Source: https://openjurist.org/535/f2d/1192/fritz-v-united-states
Timestamp: 2017-09-25 01:16:10
Document Index: 442356335

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1520', '§ 1520', '§ 1346', '§ 1346', '§ 1346', '§ 1582', '§ 1582', '§ 1346', '§ 1582', '§ 1346', '§ 1346', '§ 1582', '§ 1582', '§ 1582', '§ 1346', '§ 1582', '§ 1346', '§ 1582', '§ 1582', '§ 1514', '§ 1514', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1582', '§ 1520', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1520', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1514', '§ 1582', '§ 1514', '§ 1520', '§ 1514', '§ 1582', '§ 1514']

535 F2d 1192 Fritz v. United States | OpenJurist
535 F. 2d 1192 - Fritz v. United States
535 F2d 1192 Fritz v. United States
535 F.2d 1192
Arthur J. FRITZ, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant,
On December 4, 1972, Fritz, utilizing the procedures established by 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c), applied for an administrative refund of his excess customs payment. The Customs Bureau while acknowledging that Fritz had made an overpayment, ruled that his claim for a refund was time-barred by 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c)(1) since more than one year had elapsed between the overpayment and the subsequent claim for an administrative refund.
Rebuffed in his attempt to obtain administrative redress, Fritz filed an action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Samuel Conti, Judge ) in a further effort to force a refund of his excess customs payment. However, Judge Conti, in a well-reasoned opinion, dismissed Fritz's action holding that, as a result of the subject matter of the suit, the Customs Court was the only federal court with jurisdiction to entertain Fritz's claim.
28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2) (emphasis added).
There is no question but that Fritz's claim for a refund of his excess customs payment falls within the literal language of this statute. Nevertheless, we agree with Judge Conti that § 1346(a)(2), notwithstanding its all-embracing language, did not give the district court jurisdiction over Fritz's action.
There is, of course, a conflict in the literal terms of these two statutes. 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2) confers upon the district courts jurisdiction over "any" civil action against the United States in which the damages sought are less than $10,000. However, 28 U.S.C. § 1582(a) expressly gives the Customs Court exclusive jurisdiction over actions relating to specified customs matters. 28 U.S.C. § 1582(a), if applied literally, must carve out an exception to the broad mandate of 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2) which, on its face, makes no special exemption for customs cases.
The conflict between § 1582(a) and general jurisdictional provisions, such as § 1346(a)(2), is one which the courts have confronted before. Repeatedly, the courts of this and other circuits have held that the jurisdiction of the Customs Court is exclusive and that, notwithstanding the broad, all-encompassing language of statutes such as 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2), the district courts have no jurisdiction over matters which 28 U.S.C. § 1582(a) confides exclusively to the Customs Court. See, e. g., J. C. Penney Co. v. United States Treasury Dept., 439 F.2d 63 (2d Cir. 1971); Riccomini v. United States, 69 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1934).
Hence, we adhere to the decisions of the various courts of appeals holding that the district courts have no jurisdiction over matters which are confided to the exclusive authority of the Customs Court by the terms of 28 U.S.C. § 1582(a). We further hold that the exclusivity of Customs Court jurisdiction under § 1582(a) is not affected or impaired by other statutes, such as 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2), whose expansive terms confer general jurisdiction on the district courts. Conflicts between broad grants of jurisdiction to the district courts and the grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the Customs Court are to be resolved by upholding the exclusivity of the Customs Court's jurisdiction.
In short, it is well-established that § 1582(a) means what it says: the jurisdiction of the Customs Court is exclusive. Even when other, broadly- worded statutes seem to confer concurrent jurisdiction on the district courts, the exclusivity of Customs Court jurisdiction reflects a policy of paramount importance which overrides the literal effect of such statutes as 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2).
Under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1582(a) and (c), the Customs Court exercises jurisdiction only if an administrative "protest" has been denied "by the appropriate customs officer."1 The "protest" to which §§ 1582(a) and (c) refer must be made in accordance with the formal procedures established by 19 U.S.C. § 1514(b)(1).2 Thus, if there is no compliance with the protest procedures of § 1514(b)(1), there is no jurisdiction in the Customs Court.
