S. S. Sarna, Inc. v. United States

44 Cust. Ct. 444
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 2, 1960
DocketNo. 64135; protests 278594-K, 278595-K, 285358-K, and 289426-K (New York)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 44 Cust. Ct. 444 (S. S. Sarna, Inc. 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
S. S. Sarna, Inc. v. United States, 44 Cust. Ct. 444 (cusc 1960).

Opinion

Oliver, Chief Judge:

These protests have been limited to four items, identified herein as follows:

Entry No. Item Invoice description Exhibit No.
12364 M-78 Large Door knocker Colored_1
12364 230-A Bell Bottle Openers Eng-2
77366 59805 218-N 181 Candle holders Nokdar-3 brass bell brackets elephant design_4

In classifying the bottle opener (plaintiff’s exhibit 2) and the candleholder (plaintiff’s exhibit 3), the collector regarded each of those items as consisting [445]*445of two separate entities, i.e., a household utensil composed of brass, dutiable at 15 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 339 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, and a bell, dutiable at the rate of 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 364 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified. They were so classified.

The door knocker (plaintiff’s exhibit 1) and the bracket (elephant design) (plaintiff’s exhibit 4) were assessed with duty at the rate of 2214 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified, as articles, not specially provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of brass, and not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer.

Plaintiff claims that all of the items in question are properly classifiable under the provision for household utensils, composed wholly or in chief value of brass, in paragraph 339, as modified, carrying a dutiable assessment of 15 per centum ad valorem.

It has been agreed between the parties that the merchandise in question is “wholly or in chief value of brass.” (R. 9.)

One witness testified. He was the president of the plaintiff corporation, which is known by the trade name, “Bells of Sarnabrass.” (R. 5.) Plaintiff’s business is the importation of wooden articles from Indonesia and brass articles from India. The witness stated that he designed the articles in question and arranged for their production. Explaining his duties as president of the plaintiff corporation, the witness stated that he travels all over the United States, selling at wholesale to department stores, flower shops, and gift shops, merchandise imported by plaintiff, including the items under consideration. With respect to the use of the present merchandise, the witness testified that he had seen all of the articles in question used in homes throughout the United States.

Referring to the bottle opener with bell (exhibit 2, supra), the witness testified that it is a novelty, that it is always used as a bottle opener and never as a bell, and that the bell is useless, because as you hold the article and use pressure to open the bottle, the clapper falls and deadens any sound.

The witness’ testimony concerning the use of the eandleholder with bell (exhibit 3, supra) appears in the record as follows:

Q. Directing yourself to Plaintiff’s Exhibit 3, the bell candle holder, from your experience and knowledge in your travels throughout the United States, have you ever seen that used? — -A. ■ Yes.
Q. Continue. — -A. Yes, I have seen it in various homes where they use it as a candle holder. It is not used as a bell because there is a candle on it. They can’t ring it. That is not the object. * * * So, it is just sold for the utilitarian purpose of holding a candle.

The testimony relating to the brass bracket (elephant design), exhibit 4, supra, is that the article is used in homes to hang clothes or “for bell strikes.” (R. 18.)

Plaintiff’s uncontradicted evidence — oral testimony coupled with the samples of the merchandise — is sufficient to establish, prima facie, at least, that the three articles, hereinabove discussed, serve a utilitarian purpose and are chiefly used either in the maintenance and care of the home, or in the household by the members thereof collectively for their convenience and comfort. They are, therefore, household utensils within the judicial interpretation of that term, as enunciated by the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in I. W. Rice & Co. v. United States, 24 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 114, T.D. 48415, and Pramette Juvenille Furniture Company v. United States, 36 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 61, C.A.D. 398.

To support the collector’s classification of the bottle opener and the candle-holder (exhibits 2 and 3, supra), Government counsel, in their brief, cite the [446]*446cases of Karavan Trading Corp. v. United States, 7 Cust. Ct. 178, C.D. 563, and United States v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 23 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 365, T.D. 48212. Neither of the cited cases can be applied herein.

In the Karavan Trading Corp. case, the merchandise consisted of certain bells, which the court found to be household utensils, chiefly used in the home as call hells. In rejecting classification thereof under the provision for “household utensils” and holding them to be properly classifiable within the specific provision for bells, this court stated as follows:

While we are satisfied from the testimony of the plaintiff’s witness, and from an examination of said exhibits 1 and 2, that said bells are chiefly used in the household, and as such may be considered as household utensils within the meaning of said paragraph 339, nevertheless, we may not ignore the specific provision for bells in said paragraph 364. This is particularly true since said provision is not restricted or qualified by the words “not specially provided for” as are the provisions of paragraph 339. It would therefore seem to follow as a matter of law that the bell provision in paragraph 364 is the more specific for the imported bells.

The reasoning employed in the foregoing quotation has no application herein. In this case, the articles in question are basically a bottle opener and a candle-holder which, it should be emphasized, the collector recognized to be household utensils.

The F. W. Woolworth Co. case, supra, involved certain short, mechanical pencils attached by chain to small, silver-finished metal animal figures. The pencils were classified under the co nomine provision therefor, and the metal figures and chains were classified as silver-plated articles. The appellate court stated that the question of entireties was not a subject for decision, and that the situation was the same as though the animal figures and chains were imported without the attached pencils. Based upon a finding that the figures and chains were chiefly used in the home as articles of comfort and convenience for the members thereof, they were held to be classifiable as household utensils. In this case, neither the bottle opener with bell nor the candleholder with bell — the two items under discussion — are capable of separation or division into two parts. Both were produced as complete entities. While it is true that the bottom of each of them is bell-shaped, with a clapper fitted inside to make a bell, the completed articles are not the result of an assembly of two separate and distinct units. On the contrary, both have been cast as finished articles. They are entireties. On the basis of the present record, each is classifiable as a household utensil, as claimed by plaintiff.

Arguing in favor of the collector’s classification of the bell bracket (exhibit 4, supra),

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Related

Ignaz Strauss & Co. v. United States
61 Cust. Ct. 340 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
S. S. Sarna, Inc. v. United States
59 Cust. Ct. 901 (U.S. Customs Court, 1967)
Ignaz Strauss & Co. v. United States
54 C.C.P.A. 125 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1967)
Furniture Import Corp. v. United States
56 Cust. Ct. 125 (U.S. Customs Court, 1966)
Wing On Co. v. United States
47 Cust. Ct. 122 (U.S. Customs Court, 1961)

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44 Cust. Ct. 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-s-sarna-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1960.