Robinson-Goodman Co. v. United States

17 C.C.P.A. 149, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 35
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 20, 1929
DocketNo. 3186
StatusPublished

This text of 17 C.C.P.A. 149 (Robinson-Goodman Co. 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
Robinson-Goodman Co. v. United States, 17 C.C.P.A. 149, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 35 (ccpa 1929).

Opinions

Lenroot, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States Customs Court, second division, rendered after a new trial had pursuant to a mandate of this court reversing a former judgment to the same effect as the one now appealed from (16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 243, T. D. 42842).

The merchandise involved is artificial flowers, and the question to be determined is its proper classification.

It was classified under paragraph 1430 of the Tariff Act of 1922, the appraiser describing it as consisting of “trimmings or ornaments [150]*150in the form of flowers, fruits, or leaves, suitable for dress or millinery use, composed of silk, cotton, metal or other yarns, threads or filaments,” and duty was assessed thereon at 90 per cent ad valorem.

The appellant protested the dutiable classification by claiming that the merchandise is properly dutiable at 60 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1419 of the said act.

The pertinent parts of the two paragraphs are as follows:

Par. 1430. Laces, lace window curtains, burnt-out laces, and embroideries capable of conversion into burnt-out laces,. nets and nettings, embroidered or otherwise, veils, veilings, flouncings, all-overs, neck rufflings, flutings, quillings, ruchings, -buckings, insertings, galloons, edgings, trimmings, fringes, gimps, ornaments; braids, loom woven and ornamented in the process of weaving, or made by hand, or on any braid machine, knitting machine or lace machine; and all fabrics and articles composed in any part, however small, of any of the foregoing fabrics or articles; all the foregoing, finished or unfinished (except materials and articles-provided for in paragraphs 920, 1006, 1404, 1406, and 1424 of this Act), by whatever name known, and to whatever use applied, and whether or not named, described, or provided for elsewhere in this Act, when composed wholly or in chief value of yarns, threads, filaments, tinsel wire, lame, bullions, metal threads, beads, bugles, spangles, or products of cellulose provided for in paragraph 1213 of this Act, 90 per centum ad valorem; * * *.
Par. 1419. * * * artificial or ornamental fruits, vegetables, grains, leaves, .flowers, and stems or parts thereof, of whatever material composed, not specially provided for, 60 per centum ad valorem; * * * boas, boutonniéres, wreaths, and all articles not specially .provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of any of the * * * flowers, leaves, or other material herein mentioned, 60 per centum ad valorem. * * *

The court below overruled the protest, sustained the collector’s dutiable classification, and entered judgment accordingly, upon the authority of Blumenthal & Co. et al. v. United States, 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 17, T. D. 41531. The importer appealed to this court, assigning, among other things, error in the court below in excluding testimony offered by it, particularly in regard to whether the component material of the merchandise in question excluded it from classi fication under paragraph 1430.

This court found reversible error in excluding testimony offered, and remanded the case for a new trial. In its opinion, this court stated:

The excluded evidence was admissible. It tended to establish that the component material of the exhibits was not any one of the materials to warrant classification under paragraph 1430. Its purpose was not to show the chief value of any component, but was to show what in fact such component was.
Thereafter many othfer offers of evidence were made on behalf of the importer, which were excluded on the objection of the Government, concerning which error is alleged here. To consider them all in this opinion would extend it to an unreasonable length. Among them was an offer to prove that the artificial flowers involved in this case were not trimmings or ornaments, another that they were made out of woven cloth, another that trimmings and ornaments were certain specific things, dealt with as such in the wholesale trade throughout the United States prior to and since 1922, and did not include artificial flowers. [151]*151We are unable to see why, as the ease stood before the court below, such evidence was not admissible, but refrain from discussing the issues raised thereby because we are clear that the exclusion of the evidence covered by the first offer was reversible error.

Upon the retrial of the case, much testimony was introduced by the appellant in support of its contentions. The Government placed no witnesses upon the stand, but introduced in evidence the record in the case of Blumenthal v. United States, supra.

The lower court expressly found that all of the merchandise was generally and uniformly known and designated in the trade as artificial flowers, and not as trimmings or ornaments; that much of the merchandise in question is used, and that it is all capable of being used, as trimmings or ornaments on hats, wearing apparel, dresses, cushions, and various other things; that the merchandise is composed in chief value of velveteen, plush, silk taffeta, satin, or sateen, and these various fabrics are woven of yarns, threads, or filaments, and therefore, under the ruling of this court in the case of Kayser & Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 474, T. D. 41367, the merchandise in question was composed of yarns, threads, or filaments within the meaning of paragraph 1430.

Upon these facts found by the court, it was held that the decision of this court in the case of Blumenthal v. United States, supra, governed the case, and judgment was .entered for the defendant, overruling the protest. From such judgment this appeal is taken by the importer.

Appellant contends that the decision in the Blumenthal case does not govern the case at bar, asserting that none of the evidence in that record tends to contradict the evidence in this case; that the evidence in the present case establishes that artificial flowers and trimmings and ornaments are each specific things, and that each is a distinct class of merchandise universally recognized in the trade and commerce of the United States at the time of the passage of the Tariff Act of 1922, and for many years prior thereto; that the terms “trimmings'’ and “ornaments” do not now and never have included artificial flowers such as the merchandise involved in this case; that there are “trimmings” and there are “ornaments” which are known by other names than those mentioned specifically in paragraph 1430; that artificial flowers are not made out of yarns, filaments, threads, tinsel wire, lame, bullions, metal threads, beads, bugles, spangles, or artificial silk yarn; that the proof establishing the facts contended for by the appellant was not present in the Blumenthal case, and therefore the two cases must be distinguished.

Appellee contends that the merchandise in question is of the same character as that involved in the Blumenthal case, and that the decision of this court in that case should be followed herein. It was [152]*152established upon the trial that the merchandise here m question is of the same character as that involved in the Blumenthdl case.

In the Blumenthdl

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Bluebook (online)
17 C.C.P.A. 149, 1929 CCPA LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-goodman-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1929.