Ontario Stone Corp. v. United States

65 Cust. Ct. 753, 319 F. Supp. 923, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2991
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 23, 1970
DocketR.D. 11727; Entry No. 15
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 65 Cust. Ct. 753 (Ontario Stone Corp. 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
Ontario Stone Corp. v. United States, 65 Cust. Ct. 753, 319 F. Supp. 923, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2991 (cusc 1970).

Opinion

RosbNSteiN, Judge:

The merchandise involved in this appeal for reappraisement consists of crushed dolomite stone exported from Canada on or about September 9, 1962. It was appraised on the basis of export value, as defined in section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, T.D. 54165, at the invoiced unit price of $2.10 per ton, net, less the invoiced charges for wharfage, vessel freight, loading of boat, and the 6*4 percent duty.

Plaintiff concedes that the statutory basis for the appraisement is correct, but contends for a lower value under said basis by claiming that certain charges, disallowed by the appraising official, described on the invoice as haulage to dock, lease of dock, and stockpiling at dock, are not properly part of the dutiable value.

Section 402 (b), as amended, sufra, reads as follows:

(b) Export Value. — For the purposes of this section, the export value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the time of exportation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing appraisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for exportation to the United States, plus, when not included in such price, the cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States.

Section 402 (f) of said Act, as amended supra, provides:

(f) Definitions. — For the purposes of this section—
(1) The term “freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale” means sold or, in the absence of sales, offered—
(A) to all purchasers at wholesale * * *.

[755]*755The sole witness herein, Carl Barricelli, president and founder of Ontario Stone Corporation, whose duties involved the buying and selling of the company’s crushed dolomite stone, testified that he was familiar with the subject transaction here involved, having personally ordered and. purchased the stone from the seller, B. E. Law Crushed Stone Ltd., for shipment to the Penney Dock at Ashtabula, Ohio. Mr. Barricelli indicated on direct examination that, from the inception of his business with the seller in 1959 and continuing through 1962, all transactions or purchases were on an “f.o.b. delivered” basis to a dock at Port Colbome, Ontario, and that “this case was just like any of the other cases”. He stated that the invoice price of $2.10 “includes the vessel freight, the material, the wharfage, haulage to dock, loading of the boat at the dock, the stockpiling at the dock, and the lease of the dock, plus the duty.” He could have bought the stone at the quarry and have done his own trucking and shipping as he did in 1959, although he had no facilities in Canada for loading the trucks. The parties “agreed on a price for stone” and then “came to an agreed price for such things as stockpiling, and trucking, and shipping merchandise to the United States.” The witness testified that the seller invoiced him separately for the stone and separately for the trucking, stacking, vessel freight, and other charges.

Upon cross-examination, Barricelli testified that, in 1959, Ontario Stone Corporation was not in existence (it was founded in 1960);

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Bluebook (online)
65 Cust. Ct. 753, 319 F. Supp. 923, 1970 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ontario-stone-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1970.