M. A. Katz & Co. v. United States

20 Cust. Ct. 164, 1948 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 26
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 30, 1948
DocketC. D. 1102
StatusPublished

This text of 20 Cust. Ct. 164 (M. A. Katz & Co. 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
M. A. Katz & Co. v. United States, 20 Cust. Ct. 164, 1948 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 26 (cusc 1948).

Opinion

Cole, Judge:

M. A. Katz & Co. v United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 626, Abstract 45802, the record in which case was admitted in evidence herein, held certain floor coverings to be classifiable under paragraph 1117 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 1117 (b)), which provides for “Ingrain carpets, mats, and rugs or art squares, of whatever material composed, and carpets, rugs, and mats, of like character or description, not specially provided for, 25 per centum ad valorem.” The conclusion sustained the importer’s claim, and reversed the collector’s classification under the provision in paragraph 1117 (c) of said act (19 U. S. C. § 1001, par. 1117 (c)), for “All other floor coverings, including mats and druggets, wholly or in chief value of wool, not specially provided for, valued at not more than 40 cents per square foot, 30 per centum ad valorem.”

As pointed out by counsel for plaintiff, the cited case was not followed by customs officials after publication of a directive by the Acting Commissioner of Customs, 77 Treas. Dec. 329, T. D. 50638, stating “that the floor coverings which were the subject of that decision are commercially known as druggets and that sufficient evidence.is available to sustain the classification of that kind of floor covering as druggets under paragraph 1117 (c),” with the order that said decision be limited to the merchandise before "the court in that case and classification of such merchandise be continued as druggets, under paragraph 1117 (c), supra. Hence, the identical issue, presented in the cited case, has come before us here.

The proceedings in the incorporated case consisted of oral testimony of two witnesses and sample of the merchandise, plaintiff’s exhibit 1. [166]*166That record has been supplemented with additional testimony by the importer, who appeared in the previous case, and also evidence introduced by defendant, consisting of the oral testimony of a customs official and samples of certain floor coverings.

An examination of plaintiff’s exhibit 1, representative of the merchandise under consideration, shows it to be a floor covering, approximately 36 inches long, 26 inches wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. It is very coarse in texture. The border is dark brown, and designs in light brown, green, and orange have been worked throughout the article over a background of grayish brown. White fringe appears on both ends. The article is reversible, having the same design, in relatively the same position, on both sides. Sewed on one side is a tag,, approximately 4 inches square, with printing thereon, reading in part: “HaND Made — India Drugget — Made in British India.” Plaintiff’s name, the importer, is also printed on the tag.

As this decision will reverse the conclusion reached in the incorporated case, it is appropriate to include herein the reasoning followed therein. We accept the analysis of the testimony introduced in the earlier case set forth in the court’s opinion as follows:

M. A. Katz of the plaintiff company testified that he had bought the merchandise involved and was familiar with it, produced a representative sample which was marked in evidence as exhibit 1.
He further testified that he went to Madras, India, regularly to arrange for new designs and to arrange the output for the coming year and was familiar with the way the articles were manufactured having imported large quantities.
It further appears that the maker has a hand loom, and when he decides upon the size of the rug which is to be made the loom is stretched on a white warp. Then the design is painted in the different colors that are to appear on the cotton warp. Then the maker starts with a border of brown on the basic cotton warp. Then over this loom they have different spools of yam in various colors, one is brown, one is orange, and as the maker comes to the part where he has to use a green color he puts on a green spool. When he gets through with the design he goes on with the natural brown.
The yarn of various colors which appear in this article is colored before it is woven into the article.
That the colorings which appear ip exhibit 1 are right through the article the same at both ends.
The color of the design which appears in exhibit 1 is the same at both ends from the back to the front.
The witness further stated that it is not a printed or painted rug. No color is added at any time after the weaving of the rug itself.
This witness had been buying large quantities of Belgian, Oriental, French, and Italian rugs for 28 years and was familiar with the term “Ingrain.”
This term he defined as a rug that is woven through both sides alike — reversible — with the same design. In his opinion exhibit 1 was an ingrain rug. When asked what he called the rug as he had described it the witness replied “Wre call them druggets” and that “the trade name is a drugget” and when further asked “Is it called anything else except a drugget?” he replied, “I don’t know.”
[167]*167John Edward Connell, called as a witness in behalf of the plaintiffs, testified that he was an examiner of merchandise and was familiar with the merchandise here involved and knew the materials of which it was constructed. When asked—
Q. Of what is it constructed?
he replied—
A. The base is made of a webbing of fabric, cotton warp and weft, and the filling of camel or goat hair, a combination of both. It was returned as a wool drugget.
Witness stated that he found it in chief value of wool and that these articles were used as floor coverings and known as druggets.
■ He further stated that a mat or rug was a small floor covering and that the article here was a mat or rug.

It is important to note that the court, in the previous case, drew no conclusions from the foregoing analysis of the testimony. Instead, lengthy quotations from one dictionary were set forth, presumably in anticipation of the language thereof being in complete agreement with the testimony, as outlined. The discussion of definitions appears in the court’s opinion in this way:

For definitions of trade terms used in the above sections [paragraph 1117 (b) and (c), supra\, we have consulted the Dictionary of Textiles by Louis Harmuth, 1920 edition, published by Fairchild Publishing Co. of New York. We find the following definitions:
Carpet — Thick and strong floor covering, reversible or otherwise woven, knitted or felted, made of wool, cotton, hemp, etc. It is made in widths which can be sewed together to cover the entire floor.
Mat — -No applicable definition, but reference is made to mat weave which is again referred to basket weave which is described as made by crossing two or more warps and fillings each time.
Rug — Thick and heavy floor covering made of cotton, wool, silk or jute, made with or without any pile, by hand or on the loom. * * *

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Related

Protests 834263-G of Katz
6 Cust. Ct. 626 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)

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Bluebook (online)
20 Cust. Ct. 164, 1948 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/m-a-katz-co-v-united-states-cusc-1948.