National Merchandise Co. v. United States

13 Cust. Ct. 13, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 522
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 28, 1944
DocketC. D. 860
StatusPublished

This text of 13 Cust. Ct. 13 (National Merchandise 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
National Merchandise Co. v. United States, 13 Cust. Ct. 13, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 522 (cusc 1944).

Opinion

Ekwall, Judge:

This case is before us on rehearing granted at the :request of importer’s counsel and on his assertion that some facts that constituted evidence had been brought to his attention after the ■original decision had been handed down. Said original decision was ■reported as National Merchandise Co. v. United States, 9 Cust. Ct. 147, C. D. 678. We there dismissed the protest as untimely, the reasons therefor being set forth in the syllabus in the following language:

A protest filed more than 8 months subsequent to liquidation, requesting that .•an error, which is conceded by the defendant to be a clerical error, be corrected, held untimely, on the ground that the pleadings contain no claim against the refusal of the collector to reliquidate for a clerical error discovered within the time provided in the statute.

In our decision wé set forth the protest which is in the form of a letter addressed to the collector of customs at the port of Los Angeles: '“Attention: Liquidator,” the last two words being underscored, said letter beipg on the letterhead of “Universal Foreign Service Co.,” and signed in the same name, requesting correction *of an error in the liquidation “under section 520-C as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938, under Tariff Act of 1930.” There is no [14]*14allegation in these pleadings that the collector had refused to reliqui-date the entry for a clerical error therein, which obviously is the factual basis for a protest against such refusal, nor was the collector’s attention directed in any way to the statutory provision covering such incidents. On the contrary his attention was drawn away from it by the citation of section 520. In Jenkins Bros. v. United States, 73 Treas. Dec. 524, T. D. 49480 (adhered to on rehearing, Abstract 41875), we held that a protest which sets forth distinctly, specifically, and with great particularity the reason for a claim that the liquidation is void cannot be held sufficient to include a claim that said liquidation is void for another and entirely different reason, not set forth in the pleadings. This ruling was in harmony with the principle enunciated in the case of Bliven v. United States, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 205, T. D. 31239, and followed in United States v. Danker & Marston, 2 Ct. Cust. Appls. 462, T. D. 32208, and Oelrichs & Co. v. United States, 3 Ct. Cust. Appls. 232, T. D. 32541.

We have given long and careful consideration to this case and particularly have we read carefully and diligently all of the testimony presented, both at the original hearing and on rehearing, together with the briefs and memoranda submitted. We may say that this discloses a most unusual state of the record presenting several different, features.

The first of these to which we will refer is a typewritten document on brown paper, a printed protest form of counsel for the plaintiff, the printed portion of which includes the words “your refusal to reliquidate for clerical error,’’ the addressee being the collector at Los Angeles. Although the case was tried at Los Angeles February 21, 1941, was. briefed by both sides, and was decided September 2, 1942, from which decision the motion for rehearing was filed, dated September 28, 1942, and a supporting memorandum filed by plaintiff’s counsel, this document was not once referred to during all that time. The first mention of it is made in a “supplemental Memorandum in Support of Motion for Rehearing,” filed in this court October 23, 1942, and dated at San Francisco 2 days earlier. In this memorandum we find the following

«fí «f* *í» *i* •(*
(2) During the month of July 1940, the collector advised a representative of Universal Foreign Service Co. that the request for reliquidation under authority of section 520 contained in the letter referred to above, had been denied by the Commissioner of Customs.
(3) Within a short time thereafter a protest typed upon the printed form of Lawrence & Tuttle was filed with the collector and this protest, together with the letter written by the Universal Foreign Service Co., was then forwarded to the clerk of this court by the collector.
* * * * * * *

[15]*15In connection with the assertion contained in (2) above quoted, we observe that the learned counsel said in his first memorandum in support of his motion for rehearing:

If the collector considered that a clerical error existed and had been discovered within the time enumerated in section 620, he could have forwarded the importer’s letter directly to the Secretary for action. However, he chose to send it to the Customs Court instead. [Italics supplied.]

We have no way of determining which of these statements is correct for there is no report from the collector, not even a letter of transmittal such as is required by article 854 of the Customs Regulations of 1937. The plaintiff's witness Sellers (who described himself as the sole owner of the Universal Foreign Service Co.) identified the letter on white paper as the one he directed sent to the collector. This letter bears, the stamp as received at the customhouse at Los Angeles on July 28,. 1939, and it is also stamped in red with the number 32930, the collector’s protest number. We quote from this witness’ testimony on rehearing as follows (pp. 7/10):

Q. I will ask you to look at the file, Mr. Sellers, and I draw your attention to a letter written by the Universal Foreign Service Co. which has the number stamped’ in the upper right-hand corner, 32930, and I will also draw your attention to a document on brown paperwhich is attached to that letter. After you have examined them will you please tell the court what you know of the filing of either, or both, of those documents with the collector of customs in Los Angeles? — A. (Examines-indicated documents.) When the matter was drawn to my attention of the big. discrepancy in the number of pieces between the invoice and the liquidation of the-entry, I instructed Kay Sugahara to file this original letter.
Q. Identify it, please.- — -A. It is a letter addressed to the collector of customs,, under date of July ,25, 1939.
Q. Is it stamped with a number? — -A. No, there is no number on the letter except-the protest number itself.
Q. That is what I mean. — A. 32930.
Q. Will you continue, please? — A. In this letter they drew the attention of the-collector to the discrepancy in the number of pieces as liquidated and the number of pieces on the entry, or on the invoice, and also as received by the importer, and they requested the correction of the error under section 520-C.
Q. Do you know when that letter was filed? — A. The letter was filed July 26, 1939.
Q. Filed with whom? — A. The United States customhouse at Los Angeles.
Q. And that appears on the document? — A. That stamp appears on the document.
Q. Now, will you turn to the brown colored piece of paper, the protest form, printed form with Lawrence & Tuttle’s name on it, and tell me what, if anything you know of the filing of that document? — A.

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Related

Bliven v. United States
1 Ct. Cust. 205 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1911)
United States v. Danker & Marston
2 Ct. Cust. 462 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1912)
Oelrichs v. United States
3 Ct. Cust. 232 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1912)
Standard Oil Co. v. United States
1 Cust. Ct. 78 (U.S. Customs Court, 1938)
National Merchandise Co. v. United States
9 Cust. Ct. 147 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)

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13 Cust. Ct. 13, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-merchandise-co-v-united-states-cusc-1944.