McLaughlin v. United States

21 C.C.P.A. 446, 1934 CCPA LEXIS 320
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 12, 1934
DocketNo. 3678
StatusPublished

This text of 21 C.C.P.A. 446 (McLaughlin 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
McLaughlin v. United States, 21 C.C.P.A. 446, 1934 CCPA LEXIS 320 (ccpa 1934).

Opinions

Graham, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellant imported certain wool in the grease at the port of Boston, and made three entries thereof, on December 18, 1931. The collector classified the wool, in each case, under paragraph 1102 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, on the basis of its clean content. This paragraph, together with other relevant provisions, is as follows:

Par. 1102. (b) Wools, not specially provided for, and hair of the Angora goat, Cashmere goat, alpaca, and other like animals, in the grease or washed, 34 [448]*448cents per pound of clean content; scoured, 37 cents per pound of clean content; on the skin, 32 cents per pound of clean content; sorted, or matchings, if not scoured, 35 cents per pound of clean content.
Pab. 1104. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to prescribe methods and regulations for carrying out the provisions of this schedule relating to the duties on wool and hair. The Secretary of the Treasury is further authorized and directed to procure from the Secretary of Agriculture, and deposit in such customhouses and other places in the United States or elsewhere as he may designate, sets of the Official Standards of the United States for grades of wool. He is further authorized to display, in the customhouses of the United States, or elsewhere, numbered, but not otherwise identifiable, samples of imported wool and hair, to which are attached data as to clean content and other pertinent facts, for the information of the trade and of customs officers.

The entries were liquidated on January 13, 14, and 15, 1932, after which the importer removed its wool to its processing plant at Harris-ville, R.I.

On March 11, 1932, the importer protested in identical protests, as follows:

1. That the duty was assessed with respect to this entry upon the basis of the estimated scoured yield of the wool and not upon its clean content, i.e., clean content determined on the basis of eliminating from the wool in its scoured state all foreign vegetable matter (which is usually done by the process of car-bonization), as required, as we contend, by the paragraph of the statute above referred to.
2. That the duty was assessed with respect to this entry without allowance for excessive moisture in the wool.
3. That the duty with respect to this entry was not assessed with respect to the true clean content (i.e., clean content carbonized) of the wool, as required, as we contend, by the paragraph of the statute above referred to, but was assessed on the basis of a yield materially in excess of the wool’s true clean content.
The wool in this entry was assessed on the basis of an approximate average yield of 58.62% of its greasy weight. We claim that the yield of clean content (i.e., clean content carbonized) did not exceed an average of 55.58% of the greasy weight.

In response to the protest the collector stated in part:

Duty was assessed on the basis of the appraiser’s estimates of clean content in accordance with the regulations of September 23, 1922, Circular letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, No. 612. The importer did not avail himself of the provisions of T.D. 39767 for a scouring test when the importer is dissatisfied with the return of clean content found by the appraiser.

He also copied and referred to the advisory report of the appraiser, as follows:

These protests object to the clean content reported for the wool comprised in the above entries.
The wool was appraised for duty on the basis of clean yield and as no manipulation was done by the importer to show that the estimates for the appraiser were wrong, the estimates as originally reported are not changed.

On appeal to the United States Customs Court, a trial was had, at which two witnesses were called and examined on behalf of the [449]*449protestant. Levon M. Mardros Yacubian, manager of the top department at Harrisville, testified that the Stillwater Worsted Mills, the owner of the Harrisville plant, was in the business of converting greasy wool into men’s finished worsted goods. He then detailed with particularity the processes to which the wool in question was subjected. Without going into detail, it will be sufficient to state that the wool was subjected to many processes, including scouring in a four-vat machine, drying, carding, back washing, drying, oiling, gilling, balling, combing, gilling, wetting, and packaging.

Thereafter, the witness offered to prove that the resulting clean wool was weighed and was found to weigh 70,153 pounds as against the determination by the appraiser of 74,530 pounds, and as distinguished from its entered clean weights of 74,069 pounds. The testimony of the witness Hincliife substantially verifies the figure stated in said offer.

This testimony also shows that the witness did not know what methods were used by the appraiser in determining the clean content. Neither is this shown elsewhere in the record.

The witness Yacubian further testified that the methods used by him in processing this wool were the same as those defined in T.D. 39767.

On this record the trial court held, the cases having been consolidated, in a decision by Sullivan, J., McClelland, J., specially concurring, and Brown, J., dissenting, that the importer had not proceeded in conformity with the provisions of T.D. 39767 in ascertaining the clean content of its wool, and overruled the protest.

The importer has appealed from the resulting judgment. In this court, counsel for the importer insist that the said T.D. 39767 is illegal and void, because it purports to require the importer to pay an additional tax, namely, the charge for processing. It is claimed, further, the importer followed the process defined in said T.D. 39767, that the Government did not, and that the weights ascertained by the processes of the importer are the correct, dutiable weights of the clean content of the wool, and should be taken; that the importer had the right, under the circumstances of the case, to prove the true clean content of its wool; and, finally, that said T.D. 39767 was not material and relevant to the protests in issue.

The Government insists that the validity of said T.D. 39767 is not properly raised in this court, it, as the Government contends, not having been raised in the trial court; that if it is properly raised, the regulation is valid; that the importer failed to show compliance with said T.D. 39767; that the importer had no right to use other methods in ascertaining clean content; and that the importer introduced no competent proof to show clean content.

[450]*450Many interesting questions are raised by tbe parties on this appeal. As we view the matter, however, a discussion of but one of the points raised will be sufficient for the disposition of the case.

The pertinent regulations at the time of this importation were Circular Letter No. 612, of .September 23, 1922, and T.D. 39767, of August 16, 1923. The importer contends that these were repealed by the enactment of the Tariff Act of 1930, and bases its contention upon the claimed authority of United States v. McGraw Wool Co., 19 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 205, T.D. 45296. Counsel are in error about the holding in the cited case.

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21 C.C.P.A. 446, 1934 CCPA LEXIS 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclaughlin-v-united-states-ccpa-1934.