Kuttroff-Pickhardt & Co. v. United States

14 Ct. Cust. 381, 1927 WL 29459, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 148
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 24, 1927
DocketNo. 2700
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 14 Ct. Cust. 381 (Kuttroff-Pickhardt & Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuttroff-Pickhardt & Co. v. United States, 14 Ct. Cust. 381, 1927 WL 29459, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 148 (ccpa 1927).

Opinion

Bland, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court: •

This case has been before this court on two prior occasions under suits numbered 2365, 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 316, and 2494, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 17, with the result that in each instance the cause was reversed and remanded to the Board of United States General Appraisers (now United States Customs Court) to enable it to make its findings of facts and conclusions of law. The issue before us concerns the appraisement, reappraisement, and so-called re-reap-praisement of a certain imported coal-tar color known as benzo red 12 B, which was entered at a value of $0.795 per pound and advanced by the local appraiser to $2 per pound, based upon American selling price of a domestic product.

Upon appeal by the Government the single general appraiser affirmed the appraised value. The single general appraiser in apprais[383]*383ing the imported merchandise used as a basis of comparison a coal-tar color manufactured and sold in the United States by E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co., known as pontamine fast pink G. The importer and the Government both appealed from the decision of the single general appraiser to the Board of United States General Appraisers.

The Board of United States General Appraisers agreed with the single general appraiser as to the correctness of the basis of his appraisement, but modified his appraised value and found the value to be $7 per pound, since it was shown that the tinctorial powers or dyeing strength of the benzo red 12 B was three and one-half times that of the pontamine fast pink G.

The first question raised by appellant is that the appeal to re-re-appraisement by the Government did not confer jurisdiction on the board of three general appraisers, for the reason that the document filed does not purport to be a petition or application for review, but is an appeal for re-reappraisement upon the form or blank used under the tariff act of 1913, which act provided for appeals to re-reappraisement.

The appeal of the Government is as follows:

To the Board of U. S. General Appraisers, New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen : I hereby appeal from the reappraisement by the United States General Appraisers to a re-reappraisement by a Board of United States General Appraisers, in accordance with the provisions of Section 501, Tariff Act of 1922, upon certain Benzo Red imported by Kuttroff, Pickhardt & Co., Inc., in the S. S. Noordam, entered Jan. 4, 1923. Entry No. 807994. Reap. No. 13619-A.
Reed. Jul. 11, 1923, B’d. Gen’l. Apprs.
Respectfully, Philip Elting, Collector.
Requested by:
Asst. Atty. Geni. S.

The appeal of the importers is as follows:

Invoice No. —. Entry No. 807994.
Port of New York, July 14, 1923.
Sir:
As we consider the reappraisement made by Hon. Geo. Stewart Brown, United States General Appraiser, too high on certain coal tar products (Benzo Red), imported by us in the Noordam from Germany, we have to request that the same may be re-reappraised by the Board of General Appraisers pursuant to law, with as little delay as your convenience will permit.
(Rec’d Jul. 16, 1923. B’d Gen’l Apprs.)
Respectfully,
Kuttroff, Pickhardt & Co., Inc., (Importer’s address:) 128 Duane Street, N. Y. C. By Barnes, Chilvers & Halstead,
2 Rector Street, N. Y. C.
To Hon. Philip Elting, Collector of Customs.

[384]*384The pertinent language of paragraph M of the tariff act of 1913 reads as follows:

* * * The decision of the general appraiser in cases of reappraisement shall be final and conclusive as to the dutiable value of such merchandise against all parties interested therein, unless the importer, owner, consignee, or agent of the merchandise shall deem the reappraisement of the merchandise too high, and shall, within five days thereafter, give notice to the collector, in writing, of an appeal, or unless the collector shall deem the reappraisement of the merchandise too low, and shall within ten days thereafter appeal for re-reappraisement; * * * (Italics ours.)

Section 501 of the Tariff Act of 1922 in part is as follows:

The decision of the general appraiser, after argument on the part of the interested parties if requested by them or by either of them, shall be final and conclusive upon all parties unless within ten days from the date of the filing of the decision with the collector an application for its review shall be filed with or mailed to said board by the collector or other person authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, and a copy of such application mailed to the consignee, or his agent or attorney, or filed by the consignee, or his agent or attorney, with the collector, by whom the same shall be forthwith forwarded to the Board of General Appraisers. Every such application shall be assigned by the Board of General Appraisers to a board of three general appraisers, who shall consider the case upon the samples of the merchandise, if there be any, and the record made before the general appraiser, and, after argument on the part of the parties if requested by them or either of them, shall affirm, reverse, or modify the decision of the general appraiser or remand the case to the general appraiser for further proceedings, and shall state its action in a written decision, to be forwarded to the collector, setting forth the facts upon which the finding is based and the reasons therefor. The decision of the Board of General Appraisers shall be final and conclusive upon all parties unless an appeal shall be taken by either party to the Court of Customs Appeals upon a question or questions of law only within the time and in the manner provided by section 198 of an act entitled “An act to codify, revise, and amend the laws relating to the judiciary,” approved March 3, 1911. (Italics ours.)

In Johnson Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 373, the meaning and effect of certain parts of section 501, supra, were passed upon by this court, and there some of the differences between section 501 and its predecessor, paragraph M of the tariff act of 1913, were discussed. The court said:

The section provides that the party so desiring may file an “application for review.” We are aware of no precise definition ever given by the courts of the United States for the word “review.” In the absence of such a definition the ordinary meaning would obtain. Webster (New International) Dictionary thus defines the term:
2. Law, specif., judicial re-examination, as of the proceedings of a lower court by a higher.
And this, we believe, is the meaning practically always applied to the term where it is used in the laws of the United States. To illustrate, section 237 of the Judicial Code, as amended by the act of February 13, 1925, provides for the review by the Supreme Court, in certain cases, of the final judgments or decrees of the State courts of last resort.

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14 Ct. Cust. 381, 1927 WL 29459, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuttroff-pickhardt-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1927.