Mutual Supply Co. v. United States

26 Cust. Ct. 476, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 662
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 1951
DocketNo. 7925; Entry Nos. 2810; 3358; 2381
StatusPublished

This text of 26 Cust. Ct. 476 (Mutual Supply 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
Mutual Supply Co. v. United States, 26 Cust. Ct. 476, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 662 (cusc 1951).

Opinion

Mollison, Judge:

These cases are before me upon a judgment issued by the second division of this court in conformity with the mandate of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals issued pursuant to its decision and judgment in the case of Mutual Supply Co. v. United States, 38 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 44, C. A. D. 437, wherein the judgment of the said second division entered in conformity with its decision in United States v. Mutual Supply Co., 20 Cust. Ct. 418, Reap. Dec. 7578, was affirmed. By the terms of the last-mentioned judgment, the decisions and judgments of this court reported in North American Mercantile Co. et al. v. United States, 18 Cust. Ct. 335, Reap. Dec. 6808 (insofar as appealed from), and in Mutual Supply Co. v. United States, 18 id. 338, Reap. Dec. 6809, were reversed, and the cases remanded “for the purpose of considering and weighing the evidence with a view to arriving at the correct American selling price for the imported * * * clams.”

In my view it is unnecessary tó set forth herein the facts as to the merchandise, its appraisement, and the contentions of the parties, which are already well delineated in the opinions in the decisions referred to above.

The situation as it now stands is that the following findings of fact have been made by the second division of this court:

1. That the imported merchandise consists of canned clams known as hokkigai clams.
2. That the imported canned clams were exported from Japan and entry thereof made at the port of San Francisco during the month of September in the years 1937, 1938, and 1939.
3. That these canned clams were appraised on the basis of the American selling priee, as provided in section 402 (g) of the Tariff Act of 1930.
[477]*4774. That the American clam that was selected by the appraiser as being like or similar to the imported clam was a whole butter clam handled by Guy P. Halferty & Co. of Seattle, Wash.
5. That the imported hokkigai clam and the whole butter clam handled by Guy P. Halferty & Co. of Seattle, Wash., are in fact like or similar within the meaning of that term as used in section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

The effect of these findings is that the imported clams are within the purview of the Presidential proclamation reported in T. D. 47031, requiring appraisement thereof to be made under the American selling price formula set forth in section 402 (g) of the Tariff Act of 1930, and such was the order of remand contained in the judgment of the second division.

The appraiser appraised the imported 9-ounce cans of hokkigai clams on the basis of the American selling price of 8-ounce cans of whole butter clams packed or canned in the State of Washington and sold in San Francisco, Calif., and it was conceded on behalf of the plaintiff that the difference between the 9-ounce content of the imported cans and the 8-ounce content of the domestic product was immaterial.

The imported 4%-ounce cans of hokkigai clams were appraised on the basis of the American selling price of 4%-ounce cans of whole butter clams packed or canned in the State of Washington by Guy P. Halferty & Co. of Seattle, Wash., and sold in San Francisco, Calif. It was stipulated during the course of the trial that if Guy P. Halferty were called as a witness—

* * * he would testify he is president and general manager of Guy P. Halferty & Company of Seattle; and that from 1934 to date that firm has not sold or offered for sale or packed any 4% ounce or 5 ounce tins containing whole butter clams. (R. p. 23.)

The values returned by the appraiser are attacked by the plaintiff on the grounds (1) that the 8-ounce cans of whole butter clams were not “freely offered for sale for home consumption to all purchasers” within the meaning of section 402 (g), sufra, and (2) that in view of the stipulation quoted above, the appraised value of the 4K-ounce cans of whole butter clams was based upon an error of fact, and the burden was on the defendant to establish the correct American selling price therefor.

With respect to the contention re the 8-ounce cans of the domestic product, I find that the appraised value for the 9-ounce cans of imported clams was $7 per case of 4 dozen, less IK per centum cash discount, f. o. b. San Francisco. It appears that at the time of exportation of the imported 9-ounce cans, three qualities of whole butter clams were packed or canned in the State of Washington and handled by Guy P. Halferty & Go., viz, the selected, the standard, and the substandard, having three price levels, and the record does not show which quality the appraiser used as the basis for the American selling price to be applied to the imported merchandise.

[478]*478As stated by counsel for the plaintiff in the brief filed with the trial court, there is no evidence that the standard and substandard qualities were not freely offered for sale within the meaning of section 402 (g), supra, and the plaintiff evidently bases the contention as to the failure of free offer upon the assumption that the appraiser adopted as the appraised value the American selling price of the selected quality, and specifically the so-called “Sportsman” brand, as to which there was testimony by Guy P. Halferty that at the time of exportation of the imported clams the said “Sportsman” brand was offered and sold only to one firm.

There is no evidence in the record which directly supports the assumption that the appraised value for the 9-ounce cans of imported clams was based upon the American selling price of the 8-ounce cans of “Sportsman” brand selected domestic clams. There is some evidence in the record as to the prices at which “Sportsman” brand, as well as brands of the standard and substandard qualities, was sold at the time of exportation involved, but that evidence relates to sales in units of dozens on an f. o. b. Seattle basis, whereas the appraised values are in units of cases of 4 dozen cans on an f. o. b. San Francisco basis. Furthermore, there is evidence that at the time of exportation involved there existed two other brands of selected clams, namely, “Tureen” and “Sea Breeze” brands, which were freely offered for sale to all purchasers.

I am therefore satisfied that the plaintiff has failed to establish the lack of free offer within the meaning of section 402 (g), supra, and on the record presented I am unable to find any value for the imported 9-ounce cans of hokkigai clams other than that returned by the appraiser.

With respect to the contention as to the imported 4K-ounce cans of hokkigai clams, the examiner in the appraiser’s office who passed upon the merchandise in question, and whose return of value was adopted by the appraiser, testified that he based his return of value upon the basis of the American selling price of a whole butter clam packed by Guy P. Halferty & Co. in 4%-ounce cans offered and sold in San Francisco at or about the time of exportation of the involved merchandise. As has been stated before, a stipulation entered into between the parties and placed in the record establishes that at qr about such time Guy P. Halferty & Co. did not sell or offer for sale “any 4}{ ounce or 5 ounce tins containing whole butter clams.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kuttroff v. United States
12 Ct. Cust. 299 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1924)
United States v. Draeger Shipping Co.
6 Cust. Ct. 783 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
North American Mercantile Co. v. United States
18 Cust. Ct. 335 (U.S. Customs Court, 1947)
United States v. Mutual Supply Co.
20 Cust. Ct. 418 (U.S. Customs Court, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 Cust. Ct. 476, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mutual-supply-co-v-united-states-cusc-1951.