The Court of International Trade on Dec. 15 dismissed a case seeking the release of goods excluded over forced labor concerns without plaintiff Virtus Nutrition's proposed condition that CBP allow the goods to be reexported. Judge Timothy Reif said the temporary storage agreement under which the goods are currently being held does not give a basis to include the proposed stipulation. Virtus "retains recourse" to address its concern that CBP can seize the goods rather than allow their exportation, Reif said.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni for Southern New York signed an order Monday (docket 1:22-cv-08171) appointing the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio as lead plaintiffs in the Sept. 23 class action alleging violations of the Securities Act stemming from Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia. Caproni’s order also appointed Grant & Eisenhofer as lead counsel for the plaintiffs, and the Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) as additional plaintiffs’ counsel. Yost publicized Caproni’s order in an announcement Wednesday. The class action names Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery and CEO David Zaslav and Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels as defendants, alleging they withheld negative information about WarnerMedia in the runup to the April 8 closing of the transaction that caused Warner Bros. Discovery shares to plummet 52.4% on the first day of trading “as the market became aware of the foregoing misrepresented and omitted facts.” Among the facts allegedly hidden from investors was that WarnerMedia overstated the number of subscribers to HBO Max by as many as 10 million, by counting as subscribers AT&T customers who had received bundled access to HBO Max but hadn't actually signed up for the service. Caproni’s order lifted the stay on the defendants’ time to answer the complaint. She ordered the parties to submit a joint proposed schedule by Dec. 21 for filing a consolidated amended complaint.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department’s recent preliminary determination that Southeast Asian solar cells and panels are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2212020064) left several questions unanswered, and lawyers for the Solar Energy Industries Association hope the agency will clarify these issues as the case proceeds to its final determinations, they said during a webinar Dec. 13.
As carmakers, battery companies and critical minerals supply chain players await news from the Treasury Department on the details of how vehicles and batteries will become eligible for electric vehicle tax credits, a major South Korean carmaker sounded the alarm that the new Inflation Reduction Act could make its planned Georgia plant unprofitable.
The U.S. Department of the Interior unreasonably delayed responding to a 2014 request to certify Mexico under the Pelly Amendments to the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 due to Mexico's failure to stop illegal fishing of and trade in endangered totoaba, an "imperiled fish," the Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Welfare Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council argued. In a suit filed Dec. 14 at the Court of International Trade, the conservation groups said the department and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to respond to the petition, and said the killing of the totoaba is aiding in the "imminent extinction of the vaquita porpoise" (Center for Biological Diversity v. Deb Haaland, CIT #22-00339).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade should dismiss a Section 592 penalty case against defendant Zhe "John" Liu since the statute of limitations has run out and the "action is untimely," Liu said in a Dec. 13 motion. The fraud case brought by the U.S. was not brought within five years from the date of the alleged violation because the defendant was not involved in the transaction at issue, as he was neither an owner, officer or director of GL Paper Distribution -- the company that committed the alleged fraud and a co-defendant in the action, the brief said. Liu also argued that the U.S. failed to state a claim against the defendant. As a result, Liu should be severed and dismissed from the case, the brief said (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT #22-00215).
The Commerce Department’s recent preliminary determination that Southeast Asian solar cells and panels are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2212020064) left several questions unanswered, and lawyers for the Solar Energy Industries Association hope the agency will clarify these issues as the case proceeds to its final determinations, they said during a webinar Dec. 13.
Although some observers thought the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's reaction to losing cases filed by Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and China at the World Trade Organization over its steel and aluminum tariffs marked a new era of rejecting the rules-based trading system, others who had served either in the WTO or the U.S. government said there was nothing too surprising about the U.S. reaction to its loss.