automobile body and, in less than 2 minutes, compress it into a standard size bale and eject it. To Mr. Stevens’ knowledge, no baling press of the kind here involved had been manufactured in Canada; and there was only one other baling press manufacturer in Canada whose product was of a smaller and different kind. The only baling presses which Canadian sold were the ones here involved; and, during the period of these exportations, Canadian did not quote a price to anyone for the baling press.

Plaintiff’s collective exhibit 2 consists of an affidavit of Cecil I. Allen, president and treasurer of Canadian. The affiant states that the company’s books and records pertaining to cost of production and sales of articles produced by the company were maintained under his supervision and direction, and that he has personal knowledge of the cost of production of the merchandise at bar. There then follows in the affidavit a statement of the cost-of-production figures covering only the superstructures of the subject baling presses, which are said to be taken from company books and records. These figures are broken down into the categories of manufacturing costs, general expenses or overhead, an item of transportation expense which is included in the manufacturing costs, and- profit. Cost-of-production figures relating to the involved invoices, dated July 15, July 26, September 4, and September 20, 1957, total $52,112.50, $51,975, $52,112.50 and $52,800, respectively, in Canadian currency. The affiant further states that he knows of only one other Canadian manufacturer of baling presses, that the product of such manufacturer is entirely different from the baling presses here involved, and that his company has been unable to ascertain the amount of profit realized by such other manufacturer from the sales of its baling presses, because his company does not have access to the books and records of the other manufacturer.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 3 consists of Letters Patent, issued to Chattanooga by the United States Commissioner of Patents subsequent to the importation of the baling presses at bar, and based upon a previous application of the inventor, Mark L. Holt of Lookout Mountain, Term. The patent covers certain design features of the subject baling press.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 4 consists of a duplicate copy of a written contract entered into between Chattanooga and Canadian, dated October 25, 1956, setting forth the terms of the licensing agreement referred to in Mr. Stevens’ affidavit (plaintiff’s collective exhibit 1) in which Canadian obtained the right to manufacture and sell the subject baling press in Canada and countries other than the United States.

[516]*516Plaintiff’s exhibit 5 consists of a statement of operations and cost analysis of Chattanooga for the period between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1957. This analysis includes transactions covering the sale of the involved baling presses as complete units by Chattanooga to its American customers, as well as some 15 other unrelated transactions.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 6 consists of an affidavit of George A. Ferrier, manager of merchandise sales for United Steel Corp., Ltd., of Toronto, Canada. Affiant states that he has knowledge of the articles manufactured and sold by his company in 1957, that such articles consist of hydraulic presses of various kinds, and that he also has knowledge of the competition encountered by his company during the year 1957.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 Cust. Ct. 513, 1965 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-v-carr-son-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1965.