Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc. v. County of Alameda

MEMORANDUM DECISION

SCHNACKE, District Judge.

Before this Court are cross-motions for summary judgment.

Plaintiff seeks to recover taxes collected by defendants on its Oakland warehouse inventory, consisting entirely of goods manufactured outside the United States and imported by plaintiff as finished items for sale to the American consumer. The sales occurred only through plaintiff’s retail stores, not through the warehouse.

States and localities may not tax imports until the goods are sold, removed from the original package, put to the use for which they are imported, or have passed from the…