Starkey v. United States

6 Cust. Ct. 118, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 4, 1941
DocketC. D. 444
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 6 Cust. Ct. 118 (Starkey 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
Starkey v. United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 118, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

Keefe, Judge:

In these suits tbe plaintiffs seek to recover certain customs duties alleged to have been illegally assessed by the collector at New York upon merchandise invoiced as amorphous plumbago dust or carbon dust. Duty was assessed thereon at the rate of 30 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 213 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as crystalline dust graphite. The plaintiffs claim that the merchandise is properly dutiable under the same paragraph at 10 per centum ad valorem as amorphous graphite or plumbago.

The paragraph of the Tariff Act of 1930 under consideration provides as follows:

Par. 213. Graphite or plumbago, crude or refined: Amorphous, 10 per centum ad valorem; crystalline lump, chip, or dust, 30 per centum ad valorem; crystalline flake, 1<%)o cents per pound. As used in this paragraph, the term “crystalline flake” means graphite or plumbago which occurs disseminated as a relatively thin flake throughout its containing rock, decomposed or not, and which may be or has been separated therefrom by ordinary crushing, pulverizing, screening, or mechanical concentration process, such flake being made up of a number of parallel laminae, which may be separated by mechanical means.

[120]*120At the trial counsel for tbe plaintiffs admitted that the graphite in question had a crystalline structure but introduced the. testimony of seven witnesses to establish that in the trade and commerce of the United States the commercial meanings of the terms “crystalline” or “amorphous,” when applied to graphite or plumbago, were uniformly, definitely, and generally different from their common or scientific meanings.

The witnesses testified that the terms “crystalline” and “amorphous,” when applied to graphite, were well known in the trade and commerce of the United States at and before the time of the adoption "by Congress of the Tariff Act of June 17,- 1930. These witnesses included the principal importers and commercial grinders of graphite in the United States, three of whom were constantly buying and selling the same at wholesale, and four were buying at wholesale for their ■own use. Although two buyers were not experienced in handling «crystalline graphite, we are of the opinion that their commercial knowledge of graphite was sufficient to enable them to testify as to the difference between the two types.

From such testimony it was established that the wholesale trade for graphite was confined to parts of the United States located east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mason and Dixon Line and upon the Pacific coast and that the grinders located in such territory are the only purchasers of crude graphite in the United States. In such trade the general understanding of the terms “crystalline” and “amorphous” differed from the common or dictionary meaning, to wit, crystalline graphite embraced a graphite that was tough and elastic in density; that such characteristic caused it to remain in its flake form and prevented it from easily breaking down ■ into a powder under ordinary commercial grinding methods, while, on the other hand, amorphous graphite is known by the trade as a graphite which under ordinary grinding conditions could readily be reduced into a powder.

Plaintiffs’ witnesses further testified that it was customary in the graphite trade to order by sample standards, or by manufacturers’ standards, which would not ordinarily include the term “ crystalline”' or “amorphous”; that, however, such terms were generally understood by the grinders and refiners of graphite and they knew that the article they were to receive was either crystalline graphite or amorphous graphite as the case may be, and that the seller’s personal designation of the article indicated which type of graphite was offered and the buyer knew by such specifications what they were receiving without the use of the term “crystalline” or “amorphous.” Two witnesses, however, testified that they had purchased graphite under the name of “amorphous.”

[121]*121It was further established that some grinders of graphite have use for crystalline graphite only, known in the trade as “crucible” graphite; that such graphite is utilized for the manufacture of crucibles necessary in the steel industry. Other grinders handle the amorphous type exclusively, which is used in manufacturing foundry facings, lubricants, and paints, or for any product where a type of graphite readily reducible to a powder is desired. Therefore the crystalline and the amorphous types of graphite are used in two distinct trades. As the amorphous graphite is entirely unsuited for use in the crucible trade, the name “crucible” is commonly applied to the crystalline graphite used therein. However, crystalline graphite may be used in industries purchasing amorphous graphite but it is not practicable nor desirable for use therein because of its characteristic of flattening out into a flake rather than readily changing its form to that of a powder; and that the extra time and cost of grinding crystalline graphite to a powder is prohibitive of such use.

The witnesses for plaintiffs were all agreed that amorphous graphite contains crystals. One witness with 25 years’ experience in the graphite trade testified that he had never seen an amorphous graphite free from a crystalline structure.

Some of the witnesses subjected the samples of the imported merchandise to the usual laboratory tests ordinarily applied to graphite in the usual course of business and, as a result of such tests, concluded that all of the merchandise was, within their knowledge and experience, the amorphous graphite of commerce. Other witnesses, through a mere inspection of the samples, were of the opinion that the merchandise was within the class known to them as amorphous graphite. The samples were further tested by crushing with a small hammer and the result was found to be a fine powder. The witness making such test testified that if the graphite flattens out without forming a powder it shows a structure necessary in the manufacture of crucibles. If, however, the result is a powder, it is unsuited for such use because it possesses a weakness in structure and shape, and that such graphite is known as “amorphous” in the trade.

One of the witnesses made grinding tests of the merchandise represented by exhibits 1 to 5, inclusive. The results of such tests were admitted in evidence as illustrative exhibit G. The graphite was ground for 12 hours, and the exhibit shows that it is in the form of a very fine powder. The same witness also tested a sample of crystalline graphite, submitting it to a 12-hour grinding period as well as to 36 hours of grinding. After grinding 12 hours, the graphite was in the form of small grains, rather flat in appearance. After 36 hours, there appeared to be some dust, but the sample also contained numerous flat pieces of graphite, thus demonstrating that it retained its [122]*122original form as shown in illustrative exhibit H. Illustrative exhibits A and B were admitted in evidence as illustrating the crude crystalline and crude amorphous graphite as taken from the mines. Illustrative exhibit A represented a large lump of graphite taken from the same mine in Ceylon as the graphite under consideration. Illustrative exhibit B represented a large piece of crystalline graphite taken from a crystalline graphite mine in Ceylon.

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Related

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82 Cust. Ct. 197 (U.S. Customs Court, 1979)
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Protests 961069-G of F. B. Vandegrift & Co.
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Protest 951911-G of Jos. Dixon Crucible Co.
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Protest 56361-K of Davies, Turner & Co.
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Protests 12342-K of Starkey
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Protest 42651-K of T. D. Downing Co.
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Protests 63877-K of Asbury Graphite Mills
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Protests 24752-K of Starkey
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Protests 13355-K of Vandegrift
7 Cust. Ct. 260 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protest 24739-K of Vandegrift
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Protest 27348-K of T. D. Downing Co.
7 Cust. Ct. 260 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protests 29777-K of Turner
7 Cust. Ct. 260 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protests 956888-G of Paterson Boardman
7 Cust. Ct. 260 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protests 939982-G of Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.
7 Cust. Ct. 261 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protests 35400-K of Asbury Graphite Mills
7 Cust. Ct. 245 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Protests 930607-G of Asbury Graphite Mills
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Protests 995791-G of Pettinos
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Bluebook (online)
6 Cust. Ct. 118, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starkey-v-united-states-cusc-1941.