The Court of International Trade greenlighted the Department of Justice's second motion for an extension to file comments on the remand results in a Dec. 8 order submitted in a case over an antidumping scope ruling. Plaintiff-intervenor SIGMA Corporation opposed the bid, arguing that a further delay will prejudice it. SIGMA currently is wrapped up in parallel litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, where the defendant-intervenor in the CIT case, Island Industries Inc., sued SIGMA and others, arguing that the companies violated the False Claims Act by not paying antidumping duties on their welded outlet imports. While a jury verdict has been entered, SIGMA is seeking a new trial since the verdict was "against the weight of the evidence," SIGMA said (Vandewater International Inc., et al. v. United States, CIT #18-00199).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 29 - Dec. 5:
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 7 suspended liquidation of all unliquidated entries involved in a case challenging a decision by President Donald Trump to revoke a tariff exclusion granted to bifacial solar panels. The liquidation suspension comes after the trade court struck down the tariff exclusion withdrawal, finding it to be a clear misconstruction of the law since the relevant law only permits trade liberalizing alterations to existing safeguard measures (see 2111160032). After the ruling, the plaintiffs, led by the Solar Energy Industry Association, filed an unopposed motion for an order suspending liquidation, urging the court to halt liquidation until all appeals are final. Without such action from the court, it is possible that many of the subject entries will have liquidated and become final, the motion said (Solar Energy Industries Association, et al. v. United States, et al., CIT #20-03941).
The Court of International Trade partially sided with solar cell importer Aireko Construction, instructing CBP to properly liquidate its entries in accordance with the Commerce Department's instructions, but ruled against Aireko by finding that the importer did not properly challenge the instructions themselves. In a Dec. 7 opinion, Judge Claire Kelly said that CBP needs to correct its error by applying antidumping and countervailing duty rates different from those listed in Commerce's instructions but that Aireko failed to launch a challenge under Section 1581(i) -- CIT's "residual" jurisdiction -- to challenge the instructions.
Surety company International Bond & Marine is responsible for over $730,000 in unpaid duties resulting from a diamond jewelry company's fraudulent import scheme, the Department of Justice alleged in a Dec. 6 complaint filed at the Court of International Trade. Due to the terms of the bond agreement between International Bond and the jewelry company, Anaya Gems, the surety must cover the unpaid duties that accrued as a result of Anaya Gems' efforts to undervalue its jewelry shipments and underpay customs duties owed, DOJ said (United States v. International Bond & Marine, Ltd., CIT #21-00611).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A confidential opening brief from appellant ABB Enterprise Software is not in compliance with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's rules, the appellate court said in a Dec. 6 notice of non-compliance. The Federal Circuit said that the document "does not contain the required proof of service or the proof of service indicates improper service of material that cannot be served through the court’s electronic filing system." ABB's case appeals a Court of International Trade ruling that sided against the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available in an antidumping duty review. The opening brief in question argued that the CIT wrongly held that Commerce impermissibly speculated when finding that an antidumping duty respondent's reporting error supported disregarding the respondent's entire U.S. and home market databases (see 2111230087) (Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems, fka Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., et al. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2312).
The Department of Justice filed a motion, with the consent of the plaintiff -- palm oil importer Virtus Nutrition -- for an extension of time to reply to an amicus brief since the litigants are nearing a resolution of the case, DOJ said in the Dec. 3 filing. The case concerns a shipment of palm oil entered by Virtus that was excluded from entry by CBP over suspicions that the goods were made with forced labor. Virtus expects a sale and re-exportation of the palm oil following a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the two-way hydrant system located at the port where the merchandise is being stored, the brief said. Once this inspection is completed, the goods will be on their way (Virtus Nutrition, LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00165).
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 7 granted partial victory to an importer challenging the assessment of antidumping and countervailing duties on its entries of solar cells, even though it says the entries preceded the date Commerce changed the scope of the relevant AD/CVD orders to include the products. Aireko Construction said the entries should be reliquidated at zero percent AD/CVD rates. However, the importer had challenged the assessments based on a denied protest, rather than file its case under the proper jurisdiction to challenge Commerce's instructions to CBP. Without a valid challenge to those instructions, CIT ruled that it could only instruct CBP to reliquidate the entries according to Commerce's instructions, free of CV duties but at an AD duty rate of 42.33%.