United States v. Geigy Chemical Corp.

73 Cust. Ct. 215, 381 F. Supp. 1397, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3009
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedSeptember 4, 1974
DocketA.R.D. 321; Entry Nos. 863926, 1082619 and 1097215
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 73 Cust. Ct. 215 (United States v. Geigy Chemical Corp.) 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. Geigy Chemical Corp., 73 Cust. Ct. 215, 381 F. Supp. 1397, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3009 (cusc 1974).

Opinion

Newman, Judge:

Appellant (defendant below) has filed an application for review of tbe decision and judgment of Watson, J. in Geigy Chemical Corporation et al v. United States, 70 Cust. Ct. 259, R.D. 11775, 358 F. Supp. 1275 (1973), wherein Judge Watson conducted a .joint trial of three appeals for reappraisement, and sustained appellees’ (plaintiffs below) claimed values.

The imported merchandise, consisting of certain benzenoid dyestuffs, was exported from Switzerland by J. R. Geigy, S.A., Sandoz, Ltd., and Ciba, Ltd. during 1965, and imported by each of their wholly-owned subsidiaries, appellees herein. The parties agree that the proper basis for appraisement is United States value, as defined in section 402(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 'by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956 (19 U.S.C. § 1401a(c)). The only elements of the appraised value in dispute are the statutory allowances for profit and general expenses pursuant to section 402(c) (1).1 At the trial, appellees successfully claimed that the proper allowance for profit and general expenses should be 33.4% rather than 19.1%, which latter figure entered into the Government’s appraisement.

We affirm.

The RecoRD

An extensive stipulation of the parties is fully set forth in the opinion of the trial court (70 Cust. Ct. at pages 261-266) to which [218]*218reference will be made herein. It suffices to state at this juncture that we are in complete accord with the trial court’s analysis of the facts.

Decision of The Trial Cotort

Judge Watson held that the appraiser erroneously applied section 402(g)2 in disregarding the profit and general expenses of appellees, the three largest importers of the merchandise under consideration, and in regarding the profit and general expenses of the smallest importer (Carbic) as those “usually made, in connection with sales * * * of imported merchandise of the same class or kind as the merchandise undergoing appraisement.”

The trial judge noted that in'1964 appellees and Carbic possessed 100% of the United States market; and that appellees possessed the “lion’s share” of the market (92.4%), with Geigy having the highest percentage of dollar volume of sales (37.8%), as evidenced by paragraph 9 of the stipulation, showing the following figures:

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Related

United States v. Geigy Chemical Corp.
523 F.2d 1400 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1975)
Coats & Clark, Inc. v. United States
74 Cust. Ct. 13 (U.S. Customs Court, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 Cust. Ct. 215, 381 F. Supp. 1397, 1974 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-geigy-chemical-corp-cusc-1974.