Lykes Bros. v. United States

6 Cust. Ct. 467, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 106
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 17, 1941
DocketC. D. 518
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 6 Cust. Ct. 467 (Lykes Bros. 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
Lykes Bros. v. United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 467, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 106 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

Keefe, Judge:

This action arising at New Orleans involves the sum of $4,112.60 exacted by the collector of customs on the cost of certain repairs made upon the steamship Oakwood, an American vessel documented under the laws of the United States, duty having been assessed by the collector at 60 per centum ad valorem under the provisions of section 466 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

The master of the Oakwood applied to the Secretary of the Treasury for a remission of the duties assessed in accordance with section 466, on the ground that the damage to the vessel was caused by a casualty while en route to England, and that the repairs were necessary to secure the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel so as to enable her to reach her port of destination. The application for the remission of the duties was denied by the Treasury Department. Thereupon the owner of the vessel filed a protest with the collector of customs claiming that the ruling made by the Acting Commissioner of Customs was erroneous because such repairs were necessitated as a result of a casualty at sea and were necessary to enable the vessel to reach her home port The plaintiff alternatively claims that the work performed and the materials supplied for the vessel constituted additions to the hull and machinery of the vessel as replacements of old material rather than repairs to said vessel. The latter claim, however, was not pressed at the trial, the plaintiff apparently relying solely upon the contention that the Secretary of the Treasury in refusing to grant a remission of duties acted illegally.

The section of the Tariff Act of 1930 called in issue in the action before us under the protest filed provides as follows:

SEC. 466. EQUIPMENT AND REPAIRS OE VESSELS.
Sections 3114 and 3115 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the Tariff Act of 1922, are amended to read as follows:
“Sec. 3114. The equipments, or any part thereof, including boats, purchased for, or the repair parts or materials to he used, or the expenses of repairs made in a foreign country upon a vessel documented under the laws of the United States to engage in the foreign or coasting trade, or a vessel intended to be employed in such trade, shall, on the first arrival of such vessel in any port of the United States, he liable to entry and the payment of an ad valorem duty of 60 per centum on the cost thereof in such foreign country; * * *
[469]*469“Sec 3115. If the owner or master of such vessel furnishes good and sufficient' evidence — ■
“(1) That such vessel, while in the regular course of her voyage, was compelled, by stress of weather or other casualty, to put into such foreign port and purchase such equipments, or make such repairs, to secure the safety and seaworthiness: of the vessel to enable her to reach her port of destination;
then the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to remit or refund such duties, and such vessel shall not be liable to forfeiture * * *

Under the foregoing statutory provisions the master or owner of a vessel is required to make entry and pay 50 per centum ad valorem duties on the cost of repairs and the materials used upon the first arrival of the vessel in the United States under penalty of forfeiture. It is the duty of the collectors of customs to collect such duties. However, a special provision is made that such duties may be remitted or refunded by the Secretary of the Treasury when the owner or master of the vessel furnishes him with good and sufficient evidence, that the repairs were necessitated by stress of weather or other casualty.

The jurisdiction of the United States Customs Court is derived under the provisions of section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930, providing in part as follows:

SEC. 514. PROTEST AGAINST COLLECTOR’S DECISIONS.
* * * all decisions of the collector, including the legality of all orders and findings entering into the same, as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable, and as to all exactions of whatever character (within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury), and his decisions excluding any merchandise from entry or delivery, under any provision of the customs laws, and his liquidation or reliquidation of any entry, or refusal to pay any claim for drawback, or his refusal to reliquidate any entry for a clerical error discovered within one year after the date of entry, or within sixty days after liquidation or reliquidation when such liquidation or reliquidation is made more than ten months after the date of entry, shall, upon the expiration of sixty days after the date of such liquidation, reliquidation, decision, or refusal, be final and conclusive upon all persons (including the United States and any officer thereof), unless the importer, consignee, or agent of the person paying such charge or exaction, or filing such claim for drawback, or seeking such entry or delivery, shall, within sixty days after, but not before such liquidation, reliquidation, decision, or refusal, as the case may be, as well in cases of merchandise entered in bond as for consumption, file a protest in writing with the collector setting forth distinctly and specifically, and in respect to each entry, payment, claim, decision, or refusal, the reasons for the objection thereto. * * *

The plaintiff herein duly filed protest according to law with the collector of customs within 60 days after liquidation. However, the reasons for the objection to the liquidation complained about, upon which the plaintiff relies, do not question the collector’s authority to exact the duties collected, nor the amount thereof, nor his decision as to the rate of duty. The complaint relied upon is that the evidence furnished the Secretary of the Treasury was of such character that the [470]*470Treasury Department should have refunded the duties exacted andi that an error was made in not ordering such refund.

The courts have held that the refusal of the Secretary of the Treasury to act is not reviewable by this court.

In the case of Mills & Gibb v. United States, 8 Ct. Cust. Appls. 31, T. D. 37164, the question involved the refusal of the Secretary of the Treasury to direct the collector to assess duty upon less than the entered value. The protest was filed under the provisions of the Tariff Act of 1913.

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Related

Suwannee Steamship Co. v. United States
70 Cust. Ct. 327 (U.S. Customs Court, 1973)
Protest 69702-K of Waterman Steamship Corp.
8 Cust. Ct. 449 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Cust. Ct. 467, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lykes-bros-v-united-states-cusc-1941.