CIT Extends Discovery Deadline in Customs Case as Settlement Nears
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 6 granted importer Second Nature Designs' motion for a four-month extension to complete discovery in a customs case involving various different categories of decorative plant parts. Judge Lisa Wang ordered that fact discovery shall be completed by May 8 and that any motions regarding the "sufficiency of discovery" shall be filed by June 8 (Second Nature Designs v. United States, CIT # 17-00271).
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The case initially concerned eight different decorative plant part categories and was originally assigned to Judge Gary Katzmann. However, the lawsuit was then reassigned to Judge Lisa Wang after she joined the court in 2024.
In September 2023, Katzmann issued a decision in the case, siding with Second Nature on its preferred classification of two of the categories and with the government on one of the categories (see 2309210047). Pertaining to three other categories, Katzmann said that there were fact questions remaining, leading the judge to deny summary judgment and advance litigation to its "second phase."
Second Nature's motion to extend time for discovery arose in litigation in this second phase. The importer said after the U.S. and the company reviewed the "products left at issue in this case," Second Nature provided the government with a "proposed settlement of litigation." The U.S. responded that they "believed that plaintiff had overstated the total amount of duties at issue in the case."
In response, the importer "provided an additional spreadsheet breaking down items in entries at issues that the Government was unable to breakdown in their review on August 22, 2025." Second Nature said the U.S. is "still in the process of reviewing Plaintiff’s most recent spreadsheet," warranting an extension of the end of discovery, the brief said.