In oral arguments Oct. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that the plaintiff challenging an Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding whose entries have all already been liquidated was likely not going to succeed in reversing the dismissal of its case by the Court of International Trade (see 2208180045) (All One God Faith v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).
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. 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 Court of International Trade on Oct. 7 set a 14-day deadline for the U.S. to file for a voluntary remand in an Enforce and Protect Act case originally brought by exporter Kingtom Aluminio. The parties in a recent joint status report told the court to lift the stay on the case and that the government intends to file a voluntary remand motion (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT Consol. #22-00072).
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A plaintiff opposed Sept. 13 a CBP redetermination upon remand that again found three importers evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese plywood by transshipping the product through Cambodia (see 2405300058), again arguing the agency’s decision lacked substantial evidence (American Pacific Plywood v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03914).
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 11 granted the government's voluntary remand motion in a case on CBP's finding that importer Zinus evaded the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China. The government asked for the remand in light of the Commerce Department's scope ruling finding that Zinus' imported bedframes aren't covered by the AD order (Zinus v. United States, CIT # 23-00272).
The U.S. on Sept. 10 opposed importer Interglobal Forest's bid for attorney's fees after it prevailed in an antidumping and countervailing duty evasion case. The government said Interglobal can't be considered a "prevailing party" because the court's decision sustaining CBP's remand decision reversing its evasion finding didn't "materially alter the legal relationship of the parties" (Interglobal Forest v. United States, CIT # 22-00240).
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 4 dismissed a case from importer InterGlobal Forest challenging CBP's premature liquidation of hardwood plywood entries subject to an Enforce and Protect Act investigation after the company failed to state a reason to continue the case. In a previous order, Judge Mark Barnett noted that after litigation led to a negative evasion finding, CBP reliquidated InterGlobal's entries and canceled the bills for the payment of duties (InterGlobal Forest v. United States, CIT # 20-00155).
Vietnam Finewood Co. and Far East American dropped their case at the Court of International Trade challenging CBP's premature liquidation of hardwood plywood entries subject to an Enforce and Protect Act investigation. In a status report filed earlier this month, the companies said they received "partial refunds" and that the rest of the money at issue is "caught up in issues that have caused extraordinary delays not involved with the merits of the appeal or CBP's apparent willingness to work" with the companies to "ultimately effect the refunds in total" (Vietnam Finewood Co. v. United States, CIT # 20-00155).