Saab Cars USA v. United States

434 F.3d 1359 (2006)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
S
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Saab Cars USA v. United States

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
434 F.3d 1359 (2006)

Facts

Saab Cars USA (Saab) (plaintiff) imported automobiles into the United States. Because Saab declared its imported vehicles as free of defects upon arrival, Saab also declared as the transaction value for duty-calculation purposes the price it paid for the automobiles. Accordingly, the United States Customs Service (customs) (defendant) calculated import duties based on the transaction value reported by Saab. Sometime after, Saab discovered that some of the automobiles arrived with defects and filed protests with customs demanding duty allowances for latent defects under 19 C.F.R. § 158.12. Customs denied the protests, stating that 19 C.F.R. § 158.12 provided relief not for latent defects, but rather for merchandise damage that was discovered or readily discoverable at importation. Customs based its argument on the regulatory text, which provided that “[m]erchandise . . . which is found by the port director to be partially damaged at the time of importation shall be appraised in its condition as imported.” Saab challenged the denials to the United States Court of International Trade, which agreed with Saab that § 158.12 permitted allowances for latent defects. Customs appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Gajarsa, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 804,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Trade Law

Key Terms