The Commerce Department dropped its presumption that exporter Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. was controlled by the Chinese government after the Court of International Trade questioned whether the agency could disregard an individually selected respondent's data in favor of the country-wide non-market economy rate. In its remand results to the trade court, Commerce assigned Jilin a zero percent dumping rate using the company's actual submissions during an antidumping duty administrative review on multilayered wood flooring from China (Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. United States, CIT # 18-00191).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Online dating company Match Group must produce documents it withheld from the FTC’s investigation into claims the company improperly shared user photos with a facial recognition startup, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday in docket 2022-0054.
The Court of International Trade on May 2 upheld a CBP evasion finding in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, with Judge Jane Restani finding that the standard for initiation of an EAPA investigation is low and that the "voluminous evidence" provided by an initial allegation filed by M&B meets both the government’s and importer CEK Group's proposed standards of reasonable suggestion.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 24-30.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
NEW ORLEANS -- Federal Maritime Commissioner Max Vekich signaled he’s open to a further expansion of FMC authority, including potentially allowing the FMC to scrutinize certain rail storage fees.
Telehealth provider Hey Favor filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection April 18, and that filing triggered an automatic stay under the bankruptcy code in the privacy class action against the company filed in January by plaintiff Jane Doe (see 2303270047), said a notice Thursday (docket 3:23-cv-00059) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. Its bankruptcy petition is pending before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Edward Morris, said the notice. Plaintiff Doe alleges Hey Favor knowingly and intentionally sent personally identifiable information about her medical history to Meta, TikTok and other social media platforms. Biotechnology firm Veru is Hey Favor’s largest unsecured creditor, owed $3.9 million in trade debt, said Hey Favor’s Chapter 11 petition (docket 23-41091) in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Northern Texas in Fort Worth. Its second-largest creditor is Latham & Watkins, owed $1.6 million in legal fees, followed by Google, owed just under $900,000 in trade debt, said the petition.
The Commerce Department properly used financial statements from Indian company Sundram as the source of surrogate financial data in the antidumping duty investigation on steel nails from Oman, despite evidence the company received countervailable subsidies, the U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. After Commerce winnowed potential surrogate companies from 11, the two remaining companies -- Hi-Tech Fastener Manufacturer and Sundram -- received subsidies. Since Sundram's data was contemporaneous with the investigation period and Hi-Tech's was not, Commerce legally went with Sundram, the government said in its reply brief (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1039).
NEW ORLEANS -- Federal Maritime Commissioner Max Vekich signaled he’s open to a further expansion of FMC authority, including potentially allowing the FMC to scrutinize certain rail storage fees.