United States v. Minkap of California, Inc. ex rel. Frank P. Dow Co.

48 Cust. Ct. 708
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1962
DocketA.R.D. 144; Entry No. 15916, etc.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 48 Cust. Ct. 708 (United States v. Minkap of California, Inc. ex rel. Frank P. Dow 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. Minkap of California, Inc. ex rel. Frank P. Dow Co., 48 Cust. Ct. 708 (cusc 1962).

Opinion

Oliver, Chief Judge:

In this proceeding, we review the decision of Johnson, J., reported as Minkap of California, Inc. v. United States, 46 Cust. Ct. 723, Reap. Dec. 10033, which involved certain ladies’ sweaters, exported from Japan during the period from June 1957 through December 1957. Following is a schedule of the various styles and different yarn compositions of the sweaters in question, with the appraised values on the basis of statutory cost of production, and the claimed export values.

Ladies’ sweaters, composed of 25 per centum silk and 75 per centum lamb’s wool:

Style No. Plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit No. Appraised value on cost of production basis per doz. sweaters, net packed Contended export value of similar sweaters per doz. sweaters, net packed
Alma No. $44. 86 $37. 53
Barbara No. 47. 56 40. 56
Clarice No. 46. 50 38. 52
Diane No. 42. 65 35. 64
Ellen No. 44. 66 36. 80
Gina No. 40. 84 33. 95
Honey No. 36. 07 30. 13
Inez No. 35. 16 29. 47
Janice No. 10 38. 30 31. 33
Kim No. 11 39.41 32. 92
Leta No. 12 40. 20 33. 00
Margo No. 13 38. 42 31. 17
600 No. 16 36. 46 32. 35

[710]*710Ladies’ sweaters, composed of 20 per centum Angora and 80 per centum lamb’s wool:

Style No. Plaintiff's illustrative exhibit No. Appraised value on cost of production basis per doz. sweaters, net packed Contended export value of similar sweaters per doz, sweaters, net packed
101 No. 17 $37. 55 $32. 00
102 No. 18 37. 63 32. 30
602 No. 19 39. 76 34. 56
603 No. 20 35. 16 31. 19
604 No. 21 36. 51 32. 58
606 No. 22 37. 11 33. 31

When the appraiser adopted cost of production as the basis for appraisement of the sweaters in question, the presumption of correctness attaching to such action implies that the appraising officer found neither a foreign, export, nor United States value for such or similar merchandise. United States v. Schroeder & Tremayne, Inc., et al., 41 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 243, C.A.D. 558, and Golding Bros. Co., Inc. v. United States, 21 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 395, T.D. 46926; B. A. Mc-Kenzied & Co., Inc., et al. v. United States, 47 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 143, C.A.D. 748.

The court below sustained the claimed export values as the proper values for the sweaters under consideration, upon a finding that similar sweaters in the styles and yarn compositions involved herein were freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal markets of Japan for exportation to the United States.

Appellant contends that the evidence adduced by appellee (plaintiff below) “as to the offers of this merchandise that was presented was wholly insufficient” (tr. or. arg. 5) for the application of the legal principle, invoked by the trial judge, in holding that “the language ‘freely offered for sale’ in section 402 of the Tariff Act of 1930 is not a requirement that there be sales of the merchandise in order to find value; it is sufficient if there are tona -fide offers to sell to all purchasers.”

The decision of the trial judge includes a complete analysis of the evidence offered by both parties. In adopting, by reference, the trial court’s review of the record, we shall refer specifically only to the phase thereof that is related to the proposition that sweaters, similar to those involved herein, were freely offered for sale to all purchasers in the principal markets of Japan at the time of exportation of the present merchandise.

The designs for the sweaters in question (exhibits 2 to 13, and exhibit 16, supra) were made by Minkap of California, Inc., the importer of the present merchandise. Minkap’s designs were based on [711]*711the dictates of fashion and ideas of its own or those of its clients. Minkap also specified the composition of the yarn used in the sweaters. Before Minkap placed any orders, it supplied sketches of the sweaters and yarn specifications to the Japanese makers, who produced samples and made offers to Minkap.

Most important to the present discussion is the testimony of Jairo Wada, president of Marusan Knitwear Export Co. and formerly managing director of Tokyo Marusangumi Co., Ltd., one of the suppliers of the sweaters under consideration. It appears from his testimony that Tokyo Marusangumi was both a manufacturer and an exporter and that its course of business followed a practice of buying-yarn from yarn suppliers, subcontracting the knitting, and then shipping the finished sweaters to customers who had previously ordered them.

During the period in question, the witness came to the United States and visited various firms to solicit their business. After he returned to Tokyo, he was shown samples of the styles involved herein and he made up counter samples. Although the specifications and the styles were Minkap’s, they were staple and basic, and not special styles, and, consequently, were offered to customers, other than Minkap.

The witness further testified that Tokyo Marusangumi had no exclusive arrangement with Minkap with respect to the styles under consideration and that there was no agreement prohibiting Tokyo Marusangumi from offering the sweaters to anyone else. Offers for sale were made to others, than Minkap, but no actual sales were made in the same yarn composition. Prices for these sweaters, during the period in question, remained constant and did not vary according to the quantity purchased. The witness’ testimony, showing offers to sell sweaters of the styles under consideration, appears in the record as follows (K. 68-70 — K. 82-83) :

By Mb. Glad:
Q. Mr. Wada, did you make offers to sell sweaters such as represented by these styles during the period of June ’67 through December of ’67?
* * * * * * *
A. Tes, I did.
*******
Me. EitzGibbon : These offers that you made after June, 1957, were they all to Minkap?
The Witness : Not all to Minkap. We offered all our customers.
Mb. EitzGibbon : Name them.
The Witness: China Consolidated Corporation, and Elliot Import, and J. B. Importers.
Mb. EitzGibbon : You mean to say you offered these styles to those people?
[712]*712The Witness : Of course, I include these styles, and also other styles we offered.
Me. FitzGibbon : Didn’t you only offer those styles to Minkap?
*******
The Witness : Not only Minkap. We offer to others.
Mb. FitzGibbon : Anybody else buy them?

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Bluebook (online)
48 Cust. Ct. 708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-minkap-of-california-inc-ex-rel-frank-p-dow-co-cusc-1962.