The International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association filed its own amicus curiae brief Oct. 8 also supporting ITC in its current appeal of Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden’s refusal to redact a public opinion the agency worries could contain business proprietary information (see 2312200070). Its brief follows another submitted by the Customs and International Trade Bar Association a day prior (see 2410080055) (CVB v. United States, CIT # 21-00288) (CVB, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1504).
Court of International Trade activity
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 8 said the Court of International Trade improperly rejected the Commerce Department's inclusion of door thresholds imported by Worldwide Door Components and Columbia Aluminum Products in the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Judges Sharon Prost, Richard Linn and Todd Hughes said Commerce adequately explained on remand that the door thresholds are subassemblies and thus not qualified for the finished merchandise exception.
The Customs and International Trade Bar Association filed an amicus curiae brief opposing the Court of International Trade’s refusal to redact an December 2023 opinion sustaining an affirmative injury finding regarding mattress imports (see 2312200070) (CVB v. United States, CIT # 21-00288) (CVB, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1504).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 7 denied importer Interglobal Forest's application for attorney's fees in its suit challenging CBP's affirmative finding of evasion of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China. Judge Mark Barnett said that Interglobal wasn't a "prevailing party" in the action because the evasion determination was reversed without admitting to an agency error and only after the Commerce Department reversed its scope finding after separate legal action at the trade court.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
An importer of aluminum extrusions from China -- one of those found by the Court of International Trade in June to have not evaded antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2407100048) -- asked the trade court to award it attorney’s fees, saying that, as a result of the litigation, it had gone out of business (H&E Home v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 21-00337).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 8 granted importer HH Associates US' voluntary dismissal of its customs case. The importer brought the suit in September 2023 to contest CBP's classification of its glassware imports under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 7013.37.2090, dutiable at 22.5%. HH Associates said the goods should receive duty-free treatment under the same subheading. Counsel for the importer didn't respond to a request for comment (HH Associates US v. United States, CIT # 23-00200).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 8 sustained the Commerce Department's inclusion of importer Printing Textile's "Canvas Banner Matisse" under the scope of the antidumping duty order on artist canvas from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu held that Commerce's interpretation of one "ambiguous" sentence in the scope language wasn't "per se unreasonable" and that the agency didn't fail to consider or misapply the (k)(1) factors at issue. The judge added that the order's language wasn't constitutionally vague to the point where an importer of the canvas banner wouldn't reasonably expect its products not to be covered by the order.
A Dutch court sentenced an unnamed Soviet Union-born defendant to two years and eight months in prison last week for exporting more than 460 sanctioned aircraft parts to three Russian companies, the London office of Duane Morris said.
Plaintiffs in a case regarding the countervailability of three debt-to-equity swaps filed a brief Oct. 7 in support of the Commerce Department’s reluctant reversal on remand (see 2407030073). The department found those swaps weren't countervailable, because it hadn't countervailed them in three prior reviews either (KG Dongbu Steel Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00047).