Wiley v. United States

63 Cust. Ct. 540, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3708
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 31, 1969
DocketC.D. 3950
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 63 Cust. Ct. 540 (Wiley v. United States) 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
Wiley v. United States, 63 Cust. Ct. 540, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3708 (cusc 1969).

Opinion

Donloh, Judge:

These two protests were consolidated for purposes of trial. The merchandise, in both cases, consists of articles imported from Japan. While the entry papers were not offered in evidence, testimony adduced on trial identifies the entry merchandise as motors with gears. There is in evidence a motor representative of the merchandise at bar, and the gear in the motor is evident.

The protested classification was under paragraph 353, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (T.D. 52739), with duty at 13% percent. Although plaintiffs have asserted, both on trial and in their brief, that defendant neglected to state whether classification was as “other” articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, or as parts of such articles, we find no merit in that contention. The [542]*542reports of the collector at Los Angeles, form 4297, of record in each case (although not timely filed) clearly state that classification was as articles having as an essential feature an electrical element, wholly or in chief value of metal, nspf., other. In view of this statement, we give no consideration to plaintiffs’ elaborate argument that, absent such statement, the statutory presumption of correctness does not attach to the collector’s classification. There is no ambiguity as to the classification in liquidation. The presumption attaches.

In addition to ad valorem duty at the rate of 13% percent, plaintiffs also were assessed internal revenue tax of 0.32 cent per pound, under section 4541 (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, on the copper content of the merchandise. The internal revenue tax was not protested; it is not in issue.

The protests as originally filed claimed duty at 10% percent under paragraph 353 (classification not stated). When the cases came on for trial, plaintiffs amended their protests to claim additionally, and alternatively, duty at the rate of 12% percent either under paragraph 397 or under paragraph 353. Claims based solely on duty rate under a stated paragraph that has many tariff classifications and has several times been modified, without identifying the asserted tariff classification, do not comply with the requirements of section 514. They are insufficient to inform the court and the defendant as to the issues on which plaintiffs base their complaint and petition the court for adjudication of their alleged grievance in the liquidation. However, defendant did not move to have the protests dismissed for insufficiency and has submitted for our decision. Therefore, we now proceed to consideration of plaintiffs’ case on the merits, in the light of the evidence that was adduced on trial.

It appears from the briefs that the particular tariff provisions which the parties assert are the following:

Paragraph 353, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (T.D. ’52739) :

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives, portable tools, furnaces, heaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
$ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
Electric motors, furnaces, heaters and ovens- 12%% ad val.
íj; ijt ifc ij:
Other (except * * * cooking stoves and ranges; * * *)- 13%% ad val.
[543]*543Parts, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, not specially provided for, of articles provided for in any item 353 of this Part (not including X-ray tubes or parts thereof) _ The same rate of duty as the articles o f which they are parts.

Paragraph 353, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary 'Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (T.D. 54108) :

Articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, such as electric motors, fans, locomotives,_ portable tools, furnaces, heaters, ovens, ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, and signs, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not specially provided for:
:I< * * * >!: *
Motors:
Of more than %0 horsepower but less than 200 horsepower_ 10%% ad val.
Other _ 12%% ad val.

Paragraph 397, Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the Torquay Protocol, supra (T.D. 52739) :

Articles or wares not specially provided for, whether partly or wholly manufactured:
‡ íjí }¡! *Ii
Composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel, lead, copper, brass, nickel, pewter, zinc, aluminum, or other base metal, but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer:
*
All the following, if not wholly or in chief value of lead, tin, or tin plate:
Cooking and heating stoves of the household type (not including portable stoves designed to be operated by compressed air and kerosene or gasoline), and parts thereof _ 12%% ad val.

Mr. Bud Nakamura, a customs commodity specialist at Los Angeles whose assigned line of merchandise includes electric motors, testified that although he did not have the merchandise at bar before him (his position as customs commodity specialist being more recent than these importations), he had had motors such as those at bar before him for [544]*544advisory classification and fie fiad advisorily classified them, if without gears, as electric motors, and with gears as “parts of whatever it is designated for.”

The national sales manager of plaintiff Big Boy Manufacturing Co., Mr. E. W. Busby, also testified. In brief, the gear motors at bar were imported to be sold with certain portable barbecues “for patios and outdoor living” which Big Boy manufactures and sells from coast to coast. These are the several styles of Big Boy barbecues manufactured with spits for roasting meats. Four styles of barbecues manufactured by Big Boy, called picnic barbecues, do not have spits or motors. The barbecues with motors are used in “the back yard mostly.” (R.. 15.) The picnic barbecues are used, as the name implies, in places where picnics are held. There is no issue before us as to the flat top grill, spit-less, motor-less picnic barbecues.

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Related

Stor-All Corp. v. United States
66 Cust. Ct. 385 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)
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66 Cust. Ct. 289 (U.S. Customs Court, 1971)
Styson Art Products Co. v. United States
65 Cust. Ct. 426 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 Cust. Ct. 540, 1969 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiley-v-united-states-cusc-1969.