A multinational engineering company will pay more than $22.2 million to resolve a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit related to the evasion of customs and antidumping and countervailing duties. Germany-based Linde GmbH and its U.S. affiliate, Linde Engineering North America, allegedly misrepresented the nature, classification, and valuation of imported merchandise, as well as the applicability of free trade agreements, so as not to pay tariffs, the Department of Justice said in a Sept. 25 news release.
The U.S. Court of International Trade should use a case management approach for the thousands of Section 301 tariff lawsuits (see 2009220027), similar to the approach used in the harbor maintenance tax (HMT) litigation that ended in 1998, said DOJ Wednesday in a motion (in Pacer) for case management procedures. That should include the selection of a "test case" and a stay of all other cases involved, DOJ said. The filing on behalf of all the Trump administration defendants was DOJ's first since HMTX Industries filed suit Sept.10 to force refunds of tariffs paid on Lists 3 and 4A goods from China and get the tariff rulemakings vacated (see 2009110041).
A hotly contested racketeering lawsuit involving antidumping duties on garlic imports from China has reached an end, after Harmoni International opted to drop its case before the Central California U.S. District Court Sept. 16. Lawyers for the defendants in the case claimed victory for their clients, and all Americans, in a news release emailed the following day. Harmoni’s lawyer tells a different tale, saying the case had largely wrapped up and it was no longer in his client’s financial interest to continue.
The Court of International Trade should use a case management approach for the numerous Section 301 tariff lawsuits similar to the one used for litigation over the harbor maintenance tax (HMT), the Department of Justice said in a Sept. 23 filing. That should include the selection of a “test case” and a stay of all other cases involved, DOJ said. The filing marks DOJ's first since HMTX Industries filed suit to force refunds of Section 301 tariffs paid on lists 3 and 4 goods from China (see 2009110005).
Best Buy Purchasing and Best Buy Health “have been adversely affected” by the Section 301 List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued the subsidiaries Monday in a complaint (in Pacer) at the U.S. Court of International Trade. It was among the roughly 3,300 suits filed at the CIT since Thursday to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs, including 700 on Monday, the last filing day for importers to qualify for refunds if the actions are successful. There was some debate Tuesday whether the Monday deadline could be open to interpretation.
Best Buy Purchasing and Best Buy Health “have been adversely affected” by the Section 301 List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued the subsidiaries Monday in a complaint (in Pacer) at the U.S. Court of International Trade. It was among the roughly 3,300 suits filed at the CIT since Thursday to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs, including 700 on Monday, the last filing day for importers to qualify for refunds if the actions are successful. There was some debate Tuesday whether the Monday deadline could be open to interpretation.
Importers and domestic producers predictably clashed over the Commerce Department’s recently proposed changes to its antidumping and countervailing duty regulations (see 2008120037), in comments recently submitted to the agency. While domestic industry urged Commerce to move forward with the changes, importers challenged proposed changes to liquidation timelines in scope inquiries, as well as tighter deadlines that they said make it harder to defend from AD/CVD cases.
Best Buy Purchasing and Best Buy Health “have been adversely affected” by the Section 301 List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued the subsidiaries Monday in a complaint (in Pacer) at the U.S. Court of International Trade. It was among the roughly 3,300 suits filed at the CIT since Thursday to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs, including 700 on Monday, the last filing day for importers to qualify for refunds if the actions are successful. There was some debate Tuesday whether the Monday deadline could be open to interpretation.
More than 2,000 lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 14-20 (see 2009220029). For a full list, see the PACER database.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 14-18 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.