The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit didn't select the Section 301 litigation for its October schedule, setting up early November as the earliest time the case could be heard. Matt Nicely, counsel for the lead plaintiffs in the case involving over 4,000 companies, said in an email that he's "optimistic" oral argument in the action "will still happen before the end of the year." All arguing attorneys finished submitting their notices of conflicts with oral argument in April (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).

The Commerce Department illicitly expanded the scope of the antidumping duty order on wooden cabinets and vanities from China to cover goods made out of phragmites, exporter Nanjing Kaylang Co. argued in an Aug. 27 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. The suit challenges Commerce's scope ruling including Kaylang's goods in the AD order (see 2402210053) (Nanjing Kaylang Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00045).

The U.S. didn’t double-count domestic producers when conducting an industry support survey for an investigation of oil country tubular goods products, the government said Aug. 26. An importer claiming otherwise keeps making arguments it hadn’t raised earlier, it said (Tenaris Bay City v. U.S., CIT # 22-00343).

Importers led by Sweet Harvest Foods argued on Aug. 23 that the government's claims in defense of its affirmative critical circumstances determination on the importers' Vietnamese honey imports "contravene the plain language and logic of the statute." Filing a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Sweet Harvest said the statute plainly tells the International Trade Commission to conduct an "inherently forward-looking analysis" in assessing whether imports from the 90-day critical circumstances period will likely undermine the remedial effect of the antidumping duty order and that any arguments to the contrary undercut this clear message (Sweet Harvest Foods v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1370).

Exporter Your Standing International argued on Aug. 26 at the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department erred in using the financial statements of Taiwanese company San Shing Fastech Corporation in calculating Your Standing's constructed value profit in the 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on steel nails from Taiwan (Your Standing International v. United States, CIT # 24-00055).

A domestic trade group argued Aug. 26 that a Chinese cabinet exporter was barred from raising its ministerial error allegation by the doctrine of judicial estoppel (The Ancientree Cabinet Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00262).

The U.S. submitted proof of service in its customs penalty case against German paper exporter Koehler a week after the Court of International Trade allowed the government to serve the company through its U.S. counsel. The proof of service said the summons and complaint were served on Koehler's Holland & Knight attorneys (United States v. Koehler Oberkirch, CIT # 24-00014).

Conservation groups Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit seeking an import ban on fish from New Zealand's West Coast North Island inshore trawl and set net fisheries under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (Sea Shepherd New Zealand v. U.S., CIT # 20-00112).

The U.S. and importer Greenlight Organic, along with its owner Parambir Singh "Sonny" Aulakh, agreed to settle a customs fraud suit, the pair said in a joint status report at the Court of International Trade Aug. 23. No details of the settlement were provided, and counsel for Greenlight didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (United States v. Greenlight Organic, CIT # 17-00031).

A new Vietnamese frozen fish fillet exporter didn’t actually make a bona fide sale in the U.S. during the period of a new shipper antidumping review, a domestic trade group said Aug. 23 (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 24-00126).