T. M. Duche & Sons v. United States

13 Cust. Ct. 26, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 525
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 29, 1944
DocketC. D. 863
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 13 Cust. Ct. 26 (T. M. Duche & Sons 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
T. M. Duche & Sons v. United States, 13 Cust. Ct. 26, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 525 (cusc 1944).

Opinion

Cline, Judge:

These two suits against the United States, one .arising at the port of Boston and the other at the port of New York, were consolidated for trial. The merchandise involved consists of dried egg albumen which .was assessed at 27 cents per pound under paragraph 713 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as modified by a Presidential proclamation dated June 24, 1931 (T. D. 44997) issued under the authority of section 336.

The plaintiffs claim that the merchandise should have been assessed at 18 cents per pound as provided in paragraph 713 and rely on the following claim in the amendments to the protests:

We claim further that the Presidential proclamation, T. D. 44997, constituted an illegal exercise of delegated power; that the said proclamation was illegal, null and void on the ground that the Tariff Commission’s investigation and report to the President, dated June 16, 1931, upon which said proclamation was based, show that there was no domestic dried egg albumen industry nor any “domestic article’’ for which a finding of cost of production could be made as [27]*27required by section 336, Tariff Act of 1930, during the period covered by the Tariff Commission’s investigation.

Other claims which are made in the protests and in the amendments thereto are not relied upon by the plaintiffs.

The evidence introduced by the plaintiffs consists of the record and exhibits in David L. Moss Co., Inc. v. United States, 26 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 381, C. A. D. 45, and one further document. There was no oral testimony. The exhibits are as follows: Exhibit 1, a copy of Senate Resolution 389 of the 71st Congress, third session, directing that the United States Tariff Commission investigate the differences in the costs of production of dried whole eggs, dried egg yolk, and dried egg albumen produced in the United States and like or similar foreign articles, with a view to the application of section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930; exhibit 2, a copy of the public notice of investigation issued by the United States Tariff Commission; exhibit 3, a copy of the testimony taken before the Commission; exhibit 4, photostatic copies of the documentary exhibits introduced in that investigation; exhibit 5, photostatic copies of depositions taken of witnesses not in attendance at the public hearing; exhibit 6, a report of the Tariff Commission, No. 25, entitled “Report to the President on Dried Egg Products.”

Counsel for the plaintiffs argues in his brief that the Presidential proclamation, insofar as it refers to dried egg albumen, was null and void because there was no industry in the United States producing that product during the period set for the investigation by the Tariff Commission and hence there was no cost of production of domestic products, so the difference in cost of production between domestic products and those of the chief competing country could not be ascertained.

The issue herein involved is the same as that passed upon in the-case of David L. Moss, Inc. v. United States, supra, but the plaintiffs urge that, in view of the fact that this court made no findings of fact when the case was before it for consideration and that the findings of fact by members of the appellate court were not conclusive because the majority of the court did not agree, the issue should be litigated again so that this court may consider the facts of record and make findings thereon. ’

A review of the history of that case shows that when it was before this tribunal (71 Treas. Dec. 825, T. D. 48985) the court held that it was without authority to review the findings of fact made by the Tariff Commission or to disturb the conclusions of the President based on the record. That holding was reversed by the majority of the appellate court. Four separate opinions were filed. It,appears from an examination of the court’s decision that four of the members were of opinion that the evidence submitted before the Tariff Commission [28]*28should be reviewed for the purpose of determining if there was any substantial evidence to support the finding of the President, while one judge was of opinion that the court had no jurisdiction to review the evidence. Two of the members (Judge Parker and Judge Lenroot) who reviewed the evidence came to the conclusion that the finding was .sustained by the evidence and therefore that the judgment below ^overruling the protest should be affirmed, while two other members (Presiding Judge Garrett and Judge Bland) were of the opposite -opinion and believed that the judgment below should be reversed. •Judge Hatfield, who took the position adopted by the trial court and who believed that the evidence should not be reviewed, was of opinion •that the judgment below should be affirmed,thus completing a majority in favor of affirming the judgment of this court.

In view of this conflict in the findings of fact by the members of the appellate court in the review of the evidence, counsel for the plaintiffs in the instant case requested that this court consider the facts shown in the evidence and make a finding as to whether or not there was substantial evidence before the Tariff Commission to support its finding and the President’s proclamation.

Counsel for the defendant argues that the court is without authority to review the evidence taken before the Tariff Commission as requested by the plaintiffs, citing United States v. George S. Bush & Co., Inc., 310 U. S. 371, T. D. 50159, which case was decided subsequently to the Moss case, supra.

United States v. George S. Bush & Co., Inc., supra, apparently is the latest adjudication on the subject by the court of last resort, and, if the case presents an issue similar to that herein involved, it is obvious that this court is bound by that decision. In that case, the Tariff Commission, pursuant to the provisions of section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930, investigated the difference in the costs of production of canned ■clams from Japan and a similar domestic article, and the President, ■acting pursuant to that report, issued a proclamation effecting an increase in duty on the Japanese product. The Commissión found that the difference in the cost of production was such that the duty on the foreign value of the clams, if increased by only 50 per centum, would not equalize such difference and, accordingly, recommended that an increase of duty be effected by assessing the existing rate, as fixed in the tariff act, on a dutiable value represented by the American celling price. The proclamation provided that the rate of duty, as .fixed in the tariff act, should be based upon the American selling price.

In its investigation and in arriving at the cost of production of the foreign article, the weighted average of the invoice prices or values for a representative period was considered by the Tariff Commission. The representative period was from December 1, 1930, to September [29]*2930, 1932, but, as tbo invoice prices were in Japanese yen, and, in order to compare those prices with the American cost of production of a similar American article, the Japanese yen was converted into United States dollars at the average rate of exchange for the year 1932.

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Related

T. M. Duche & Sons v. United States
39 C.C.P.A. 186 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1952)
Duche v. United States
26 Cust. Ct. 61 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)
T. M. Duche & Sons, Inc. v. United States
36 C.C.P.A. 19 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1948)
T. M. Duche & Sons, Inc. v. United States
18 Cust. Ct. 25 (U.S. Customs Court, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
13 Cust. Ct. 26, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/t-m-duche-sons-v-united-states-cusc-1944.