The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 30 - April 5:
A Texas company has been charged with Lacey Act violations for falsely claiming shrimp it imported from Mexico was caught in U.S. waters, said the Justice Department on March 31 (here). According to DOJ, Garcia Shrimp bought 35,000 pounds of Mexican shrimp, and upon arrival it removed the “Mexico labels” from the packages and attached new ones saying the shrimp was caught in U.S. waters. The company also created “false records and bills of lading to make it appear that the shrimp was caught by a U.S.-flagged fishing vessel,” DOJ alleged. The seafood was eventually sold to a New Orleans-based seafood distributor for $120,800, said DOJ. If convicted, Garcia Shrimp faces a fine of $500,000 and five years of probation.
Two California beer drinkers are taking Anheuser-Busch to court over its labeling of beer as “Product of U.S.A.,” even though the beer is made from imported hops. William Nixon and Michael O’Neill filed a class action lawsuit March 27 in California Superior Court in San Francisco. They say the Anheuser-Busch’s labeling of its Busch beer as “Product of U.S.A.” violates a California law that requires all components of a product to be of U.S. origin in order to make “Made in the U.S.A.” claims.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 23 - 29:
The Court of International Trade posted to its website a new guide on courtroom technology available to practitioners at the Court of International Trade (here). The document lists equipment available to CIT lawyers, including video and audio conferencing, document display cameras and projectors. It also includes best practices for using courtroom technology.
The Court of International Trade on March 26 vacated a penalty judgment against an importer of candles that failed to pay antidumping duties (here), after the government requested the ruling be set aside to correct an error. The court had in February ordered NYCC 1959 to pay $15,310.08, plus interest, for gross negligence because it failed to declare its candles subject to the antidumping duty order on petroleum wax candles from China (see 1502060042). The allegations of gross negligence were partially based on testimony that NYCC had previously failed to pay AD duties on two prior entries of candles until CBP rate advanced them, and on one of those entries NYCC failed to declare the entry subject to AD duties at all. According to the government, it has since discovered the testimony was incorrect because NYCC did not pay the duties even after the rate advance, and did not declare either entry subject to AD duties. However, despite purportedly having even more evidence of gross negligence, the government is still seeking the same penalty amount of $15,310.08 plus interest for gross negligence.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 16-22:
A wood pallet recycling company was sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine for falsely labeling its pallets as heat treated, said the Justice Department on March 12 (here). American Pallet Recycling and its former president and owner Raymond Viola, pleaded guilty in the New York Eastern U.S. District Court to violations of the Plant Protection Act in connection with the false labeling, said DOJ. Rather than treat the wood pallets, as required for pallets used in international transactions, Viola between 2007 and 2011 created copies of stamp certifications used by legitimate wood pallet treating companies, which he and his employees applied to pallets APR sold, said DOJ. Viola will pay $1,000 and serve three years of probation, and has turned his business over to his son, it said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 9-15:
A Michigan man faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced July 14 after pleading guilty to federal conspiracy charges for repeatedly trying to smuggle hazardous e-waste to Hong Kong and China and concealing his actions by lying about them on federal disclosure forms. The defendant, Lip Bor Ng, admitted to having had others load Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors into containers for shipment from Detroit to Los Angeles and on to Hong Kong and China between 2010 and 2011 and directing others to “file documents containing false statements related to the merchandise in order to conceal the presence of the CRT monitors,” said his signed plea agreement, filed March 13 (here) in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Ng knew that U.S. law prohibits the shipment of hazardous waste, including CRTs, to Hong Kong and China without their consent, the plea agreement said. He also “knowingly” failed to file a notification of intent to export the CRTs with the EPA as required under federal hazardous waste laws, it said. Specifically, Ng admits to having filed fraudulent shippers export documents in the Automated Export System certifying the containers he shipped from Detroit to Los Angeles for export to Hong Kong and China held plastic and metal “scrap” when in fact they held “various types of used electronics and computer components,” including dozens of CRTs, it said.