Pipe Petitioner Says Equitable Tolling Wouldn't Be Justified, Supporting Motion to Dismiss
A petitioner March 27 supported a U.S. motion to dismiss exporter Pipe & Piling Supplies’ complaint (see 2503250054). It agreed that the pipe exporter hadn’t established the Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over it (Pipe & Piling Supplies v. United States, CIT # 24-00211).
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American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee said in its brief that Pipe & Piling's case lacked jurisdiction because the exporter hadn’t followed notice requirements established by USMCA.
It said this case is “distinct from the cases in which the Supreme Court has held that certain procedural requirements are not jurisdictional.” And, like the U.S., it argued that equitable tolling of USMCA’s jurisdictional rules “would be inconsistent with the statutory scheme.”
It added that even if generally equitable tolling might be considered, “it would not be justified for Pipe & Piling.” The trade court usually only turns to equitable tolling when a party has either been “tricked” by its “adversary’s misconduct” into missing a deadline or has filed a timely “defective pleading” that must be cured.
The exporter argued that it could overcome the jurisdictional issue because this is an antidumping, not a countervailing, duty proceeding, so “any failure to notify the government of Canada is a harmless error,” the petitioner said. Pipe & Piling also supported its claim by saying that “no other parties filed a request for a binational panel review in this matter.”
“These circumstances clearly do not justify equitable tolling,” American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee said.