Klytia Corp. v. United States

3 Cust. Ct. 555, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2942
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedAugust 30, 1939
DocketNo. 4632; Entry No. 719177, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 3 Cust. Ct. 555 (Klytia 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
Klytia Corp. v. United States, 3 Cust. Ct. 555, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2942 (cusc 1939).

Opinion

Tilson, Judge:

This application for review of the decision of the trial court is before us the second time for consideration. In its first decision the trial court dismissed the appeals on the ground that the Customs Court was'without jurisdiction to consider the same because it appeared from the record that the appellant-corporation was dissolved by a proclamation of the Secretary of State of the State of New York on or about December 15, 1934.

On the authority of the saving clause, section 29 of the General Corporation Law of the State of New York, as amended by L. 1932 Ch. 552, in effect March 31, 1932, the decision of the trial court was reversed by this division and the case remanded to the trial court for consideration on its merits upon the record presented.

In its decision which is now before us for review, the trial court stated as follows:

All but two of the entries covered by the reappraisement appeals before me were made during the life of the TariS act of 1922. While there was no statutory presumption under that act in favor of the correctness of the appraiser’s findings, nevertheless there is no substantial evidence before me to prove that the findings made by the appraiser as to the merchandise in issue under that act were erroneous. Under these circumstances I must dismiss the appeals taken from such findings; and judgment will issue accordingly. United States v. Vandegrift & Co. et al., 16 Ct. Cust. Appls., 398, T. D. 43120, and United States v. Woolworth Co. et al., 22 C. C. P. A. 184, T. D. 47126, cited.
As to reappraisements 99407-A and 99408-A, the entries in which cases were made after the passage of the Tariff Act of 1930, which, in section 501 thereof, contains the following provision:
The value found by the appraiser shall be presumed to be the value of the merchandise, and the burden shall rest upon the party who challenges its correctness to prove otherwise.
[556]*556I find that the foreign market value, as that value is defined in section 402 (c) of that act, is the proper basis upon which the value of the merchandise involved should be determined, and that such value, in each instance, equalled the appraised value.

The examiner who passed the merchandise and who testified for the defendant herein at the trial of this case stated definitely that he did not allow the 12 per centum luxury tax, but that he only allowed a 40 per centum discount, whereas the plaintiff was claiming a 60 per centum discount. As this case was tried and presented, as we understand it, no question is raised as to the 12 per centum luxury tax. The merchandise in reappraisement 97410-A was invoiced and entered at certain unit prices less 60 per centum and less 12 per centum, and was appraised at the same unit prices less 40 per centum. There is nothing in this record to show that the action of the appraiser in adding back this 12 per centum tax was erroneous. As to the action of the appraiser in allowing only 40 per centum instead of 60 per centum discount from the unit prices, the situation is quite different.

It is true, as pointed out by the trial court, that the Tariff Act of 1922, under the authority of which all but two of these appeals were filed, contains no provision similar to that found in section 501 that:

The value found by the appraiser shall be presumed to be the value of the merchandise, and the burden shall rest upon the party who challenges its correctness to prove otherwise.

But there has always been a strong presumption that the acts of all Government officials made and done in line of their official duties were correct. The Tariff Act of 1922 contains no provision specifically making the acts of the collector presumptively correct, and yet in the case of United States v. Lilly, 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 332, T. D. 41970, the appellate court, in holding that the acts of the collector were presumptively correct, said:

The collector, having classified the goods under said paragraph 217, when the matter came to the attention of the court below, the presumption was that he had found all the necessary facts to exist which brought the goods within that classification, and that his classification was correct.

It should be noted that the above holding was predicated upon the naked presumption of correctness attaching to the acts of all Government officials, without the fortification of a provision like that contained in said section 501, quoted above. If, as held by our appellate court, as pointed out above, the acts of the collector were presumptively correct under the Tariff Act of 1922, we feel equally justified in holding that the acts of the appraiser under said act were presumptively correct that he had found all the necessary facts to exist which authorized him to adopt the foreign-market value as the basis of his appraisement.

When the importer came to enter the merchandise in all the appeals listed in schedule A, hereto attached and made a part hereof, with the [557]*557exception of reappraisement 97410-A, which was the test case, he made what is ¡mown as duress entries, adding in each case an amount sufficient to make his entered value equal the appraised value in reappraisement 97410-A, citing in each case entry 719177, which is the entry in reappraisement 97410-A. On the Summary of Examination and Appraisement, we find the notation in red ink: “Duress Entry prices same as E. 719177,” with the exception of reappraisement 97711-A, which is simply marked in red ink “Damage,” but which was also entered under duress, as above stated. The marks or notations above referred to were placed upon the official papers in this case by either the examiner or the appraiser.

There is no evidence in this case which even tends to discredit or disprove the findings made by the appraiser in each case that the proper basis for appraisement was the foreign-market value, or that the usual wholesale quantity is the quantity represented by the invoice in each case, and that Levallois is the principal market in France for the sale of such or similar merchandise. Sinceithe appraiser could not appraise the merchandise without finding all these facts, and since his act of appraisement is presumptively correct, we find and hold that the proper basis of appraisement is the foreign-market value, and that the export value, if one existed, was not higher, since if there had been an export value and it had been higher, the appraiser would have so found, that the usual wholesale quantity is the quantity represented by the invoice in each case, and that Levallois is the principal market in France for the sale of such or similar merchandise to that here involved. This leaves for decision the question of whether the discount from the unit prices should be 40 per centum, as found by the appraiser., or 60 per centum as contended for by the plaintiff.

With reference to the evidence offered by the defendant, in the form of a special agent’s report, the trial court in its opinion stated:

It is necessary to add that 1 am of the opinion that the report of the Assistant Customs Attaché, standing alone, would be insufficient upon which to base a finding of foreign market value as that value is defined in section 402 of the Tariff Acts, supra,

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3 Cust. Ct. 555, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klytia-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1939.