United States v. Gal

32 Cust. Ct. 657, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1954
DocketA. R. D. 39; Entry No. 859096/2
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 32 Cust. Ct. 657 (United States v. Gal) 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. Gal, 32 Cust. Ct. 657, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230 (cusc 1954).

Opinion

Johnson, Judge:

The application for review of the decision of the trial court in Reap. Dec. 8119 involves the proper value applicable to a certain shipment of metal-covered paper, 3% inches wide, exported from Germany by the Aluminiumwerk Tscheulin, G. m. b. H. on May 16, 1938. The paper in question was invoiced at U. S. $0.34 per pound, including boxes and packing, insurance, freight to German [658]*658port, consular charges, duty at 5 cents per pound, sea freight, and 15 per centum import duty. The merchandise was entered, however, on the basis of RM 0.7409 per pound, all dutiable charges included. In appraising the merchandise the appraiser indicated by the letters “C. P.” that the values he found were based upon the cost of production, which was returned as RM 2.44 per kilo, net packed.

At the trial before Judge Rao, sitting in reappraisement, upon request of plaintiff's counsel, Government counsel conceded that there was no foreign value for the merchandise. He refused to concede, however, that there was not an export value, neither contending that there was nor that there was not an export value.

Nicholas Gal, the importer, Mrs. Jennie Nelkin, his secretary, and plaintiff’s counsel testified on behalf of plaintiff. There were no witnesses for the Government. The evidence produced by these witnesses, together with documentary evidence introduced by the plaintiff, was clearly and concisely summarized in the decision of the trial court, and we do not think it necessary to again summarize the same.

The trial court observed that export value was disclaimed by the plaintiff on the theory that at the time of exportation of each of the shipments there involved neither such nor similar merchandise was freely offered for sale for exportation to the United States.

The Government, before the trial court, contended that the United States value had not been established because of the failure to include in the selling price the profit made by plaintiff upon the barter expor-tations of cotton and copper.

As to the reappraisement pending before this division of the court, the trial court observed that—

* * * Inherent in that appraisement, there is a presumption that the appraiser has found the nonexistence of foreign, export, and United States values. As one who challenges the correctness of the appraised values may do so in respect of any of the items entering into the true value of the merchandise as represented by the appraisement, while relying upon the presumption of correctness which attaches to all the other items, plaintiff may prove a United States value without assuming any burden of negativing export value. * * * On this issue, plaintiff has sustained his burden.

In connection with the proper United States value, the figures appearing in plaintiff’s exhibit 2 were accepted as accurate, and the United States value was found by the trial court to be U. S. $0.2014 per pound.

When the application for review came on for argument before this division of the court, counsel for the Government, the appellant herein, stated that the real issue before this court is whether or not the decision below was based upon the supposition that it was unnecessary for the importer to prove the absence of an export value. That is to [659]*659say, according to the trial court, tbe importer was not required to “go through the preliminaries of eliminating the previous values before proceeding to United States value,” and the trial court’s theory, that because the merchandise was appraised on the basis of cost of production it became unnecessary for the court to rule out foreign value, was clearly, in the opinion of appellant, erroneous. Government counsel argued further that, as far as the importer was concerned, there was no more presumption of correctness of the appraised values and, in order to establish his case, the importer is required to proceed entirely de novo and submit evidence as to the nonexistence of the export value before he may establish the United States value.

We have examined the oral and documentary evidence with care and are of the opinion that the record as made, insofar as it affects the merchandise in the case at bar, fully sustains the United States value thereof, as returned by the trial court. As to the objection that an adequate profit was not shown in view of the cotton and copper barter transactions, the court cited as authority International Forwarding Co., Inc. v. United States, 4 Cust. Ct. 836, Reap. Dec. 4898, wherein it was held that the proceeds of such barter transaction as were used in the purchase of the merchandise there in question were entirely irrelevant to the issue.

There are many decisions of the courts holding that the presumptions of correctness attaching to the official action of collectors of customs and appraising officers may be attacked in part, or holding that such presumptions still prevail, unless every fact entering into the finding is established to be erroneous.

In the case of United States v. Marshall Field & Co., 17 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 1, T. D. 43309, the question was whether corset lacings, imported as a part of cotton and silk corsets, caused the articles to become dutiable as articles in part of braid rather than wearing apparel at a lower rate of duty. This court held that, at the time the corset lacings became a part of the corset, the lacings had been changed from the condition of braid by the addition of metal tags or tips to an article known by an entirely different name and which was designed for a specific use. The appellate court, however, was unable to agree with this court and, in reversing its decision, stated:

* * * Under the well-known rule, too well understood to require the citation of authorities, it will be presumed that the collector, in the absence of some showing to the contrary, found every fact to exist that was necessary to sustain his classification. This being the legal presumption, the collector found that the braid, as braid, had a separate entity before being made into laces. * * *

The case of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. United States, 27 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 146, C. A. D. 75, involved certain presses, the function of which was to press about 32 per centum of the water out of cellulose acetate. The presses were classified as textile ma[660]*660chinery. Tbe plaintiff contended that they were dutiable at a lower rate under the provision for all other machines, inasmuch as the product, cellulose acetate, had uses other than in the manufacture of a textile material. In holding that the presses were classifiable as textile machines, the court stated:

For the purposes of this case we must presume that such use is the principal use of the material passing through the machines. It is well established that the collector is presumed to have found every fact to exist that was necessary to sustain his classification.

In the case of Golding Bros. Co., Inc. v. United States, 21 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 395, T. D. 46926, where the appraiser had returned the United States value as the proper value for the merchandise, the appellate court stated:

In the instant case, therefore, when the local appraiser rejected the value at which the importer entered the merchandise, and held the United States value to be the dutiable value,

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Bluebook (online)
32 Cust. Ct. 657, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gal-cusc-1954.