Standard Oil Co. v. United States

6 Cust. Ct. 237, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 59
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 18, 1941
DocketC. D. 471
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 6 Cust. Ct. 237 (Standard Oil 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
Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 237, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 59 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

Keefe, Judge:

In these suits’the plaintiff seeks to recover customs duties assessed by the collector at New Orleans upon certain refinery gases withdrawn for domestic consumption from bonded manufacturing warehouses. Duty was assessed thereon at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as nonenu-merated manufactured articles. The plaintiff claims that themerchan-dise is dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1555 as waste. It is alternatively claimed that the merchandise is dutiable at 10 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1558 as nonenumer-ated unmanufactured articles, or that it is free of duty under paragraph 1733 as petroleum, crude, fuel, or refined, or as a distillate obtained from petroleum, or under paragraph 1719 as a mineral, crude, or not advanced in value or condition.

Two witnesses testified for the plaintiff, one being the chief chemist of the Baton Kouge plant, in charge of the refinery laboratory, and the other was the head of the process engineering department of the company whose duties are to survey the refinery operations throughout and to ascertain that every operation is carried on efficiently for the production of the greatest quantity of the most valuable products.

From the uncontradicted testimony of these witnesses we find that crude distillate of petroleum was imported from Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, and placed in bonded manufacturing warehouses where it was later processed. Warehouse entry 11-B covered merchandise that was used in the production of Diesel oil and gasoline, whereas the merchandise under warehouse entry 64-B was used in the production of gasoline. The imported crude distillate is known as “feed stock.” The merchandise in the first entry was broken up by means of a series of distillations into the products desired. The method used was as follows: The material was placed under a high pressure at the beginning of the distillation operations and in each succeeding distillation the pressure was reduced until the atmospheric pressure was reached. During each of these operations certain unsought gases were unavoidably formed which were so light that they would not [239]*239remáin liquid and would not recondense except under great pressure. Consequently these gases escape from the recondensing chamber during the successive stages in the production of the Diesel oil and gasoline and are collected in a gas-collecting line. These light gases are in that manner eliminated from the final products because a product manufactured from the imported “feed stock” would be unstable and unsatisfactory if they remained therein. In order to utilize everything of value in the “feed stock,” the plaintiff removed these unsought gases from bond, after being measured under customs supervision, and burned the same under the boilers in the various refineries. Before removal all of the valuable elements contained therein, useful as constituents of the Diesel oil- and gasoline, are recovered.

In the latter entry the imported “feed stock” was processed in a manufacturing warehouse for the production of gasoline only. The series of operations performed were similar to the process of the material in the first entry but not identical therewith. As in the previous process, the lighter portions of the gases which would not recondense into a liquid were segregated into a gas-collecting line and withdrawn from the bonded storage warehouse after being metered under customs supervision. In like manner they were also burned in the refinery fuel system.

It further appears from the evidence that it would not be profitable to import raw “feed stock” for the production of these gases only. Such gases are not suitable for use as a gasoline or an oil and are not deliberately sought in the manufacturing operations.

The plaintiff contends that the refinery gases in question come squarely within the term “waste” as that term is defined by the courts, and that the classification of the material as a manufactured article is in conflict with judicial authority.

It is the contention of the Government, on the other hand, that the gases in question constitute a manufactured article within the 'meaning of the tariff laws, as the article suffers a species of transformation through the application of labor, and is changed into a new and different article, having a distinctive name, character, or use; that the merchandise is not a waste, as the common meaning of the term “waste” does not control its definition for tariff purposes, and the tariff term does not include low-grade materials which may be used in the same manner as articles of the same species but of better quality that are sought in the manufacturing process.

The subject of waste has been before this and the appellate courts many times. The Supreme Court in Patton v. United States, 159 U. S. 503, 40 L. ed. 233, announced the characteristics of waste, in a tariff sense, in the following language:

[240]*240The prominent characteristic running through all these definitions is that of refuse, or material that is not susceptible of being used for the ordinary purposes of manufacture. It does not presuppose that the article is absolutely worthless, but that it is unmerchantable and used for purposes for which merchantable material of the same class is unsuitable.

We bear in mind that there are two classes of waste products treated in the decisions covering waste. One involves a material which is a final residuum remaining after all of the valuable products have been removed therefrom and is in such condition that it has neither the character of the original material nor the products produced therefrom. The other consists of scraps and broken pieces of the original material which ofttimes retains the name and quality of the original product and is used for similar purposes. The latter material was the subject of decision by the Supreme Court in Latimer v. United States, 223 U. S. 501, 56 L. ed. 223. There small pieces broken from the brittle leaves of tobacco which fall to the floor of the warehouse are recovered and cleaned and are used in the manufacture of a cheap grade of cigarettes and stogies. The court held that such scrap retains the name and quality of tobacco, is in fact tobacco, and therefore is dutiable under a provision for tobacco in all its forms, manufactured or unmanufactured, rather than as a waste. The word “waste” in the tariff act was there defined by the court as generally referring—

to remnants and byproducts of small value that have not the quality or utility either of the finished product or of the raw material.

The product before us clearly is distinguishable from the class of left-over products the subject of decision in the Latimer case, supra, as it has neither the characteristics of the material placed in bonded warehouses nor the final products sought. It is a refuse which is left over and not susceptible of use either as an oil or as a gasoline. It is the final residuum remaining after all the valuable elements have been extracted. It is not an article which is sought or purposely produced as a byproduct in the industry.

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Protests 69685-K/12446 of Standard Oil Co.
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Protests 980062-G/11688 of Standard Oil Co.
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Bluebook (online)
6 Cust. Ct. 237, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/standard-oil-co-v-united-states-cusc-1941.