Court of International Trade Senior Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas died on March 22. Tsoucalas, 91, served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War and subsequently entered legal practice. His appointment to be a criminal court judge for the City of New York in 1968 began his 50-year career as a judge. President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Court of International Trade in 1986. He retired from the court and assumed senior status in 2016.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 12-18:
The Court of International Trade on March 16 sustained a Commerce Department scope ruling that found tubing imported by DynaEnergetics for use in perforating gun carriers in oil wells is subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods from China (see 1603040035). DynaEnergetics had argued an earlier version of the scope included in the original China OCTG petition said duties should “only” cover casing, tubing and coupling stock, and not perforated gun carrier tubing. But the scope adopted by Commerce since it began the AD/CV duty investigations omits the word “only,” so it also covers other tubular goods used in oil wells, CIT said. The gun carrier tubing is a tubular steel product used in oil and gas wells, and is covered by the scope of the AD/CV duty orders, CIT said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 5-11:
Agricultural “training stakes” made from rebar are subject to antidumping duties on steel concrete reinforcing bar from China, the Court of International Trade said in a March 9 decision. Sustaining a scope ruling issued by the Commerce Department in 2016, the court also agreed with Commerce’s instructions that CBP “continue” to suspend liquidation of the training stakes, rather than require payment of AD duties only on entries after the scope ruling.
The Court of International Trade granted a motion for default judgment against a food importer, Rupari Food Services, and said the company owes "$2,784,636.18, plus post-judgment interest," in a March 9 opinion. That amount is based on the CBP penalty claim against the importer prior to Rupari filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The decision follows another CIT decision in the same case that said bankruptcy protections don't apply to Section 592 penalty cases (see 1708110027).
The Court of International Trade on March 5 declined to block implementation of recently announced Section 201 safeguard duties on solar cells. The court said it would not issue an injunction against imposition of the tariff-rate quotas, which took effect Feb. 7 (see 1801240036), finding arguments from Canadian exporters and a U.S. importer in favor of the block unlikely to prevail in a final decision on the safeguards.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 26 - March 4:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 19-25:
Two class-action lawsuits filed Feb. 23 in Massachusetts federal district court allege Hershey and Mars violated state consumer protection laws by failing to disclose the use of forced and child labor in their supply chains. Danell Tomasella, on behalf of consumers that purchased Hershey and Mars products in Massachusetts during the past four years, alleges those consumers would not have bought Hershey and Mars candy had they known the companies had forced and child labor in their supply chains. Tomasella filed a similar lawsuit against Nestle on Feb. 9.