However, Fritz points out, in addition to a formal protest pursuant to § 1514(b)(1), a clerical error, such as that giving rise to this controversy, may be challenged under a less elaborate administrative procedure established by 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c).3
According to Fritz's interpretation of this statutory scheme, the availability of two different, allegedly independent administrative remedies, one under § 1514(b)(1) and the other under § 1520(c), creates two different routes to judicial review, one which leads to the Customs Court, the other which leads to the district court. If a formal § 1514(b)(1) protest is filed, according to Fritz, the Customs Court assumes exclusive jurisdiction by virtue of § 1582(a). However, Fritz asserts, if a person utilizes the less elaborate procedure available under § 1520(c), there is no formal protest and thus no Customs Court jurisdiction, exclusive or otherwise.
Hence, pursuit of the § 1520(c) remedy obviates the need to utilize the formal protest mechanism of § 1514(b)(1), Fritz argues, and, when a § 1520(c) challenge is denied (as it was here), jurisdiction attaches to the district court under the Tucker Act, since the jurisdiction of the Customs Court is predicated on the prior filing of a § 1514(b)(1) protest.
Fritz is wrong when he asserts that § 1520(c) establishes a separate administrative channel independent of the procedures prescribed by § 1514(b) (1). The statutory provisions which establish the formal protest machinery specifically provide that persons, like Fritz, who utilize the informal administrative channels of § 1520(c) must acquiesce to the resulting decision or, if dissatisfied, must continue their challenge through the formal protest mechanism of § 1514(b)(1). 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(7).4 Accordingly, the simplified procedure established by § 1520(c) is not an alternative to the formal protest machinery, but rather is an optional, preliminary step which can be utilized before a person files a formal protest.
Thus, § 1520(c) does not obviate the need for going through the formal protest mechanism. The statutory route which starts with § 1520(c) necessarily goes through § 1514(b)(1) and from there to the Customs Court.
Hence, it is incorrect to claim that Fritz had available, in the form of a § 1520(c) complaint, an administrative procedure which obviated the need to utilize the formal protest mechanism of § 1514(b)(1). By virtue of 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(7), rejections of § 1520(c) complaints, like Fritz's, must be acquiesced to or protested under § 1514(b)(1). Once a protest is made under § 1514(b)(1), jurisdiction over any subsequent judicial appeal lies exclusively in the Customs Court. 28 U.S.C. § 1582(a).
In summary, the district court acted properly in dismissing Fritz's action for lack of jurisdiction. Under the provisions of 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a)(7), the denial of Fritz's administrative complaint under 19 U.S.C. § 1520(c) was to be considered final unless protested through the formal mechanism of 19 U.S.C. § 1514(b)(1). Thus, under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1582(a) and (c), Fritz's complaint was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Customs Court, notwithstanding the general jurisdiction conferred upon the district courts by other statutes. Hence, the district court lacked authority to entertain Fritz's action.
19 U.S.C. § 1514(b)(1) reads as follows:
(b)(1) A protest of a decision under subsection (a) of this section shall be filed in writing with the appropriate customs officer designated in regulations prescribed by the Secretary, setting forth distinctly and specifically each decision described in subsection (a) of this section as to which protest is made; each category of merchandise affected by each such decision as to which protest is made; and the nature of each objection and reasons therefor. Only one protest may be filed for each entry of merchandise, except that where the entry covers merchandise of different categories, a separate protest may be filed for each category. In addition, separate protests filed by different authorized persons with respect to any one category of merchandise that is the subject of a protest are deemed to be part of a single protest. A protest may be amended, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, to set forth objections as to a decision or decisions described in subsection (a) of this section which were not the subject of the original protest, in the form and manner prescribed for a protest, any time prior to the expiration of the time in which such protest could have been filed under this section. New grounds in support of objections raised by a valid protest or amendment thereto may be presented for consideration in connection with the review of such protest pursuant to section 1515 of this title at any time prior to the disposition of the protest in accordance with that section. Except as otherwise provided in section 1557(b) of this title, protests may be filed by the importer, consignee, or any authorized agent of the person paying any charge or exaction, or filing any claim for drawback, or seeking entry or delivery, with respect to merchandise which is the subject of a decision in subsection (a) of this section.