Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States

45 Cust. Ct. 130
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 19, 1960
DocketC.D. 2211
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 45 Cust. Ct. 130 (Randolph Rand 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
Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States, 45 Cust. Ct. 130 (cusc 1960).

Opinion

Donlon, Judge:

These protests, consolidated for trial, are limited to that part of the imported merchandise which consists of metal frames in chief value of brass, identified on the entry invoices more particularly as frame Ros. 8972, 3988, and 4122. The frames are the product of West Germany and were further described in one or more of the invoices as “frames for Leather Cig. Cases.”

The collector classified these frames under paragraph 1552 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802, as “smokers’ articles * * * and parts thereof, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for, of whatever material composed, except china, porcelain, parian, bisque, earthenware, or stoneware.” Duty was assessed at the GATT modified rate of 30 per centum ad valorem.

[131]*131Plaintiffs claim that these frames are properly dutiable at 20 per centum ad valorem, either under paragraph 397, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 54108, or under paragraph 1552, as modified by GATT, supra. Plaintiffs do not specify under which of the modified provisions of paragraph 1552 entitlement to the 20 per centum rate is claimed. That is a protest defect.

However, plaintiffs do not argue their protest claim under paragraph 1552. That claim is deemed abandoned, and .it is dismissed.

Plaintiffs’ other protest claim, which is argued, is under modified paragraph 397. In relevant part, this provision is as follows:

Articles or wares not specially provided for, whether partly or wholly manufactured :
*******
Composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel, copper, brass, nickel, pewter, zinc, aluminum, or other base metal (except lead), but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer:
*******
Not wholly or in chief value of tin or tin plate:
*******
Other, composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel, brass, bronze, zinc, or aluminum (except the following: * * * luggage hardware; * * *). [Emphasis supplied.]

Defendant raises no issue that the frames in this litigation, sometimes referred to in the record as “hardware,” are “luggage hardware” such as is specifically excluded from the above-cited modified paragraph 397 provision. Indeed, the common meaning of the term “luggage” would not appear to support such argument, on the record before us, if the argument were made. These frames are shown to be hardware that is used in the making of small leather goods, such as cigarette cases, pencil cases, and rosary cases, among others. (K. 10, 11.) These articles are not “luggage.” Hence, that exclusionary provision is not applicable to this merchandise.

Frames, duplicates of the frames of this litigation but not taken from the actual shipment, are in evidence. (Plaintiffs’ exhibits 1, 2, 3.) Plaintiffs also introduced into evidence nine articles, said to be illustrative of articles in the domestic manufacture of which the imported frames are used. (Plaintiffs’ illustrative exhibits 4 to 12, inclusive.) These exhibits include two rosary cases (exhibits 4, 12), three stud cases (exhibits 5, 7, 11), a cigarette case (exhibit 6), two card cases (exhibits 8, 10), and a leather case (exhibit 9). These articles were manufactured by three leather goods manufacturers.

On trial, counsel stipulated that “Exhibits 1, 2, and 3 are composed wholly or in chief value of brass, are not plated with platinum, gold, [132]*132or silver and are not colored with gold lacquer.” (R. 8.) Hence, that exclusionary provision is not applicable to this merchandise.

Plaintiffs adduced the testimony of Max H. Randolph, president, and Robert Iieller, vice president, of Randolph Rand Corporation. Their testimony is that frame Nos. 3972, 3988, and 4122, the imported merchandise of this litigation, are used in the domestic manufacture of a considerable variety of articles, of which exhibits 4 to 12, inclusive, are illustrative.

Defendant did not cross-examine plaintiff’s witnesses, nor offer any evidence in support of its case or in rebuttal of plaintiff’s case.

Paragraph 1552, under which duty was levied, is more specific than paragraph 397 and gathers within its scope all described articles “wherever else they may occur or within whatever other provisions of the tariff law the merchandise may be included.” Knauth v. United States, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 334. The collector’s classification of the frames under paragraph 1552 was as “parts of smokers’ articles, not specially provided for.” Unless the frames at the time of importation bore marks of a special adaptation to commercial use which is limited to the manufacture of smokers’ articles, they are not, for tariff purposes, parts of smokers’ articles. United States v. American Bead Co., 9 Ct. Cust. Appls. 27; Charles A. Redden, Inc., et al. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 241, C.D. 2181.

In the often cited American Bead case, supra, our court of appeals said:

An article not an actual constituent of a manufacture can not be considered as part thereof unless it has been advanced to a point wbieb definitely commits it to that specific class and kind of manufacture. An article commercially suitable and commercially used for tbe making of different things is a material which is just as much adapted to the production of all of them as it is to the production of any one of them, and until it has been finally appropriated to some definite manufacturing use and has been given the distinguishing characteristics which clearly identify it as one of the components ultimately to be assembled into a particular completed whole, it can not be regarded as a part of any specified manufacture. [P. 29.]

Plaintiffs contend that since these frames are widely and generally used in the manufacture of a variety of articles, they are not dedicated to use as part of a smoker’s article. Defendant argues that the record fails to rebut the collector’s presumptively correct classification, and suggests that plaintiffs have proved no more than that the frames have been used fugitively to produce articles other than smokers’ articles, citing Greenberg & Josefsberg v. United States, 28 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 138, C.A.D. 135.

The Greenberg case, however, points up the deficiencies of the defense case here. In the Greenberg case, articles which had been [133]*133classified, as parts of cigar lighters, designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about the person, under paragraph 1527 (c) (2) of the Tariff Act of 1930, were claimed to be dutiable as parts of smokers’ articles under paragraph 1552 or, alternatively, as articles, not specially provided for, under paragraph 397. It was there contended by the plaintiff that although the articles were parts of cigar lighters, they were not chiefly used in cigar lighters of a size designed to be carried on or about the person. Facts developed on the cross-examination of plaintiff’s witness in the Greenberg

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

Related

Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States
53 C.C.P.A. 24 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1966)
Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States
52 Cust. Ct. 107 (U.S. Customs Court, 1964)
Lodge Spark Plug Co. v. United States
49 Cust. Ct. 158 (U.S. Customs Court, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Cust. Ct. 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randolph-rand-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1960.