United States v. One Solid Gold Object In Form of A Rooster

208 F. Supp. 99, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3585
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedJune 28, 1962
DocketCiv. No. 1502
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 208 F. Supp. 99 (United States v. One Solid Gold Object In Form of A Rooster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. One Solid Gold Object In Form of A Rooster, 208 F. Supp. 99, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3585 (D. Nev. 1962).

Opinion

HALBERT, District Judge.

This is a libel against libelee, one solid gold object in the form of a rooster, brought pursuant to the provisions of Title 31 U.S.C.A. § 441-446 (Gold Reserve Act of 1934). Trial having been had on the pertinent issues, a jury verdict was returned in favor of the claimant, Richard L. Graves. The Government (libelant) now moves for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or, in the alternative, for a new trial.

The Court is satisfied that the jurors were justified in reaching the conclusions that they did concerning the facts of this case. The facts found by the jury will be summarized immediately following.

Richard L. Graves, at the times involved in this action, was the owner of certain properties in Sparks, Nevada. Included in these properties was the “Dick Graves Nugget Casino”. As part of the opex-ation of that establishment, Graves ran a dining room in which the specialty was fried chicken. This room was known as the “Golden Rooster Room”. For various reasons, including, among others, the advancement of the interests of his business establishment, Graves developed the idea of acquiring, and showing, a solid gold X’ooster as a main object of attraction in this room. The rooster was to be in keeping with the theme of the room, would be cast with such refinement as to be considered an “object d’art”, (The Government con[101]*101ceded that the rooster is in fact an object of art) and would also attract potential customers through its quality of being a solid gold object.

In pursuance of this aim, certain negótiations occurred between Graves and Newman’s Silver Shop (located in Reno, Nevada), by which Graves hoped that Newman’s could create the rooster for him. Certain preliminary work was done by Newman’s, specifically the carving of a wooden model upon which the form of the final cast object was to be based. At this same time, correspondence was exchanged between Newman’s, John M. Laxalt of counsellor claimant, and the Director of the Mint in Washington, D. C. The object of this correspondence was to seek an increase in the amount of gold which Newman’s was licensed to cast (Newman’s had a 50 troy ounce limit, and the ultimate weight of the libelee was approximately 206 troy ounces.).

This exchange of correspondence did not achieve the results desired by Graves, and he was obliged to look elsewhere for someone to cast his rooster. He turned to Shreve & Co., of San Francisco, Graves advised Shreve & Co. of his prior negotiations with Newman’s and of the failure of Newman’s to secure a license to cast the desired amount of gold. Shreve s assured him that there would be no problem in producing his rooster, since Shreve’s was already licensed to cast gold up to 300 ounces.

Graves, in his correspondence with the Department of the Mint in Washington, D. C.,^ had been refused permission to cast his rooster by the office of the Director of the Mint, on the ground that the rooster, in the opinion of the office of the Director, did not constitute fabricated gold , as that term is defined in the Treasury Regulations enacted pursuant to Title 31 U.S.C.A. § 442 . The term fabricated gold” is defined in Title 31 C.F.R. § 54.4(a) (9) (i) as meaning,

< .{• * * processed or manufactured gold in any form (other than gold coin or scrap gold) which:
“(a) Has a gold content the value of which does not exceed 90 percent of the total domestic value of such processed or manufactured gold; and
“(b) Has, in good faith, and not for the purpose of evading or enabling others to evade the provisions Gf the acts, the orders, or the regulations in this part, been processed or manufactured for some one or more specific and customary industrial, professional or artistic uses.” (Emphasis added.)

„ ,, _ The contention of _ the Department of the Mint was and is, that the emphasized words customary” and “artistic fes ’ refer to artistic uses that are "custamary" and that thf formation of a solld gold, notwithstanding would not be a customary use of gold, notwithstanding the conceded fact that the rooster itself misU be an object of art

Testimony was conflicting as to whether this basis for the refusal by the Department to Graves of permission to cast his rooster was made clear to Shreve’s, but the jury could have found, and apparently did find, from the evidence that such information was given during the course of negotiations between Graves and Shreve’s.

Subsequent to the negotiations between Graves and Shreve’s and after Shreve’s had agreed to take all necessary steps in order to complete the processing 0f the rooster, a letter was written by J. Hickingbotham, Jr., of Shreve’s, to the Director of the Mint, San Francisco, California. This letter sought permissjon for Shreve’s to manufacture the rooster in question. It was delivered to Arthur C. Carmichael, who at that time was Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint. Carmichael endorsed a notation at the bottom of this letter, to the general effect that he saw no reason, under the applicable Regulations, to deny permission to Shreve’s to manufacture the rooster. The letter, with the endorsement, was returned to Shreve’s and the rooster was completed. As furnished to Graves, the rooster weighed some 206 troy ounces, and was of 18 karat gold. [102]*102It was subsequently impounded by the Government, pending this action.

The Court, after considering all of the evidence adduced at the trial, is convinced that there is adequate evidence from which the jury quite properly concluded that libelee was fabricated gold, as defined by the Regulations.' For that reason, libelant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, pursuant to Rule 50(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., will accordingly be denied.

The Government contends, in the alternative, that a new trial should be ordered, under the provisions of Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, on the grounds that the Court erred:

“(1) In refusing to admit into evidence testimony, which was offered by the United States, of witnesses James Murphy, Vance Kirkland, Spero Anargyros, and Leland Howard, for- the purpose of establishing that the libelee was not manufactured or processed for a customary artistic use for gold; and
“(2) In instructing the jury that the libelee could be found to meet the customary artistic use test of the gold regulations if the jury found that the use to which the libelee was put was a customary use for artistic objects in general rather than that the. jury would have to find that the libelee was a customary artistic use for gold, as the United States requested the Court to instruct in its proposed instructions Nos. 11 and 12.” (Emphasis in motion.)

Thus, the problem raised by the fabricated gold requirement in this motion is concerned strictly with the “customary artistic use” test, and is not concerned with either the 90% test or the good faith test.

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Bluebook (online)
208 F. Supp. 99, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-one-solid-gold-object-in-form-of-a-rooster-nvd-1962.