McLaughlin & Freeman v. United States

16 Cust. Ct. 186, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 37
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 14, 1946
DocketC. D. 1008
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 16 Cust. Ct. 186 (McLaughlin & Freeman 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
McLaughlin & Freeman v. United States, 16 Cust. Ct. 186, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 37 (cusc 1946).

Opinions

Keefe, Judge:

The merchandise in question, invoiced as peanut-acid oil, was assessed for duty by the collector as a nonenumerated manufactured article at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph [187]*1871558 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The plaintiff claims that the material is a waste and as such properly dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1555. By way of amendment of the protest, it is further claimed that the material is a raw or unmanufactured article and dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1558.

At the trial counsel for the plaintiff introduced in evidence as exhibit 1 a deposition of the manager of the factory producing the imported material. Answering direct interrogatory No. 21, describing the production of the material, the affiant stated:

A. Crude peanut oil is neutralized by adding a basic solution in order to produce in this way an edible oil from crude oil. How this neutralized oil is further worked has no bearing on this suit. The remaining fatty acids, bound to a part lye and neutral oil, settle on the bottom of the neutralizing tank. By adding sulfuric acid, the lye is neutralized and in this way a useful fatty acid (acid oil) remains.

Answering direct interrogatory No. 22, where it was asked whether or not the process used was the separation of the free fatty acids which occur naturally in the peanut oil used in the production of the peanut acid oil from the other constituents in the peanut oil, the affiant answered:

A. It is the separation of the free fatty acids which are present in the oil.

And in answer to direct interrogatory No. 23 as to whether the peanut acid oil was a sought or unsought product the affiant answered:

A. The fatty acids which are released during the refining are a pure waste product and therefore unsought.

Dr. Harvey A. Seil,- an analytical, consulting, and research chemist, also testified on behalf of the plaintiff that he had experience in working with vegetable oils, in eluding peanut oil; that the common process in refining vegetable oils is to separate the fatty acids in the crude oil by means of neutralization with a basic solution; that the fatty acids are treated with sulphuric acid and thus separated from other impurities; that a crude peanut oil containing 5 per centum of free' fatty acids is inedible because of its obnoxious taste and the effect it has upon the throat; that free fatty acids are an undesirable constituent of an edible peanut oil, and are not susceptible of use in the edible oil industry; that free fatty acids are entirely different chemically and physically from edible peanut oil and are an unsought byproduct in the refining of peanut oil; and that the fatty acids as imported are the same fatty acids that were present in the original oil, although containing some of the color of the original oil, any resin that might have been present therein, and also any other acidic constituent thereof. As to [188]*188the character of the fatty acids removed from the crude peanut oil, the witness testified as follows:

Q. Do the imported fatty acids have a name any different than they had as they occurred naturally?
A. No, they are the same acids.
Q. Do they have any different character than they had as they occurred naturally?
A. No, except as I explained before, they may have some impurities from the oil that is contained in them.
Q. Do the free fatty acids as imported have any different use than the fatty acids which occur naturally, other than that perhaps they have been made available for use?
A. No, they have not. (Record page 13.)

When asked if he agreed with the answer to direct interrogatory ]No. 21, the witness answered:

A. Yes, after the separation, of course, of the soap formed by the addition of the basic substance. The mere addition of the basic substance without separation wouldn’t make an edible oil.
X Q. Then is it that you disagree with that first sentence?
A. Will you read that again, to be sure?
X Q. [Reading:] Crude peanut oil is neutralized by adding a basic solution in order to produce in this way an edible oil from crude oil.
*******
A. That would not make an edible oil as far as you have gone.
X Q. Then you disagree with that first sentence of that answer?
*******
A. The mere addition of a basic substance to a fatty oil containing free fatty acid would not render it an edible oil.
*******
X.Q. I will read the rest of the answer: “How this neutralized oil is further worked has no bearing on this suit.” Now do you know whether that is a correct statement?
A. I don’t know.
X Q. [Quoting further:] The remaining fatty acids, bound to a part lye and neutral oil, settle on the bottom of the neutralizing tank.
A. That is true.
*******
X Q. [Reading:] By adding sulphuric acid, the lye is neutralized and in this way a useful fatty acid (acid oil) remains.
A. It is perfectly obvious that they must have separated it.
X Q. In other words, there would have to be a separation?
A. There would have to be a separation of the oil from the soap solution, because otherwise when you put your sulphuric acid in you would come back to exactly where you started. Your fatty acid would go back into your original refined oil.
X Q. [Reading question and answer to direct interrogatory No. 22:] * * * Do you agree with that statement?
A. Yes, but that also shows, sir, that they must have separated the aqueous solution from the oil solution; otherwise there wouldn’t have been a separation. (Record pp. 14/16.)

[189]*189Dr. McSorley, chief chemist at the United States customs laboratory, testified on behalf of the Government. He described samples which were illustrative of the production of peanut acid oil in its different stages from crude peanut oil. A small bottle of crude peanut oil was admitted in evidence as exhibit 2. It consists of a yellowish liquid having a small portion of whitish sediment at the bottom of the bottle. After the crude peanut oil is treated with an alkali, a sample thereof being admitted in evidence as exhibit 3, the oil is heavier in texture than the oil in exhibit 2 and the color is much darker. At the bottom of the bottle there is considerable whitish sediment, the bottle containing two-thirds oil and one-third sediment. The top, or oil portion, was described by the witness as peanut oil deprived of its free fatty acids and consequently considered to be a refined oil. The sediment, or bottom portion, according to the witness, was a water solution of alkali salts of the fatty acids originally in the crude peanut oil, and known as “foots” or soap stock.

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Related

Werner G. Smith Co. v. United States
27 Cust. Ct. 121 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)
Protest 63972-K of W. A. Cleary Corp.
18 Cust. Ct. 145 (U.S. Customs Court, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Cust. Ct. 186, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclaughlin-freeman-v-united-states-cusc-1946.