United States v. Jenkins

26 Cust. Ct. 467, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 763
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 26, 1950
DocketNo. 7924; Entry No. 683-K, etc.; 680-E, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 26 Cust. Ct. 467 (United States v. Jenkins) 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. Jenkins, 26 Cust. Ct. 467, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 763 (cusc 1950).

Opinions

Cole, Judge:

We are required in this proceeding to review the-decision of Cline, J., 24 Cust. Ct. 517, Reap. Dec. 7774, holding cost of production, section 402 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1402 (f)) to be the proper basis for appraisement of certain firebrick products. Nine items are in dispute. Following is a description of each with the value found by the trial judge. The prices set forth are in Canadian currency and based on a unit of 1,000 pieces.

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There has been considerable previous litigation in this case. The trial judge, United States v. M. V. Jenkins et al., 13 Cust. Ct. 345, Reap. Dec. 6040, affirmed by the division on review, M. V. Jenkins et al. v. United States, 14 Cust. Ct. 393, Reap. Dec. 6131, held that Vancouver, British Columbia, was the principal market for the merchandise in question; that the manufacturer’s prices to dealers were controlled; but that the dealers’ prices met all requirements of foreign value, section 402 (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Administrative Act of 1938 (19 U. S. C. § 1402 (c)), and [469]*469accordingly held the dealers’ prices to be dutiable foreign value. An appeal to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals resulted in a remand of the case because, as the appellate court stated, “Neither the trial court nor the appellate division of the Customs Court actually found the usual wholesale quantities in which each of the various articles here involved was freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal markets of Canada for home consumption” and therefore found it necessary “to reverse the judgment of the appellate division of the Customs Court and remand the case to it with instructions that it in turn remand the case to the trial court for findings in accordance with law.” M. V. Jenkins et al. v. United States, 34 C. C. P. A. 33, C. A. D. 341.

When the case in accordance therewith came before the trial judge, usual wholesale quantities were found for six of the items under consideration. They are as follows:

As to the remaining three items, the trial court said, after detail review of reports of sales, “I find that these sales are insufficient to establish the usual wholesale quantities in which necks, end skews, and tongue- and-grooves were sold.” Following a further analysis of the record, particular attention being given to the evidence offered by the witness, Horace E. Wager, customs agent, consisting of sales records and other memoranda, Government’s collective exhibits 2, 3, 4 and 6, the trial court found that there was no uniform price at which any of the products in question were sold and therefore held that no foreign market value existed for the merchandise. United States v. M. V. Jenkins et al., 21 Cust. Ct. 288, Reap. Dec. 7615. Restoring the case to the calendar, Cline, J., in Reap. Dec. 7615, supra, said:

After careful consideration of the entire record herein, I conclude that no foreign value for the various articles can be found on the evidence presented. Plaintiff has the burden not only of overcoming the presumption of correctness attaching to the appraiser’s valuation but also of proving the correct dutiable value. United States v. Malhame & Co., 19 C. C. P. A. 164, T. D. 45276; Harry Garbey v. United States, 24 C. C. P. A. 48, T. D. 48332. It has been conceded by both parties that no export value exists and there is no evidence in the record as to United States value or cost of production. Since the plaintiff has failed to prove the correct dutiable value of the merchandise, I would be constrained to find the dutiable value of the merchandise on the basis of the appraised values. However, the appraised values were based upon the Clayburn factory price and it has been held by this court and affirmed by the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals that the Clayburn Co., Ltd., did not freely offer the merchandise to all purchasers in the [470]*470usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade and that the Clay-burn price was not acceptable as the basis of dutiable foreign value. Since the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has directed this court to find the usual wholesale quantities and the prices at which the various articles were freely offered for sale to all purchasei’s in such quantities, and since I am unable to find such prices, I direct that the case be restored to the calendar so that proof may be-offered to enable the court to make the required findings.

Pursuant thereto, the parties resubmitted the case under a written stipulation, showing that no export value or United States value existed for the merchandise and establishing a statutory cost of production for each of the items, leaving for determination whether foreign value, as alleged by appellant (the United States) or cost of production, claimed by appellees (the importers), should prevail.

The trial judge adhered to the reasoning employed, and the principle of a single or uniform price, invoked in the previous consideration of the case, Reap. Dec. 7615, supra, and accordingly held that no foreign value existed for the merchandise and that cost of production, in the amounts hereinabove set forth, was the proper dutiable value of the several products. United States v. M. V. Jenkins et al., 24 Cust. Ct. 517, Reap. Dec. 7774, rehearing of Same v. Same, 23 Cust. Ct. 266, Reap. Dec. 7730.

That decision is the subject of this application for review. Appellant has assigned 11 errors. We dispose of all, without reference to each, individually. They are aptly summarized in the decision of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in C. A. D. 341, supra, stating: “* * * the controversy here is limited to the proper amount of the statutory value of the merchandise and whether any foreign value for it was shown to exist.” It is conceded that if there is no foreign value, then cost of production, section 402 (f), supra, as agreed between the parties, becomes the dutiable value of the merchandise.

There is no necessity at this stage of the present litigation, for a lengthy review of the evidence. The trial court, in Reap. Dec. 7615, supra, set forth an accurate and detailed outline of the material phases of the record which serves our purpose.

It should be noted that although sales by dealers were made to three classes of purchasers, only those made to large industrials and large contractors are pertinent. Transactions with others were based either on accommodations to favored customers or at retail. Neither of such categories is to be considered in finding foreign value. The companies whose sales control the present issues are Evans, Coleman & Evans, Ltd., McCleery & Weston, Ltd., Champion & White, Ltd., and Gilley Bros., Ltd. Three procedures were followed by the said companies in delivering their firebrick products to the consumer, i. e., (1) by truck from the manufacturer’s plant to the consumer in the principal market of Vancouver; (2) taken by purchaser at the warehouse of the dealer; (3) delivery by the dealer from stock at its ware[471]*471house. As observed by the trial court, “it is logical that the prices in each case might be different.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 Cust. Ct. 467, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jenkins-cusc-1950.