United States v. Blake-Moffitt & Towne, Inc.

30 Cust. Ct. 634, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 488
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 14, 1953
DocketA. R. D. 23; Entry No. 2959-E, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 30 Cust. Ct. 634 (United States v. Blake-Moffitt & Towne, Inc.) 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. Blake-Moffitt & Towne, Inc., 30 Cust. Ct. 634, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 488 (cusc 1953).

Opinions

Ford, Judge:

These are applications for review of the decision of the trial court (Reap. Dec. 8064) filed under the provisions of 28 U. S. C., section 2636 (a). The Government filed the original application on December 20, 1961, in which it assigned 13 errors in the decision and judgment of the trial court. Thereafter, within the proper time, the importers filed a cross-appeal in which they assign two errors in the decision and judgment of the trial court. It is not deemed necessary to a proper disposition of this case to quote these assignments in haee verba.

The merchandise consists of two brands or types of toilet tissue, one known as “Westminster,” which was entered at $4.98 per case, United States currency, f. o. b. mill at New Westminster, British Columbia, and was appraised at $6.11 per case, Canadian currency, net, packed. The other type, known as “Purex,” was entered at $6.81 per case, United States currency, f. o. b. mill, and was appraised at $8.33K per case, Canadian currency, net, packed.

The trial court determined that foreign value was the proper basis upon which to find a value for the involved merchandise, and upon that basis found a value of $5.24 per case for “Westminster” and a value of $7.17 per case for “Purex,” Canadian funds, net, packed, basing these values upon the prices charged by the manufacturer to the distributors in Canada.

The Government contends that the market for both types of this toilet tissue between the manufacturer and the distributors was a restricted market and that the price thus charged and received cannot be considered in finding a value for this merchandise, and that, therefore, the prices at which the distributors sold the merchandise to the retailers for resale, which were equal 'to the appraised values, represent the foreign market value of this merchandise.

It is the contention of the importers that the entered values represent the correct export values, or, if it be found that there was a foreign market for this merchandise, then such foreign values were the [636]*636prices charged by the manufacturer to its distributors in Canada, or the prices at which a distributor of competitive brands offered and sold such merchandise to all purchasers in Canada.

The trial court, in holding that it was first necessary to determine the existence or nonexistence of a foreign value for this merchandise, stated as follows:

* * * In this connection, it is undisputed that the manufacturer of the paper involved, * * * offered its products for sale both for home consumption and for export only to persons or firms known as “distributors,” in which category were wholesale paper dealers and wholesale grocers.

In exhibit 3, being a report, of an assistant supervising customs agent, the following statement is made:

Westminster Paper Co., Ltd., produces numerous paper products, including two grades of toilet tissue, “Purex” and “Westminster,” but does not offer any of these products to buyers in general — only to so-called “distributors”, who may be in fact jobbers, wholesalers, or large retailers. Before being able to'buy, an intending buyer must be accepted on the seller’s list of “distributors”, eligibility for which depends on whether probable purchases will be large enough to warrant the mill in dealing with him.

Exhibit 4, being another report by the same customs agent, contains the following:

In an endeavor to ascertain the principal local distributor, as a source of the requested information on resale prices, Messrs. Radcliff & Matthison, of the mill, were consulted on September 8, 1947. In the course of the conversation, they drew attention to a misapprehension embodied in our report of June 30, 1948, which states on page 3 that export business, like domestic business, is confined to accepted “distributors”. While this is true of certain countries where “distributors” have been appointed, it is not true of the United States. • Any one in the United States may buy freely, the only restriction being that he must order a carload. [The date, September 8, 1947, in the above quotation, is evidently a typographical error and should be September 8, 1948.]

In view of the fact that sales and offers for sale of the involved merchandise to purchasers in the United States were restricted by the manufacturer to those who purchased in carload lots, the evidence establishes that the manufacturer of the involved paper did not freely offer its products for sale for export, within the-meaning of section 402 of the Tariff Act of 1930. In offering and selling the involved merchandise for home consumption, the manufacturer offered and sold its products only to persons or firms known as “distributors,” in which category were wholesale paper dealers and wholesale grocers.

These facts bring this case squarely within the principles announced by the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in United States v. H. W. Robinson & Co. et al., 19 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 274, T. D. 45436, insofar as is here concerned the prices which the manufacturer charged to and received from the wholesale paper dealers and wholesale grocers. In the Robinson case, supra, it was held as follows:

[637]*637We agree with the contentions of the Government that the sales price of the wholesalers to the tie manufacturers should be accepted as the foreign value. It may be, as is contended by the importer, that it is the “ordinary course of trade” between the manufacturer and the wholesaler to restrict the sales to wholesalers, but this is not the ordinary course of trade to which the statute refers. It must be remembered that the statute provides for “the ordinary course of trade” in which such or similar goods are “freely offered for sale to all purchasers” in the usual wholesale quantities. Since in the sales by the manufacturers the goods were not offered to all purchasers, the sales price should not be accepted as the proper foreign value. In the Richard & Co. case, supra [15 Ct. Cust. Appls. 143, T. D. 42216], this court had before it a question quite similar to the one at bar and said:
* * * Even if it be conceded that the ordinary course of trade may be determined by the usage in a minor fraction thereof, it certainly can not be said that merchandise is being freely offered for sale when it is offered to certain purchasers only, and these purchasers, ones who have “satisfied” the seller that they are wholesalers only. * * * (Italics quoted.)
jfc * * * * * *

It is argued because sales to wholesalers are all made at the same price that therefore this price thus becomes the wholesale price. But it will be observed that the statute does not thus establish the wholesale price. Section 402- (b) does not provide that the wholesale price shall be the price to wholesalers, but the price in the usual wholesale quantities. The law is not concerned with the persons who buy, but the manner in which they buy, (Italics quoted.)

Tbe principles governing a controlled market, so clearly and logically announced in the Robinson case, supra, have not been reversed or modified, and we, therefore, accept that decision as settled law on the question of a controlled market in this case.

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30 Cust. Ct. 634, 1953 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-blake-moffitt-towne-inc-cusc-1953.