United States v. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.

42 Cust. Ct. 692
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJanuary 20, 1959
DocketA.R.D. 98; Entry No. 588, etc.
StatusPublished

This text of 42 Cust. Ct. 692 (United States v. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.) 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
United States v. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., 42 Cust. Ct. 692 (cusc 1959).

Opinions

Oliver, Chief Judge:

The appeals for reappraisement enumerated in schedule “A,” hereto attached and made a part hereof, relate to certain raw optical glass, identified herein as type DBC-657508, exported from England and entered at the port of Rochester, N.Y. These 14 appeals for reappraisement, all of which were consolidated for trial, cover 14 separate shipments extending over the period from December 21, 1950, through November 28, 1951, and aggregating approximately 2,000 pounds of the merchandise.

The case is before us at this time as a review of the decision in Bausch & Lomb Optical Company v. United States, 40 Cust. Ct. 773, Reap. Dec. 9116, wherein the trial judge sustained the importer’s entered value of the raw optical glass in question and held that export value, as defined in section 402(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, is the proper basis for appraisement, and that such statutory value is the importer’s entered value. The conclusion overruled the appraiser’s finding of a higher foreign value, as such value is defined in section 402(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

Before the court below, appellant contended that statutory foreign value was the proper basis for appraisement of all of the glass covered by these appeals for reappraisement and that such statutory value for the merchandise was the value found by the appraiser. In this proceeding, the Government (appellant) has injected for the first time an alternative claim, alleging that if export value is found to be the proper basis for appraisement, then such value for the merchandise covered by reappraisements 264137-A to 264144-A, inclusive, is £1.12.0 (British currency) per pound, f.o.b., being equivalent to $4.48 per pound, which is higher than the importer’s entered value and lower than the appraised value. In his brief, Government counsel admits that this alternative claim “was not specifically called to the trial Court’s attention,” nor was it “made in the brief filed by the Government with the trial Court.” The decision herein includes the disposition of appellant’s new claim.

At this point, it is appropriate to state that the question of similarity between the raw optical glass in question and comparable products sold for home consumption in the foreign market was discussed somewhat at length by the trial judge who held that “other minor optical glass is not, on the record before me, glass similar to the merchandise in issue here.” Although appellant has assigned as error the conclusion of the court below on the principle of similarity, [694]*694and the matter is argued in the brief, Government counsel, during the course of his oral argument before us, altered appellant’s position by confining its claim, with respect to foreign value, to alleged offers and sales of such merchandise for home consumption, and withdrawing its claim on the matter of similar merchandise. Accordingly, the discussion herein contains no comment concerning similar merchandise.

Appellant (defendant below) has filed 16 assignments of error. Our conclusion disposes of all without specific reference to each. The record consists of the oral testimony of three witnesses as well as documentary proof.

All of the witnesses who appeared herein are associated with the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, the importer of the glass under consideration. Their combined testimony supports the following summation.

This particular item of raw optical glass, type DBC-657508, was specifically manufactured for bombsights. The dedicated use of this merchandise in bombsights for military aircraft compelled its manufacture to be in strict conformity with Government specifications. The optical properties of this glass are unique. It is a type of glass that is not commercially interchangeable with any other kind of optical glass. Its specific optical characteristics were essential to the bombsight of which it is an integral part. The use of any other type of optical glass would have required a complete redesign of the optical system of the bombsight. Optical glass of the desired characteristics was not available from any domestic source. Only the imported glass involved herein met the required specifications, and the only available source therefor was the foreign manufacturer and exporter.

In addition to the oral testimony, hereinabove set forth, appellee (plaintiff below) introduced into evidence an affidavit (plaintiff’s exhibit 3), executed by the sales manager of the optical and special glass division of Chance Bros., Ltd., of England, the manufacturer and exporter of the merchandise in question. It appears from the affidavit that the foreign manufacturer of the glass under consideration had been quoting this particular item, DBC-657508, in its catalog and pricelists to customers in the foreign market for home consumption during the entire period covered by these shipments at list prices that were subject to a wide range of quantity discounts, which discounts were changed in the course of the period in controversy. It further appears from affiant’s testimony that the particular type of optical glass involved herein was freely offered for sale to the foreign manufacturer’s customers in the home market, that “home demands up to the year 1952 were negligible,” that there was only “one order for a sample quantity of 10 lbs. in 1949,” and that “During [695]*695the whole of the years 1950, 1951, and 1952 I can trace no home orders for type DBC 657508.” On the matter of export value, the affiant’s testimony is to the effect that up to June 30, 1951, raw optical glass, such as that involved herein, was freely offered for sale, and sold, to all purchasers for export to the United States at $3.68 per pound, and that the price did not vary according to the quantity sold. The witness’ testimony further shows that, beginning on July 1, 1951, the price rate on all orders from buyers in the United States was £1.12,0 per pound, f.o.b., which is equivalent to $4.48 per pound. A list of sales, incorporated in the affidavit, shows one sale, under date of September 24, 1951, at the higher price.

Appellant offered in evidence, insofar as it relates to type DBC-657508 raw optical glass, a Treasury representative’s report, which includes catalogs and pricelists, relating to the foreign market (defendant’s exhibit B). This report contains nothing to show any sales of this glass in the foreign market during the period with which we are concerned in this case. The pricelists merely set forth series of prices based on different quantities. Nothing therein permits the determination of a usual wholesale quantity for such merchandise within statutory requirements.

In contending that foreign value is the proper basis for appraisement of the glass in question, appellant relies on the offers for sale of such merchandise by catalog and pricelists during the period involved herein. Counsel, in his brief, argues that “A price list is effective even if no sales were made thereunder.” It is true that the statute, 28 U.S.C., section 2633, permits “price lists and catalogues” to be received in evidence in finding value for appraisement purposes, but the evidentiary value to be attached thereto is a matter for the trial court. Our appellate court, in United States v. Baldwin Universal Co., 18 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 394, T.D. 44641, stated the proposition as follows:

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Related

United States v. American Agar & Chemical Co.
34 Cust. Ct. 553 (U.S. Customs Court, 1955)
Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. v. United States
40 Cust. Ct. 773 (U.S. Customs Court, 1958)

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42 Cust. Ct. 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bausch-lomb-optical-co-cusc-1959.