The Court of International Trade on Dec. 12 denied the government's motion for reconsideration of the trade court's previous decision to vacate CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio made its aluminum extrusions with forced labor. Although Judge Timothy Reif said he made a mistake of fact in the initial decision, the mistake was a "harmless error," and that no mistake of law was made.
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 12 denied the government's motion for reconsideration of the court's decision to vacate CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio made its aluminum extrusions with forced labor. Judge Timothy Reif said that while he did mistakenly say that the "allegation assessment" was insufficient to support the forced labor finding, the mistake was a "harmless error," since it's clear from context that the court was actually referring to CBP's on-site verification report. Reif added that no mistake of law was made regarding his decision to vacate the finding, rather than remanding without vacatur, since the U.S. didn't respond to Kingtom's request for vacatur.
International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates), an anti-forced labor advocacy group, filed suit last month against Apple, claiming the company engages in false and deceptive marketing of its products by touting the ethical sourcing of its minerals, while the actual sourcing of these minerals tells a different story.
A Wisconsin federal court on Dec. 1 dismissed a case from a former prisoner at the Nunan Chishan Prison in China against Milwaukee Electric Tool and its parent company, Techtronic Industries, for allegedly importing goods made with forced labor. Judge Brett Ludwig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin held that the civil remedy of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which is the statute the prisoner sued under, doesn't apply to conduct occurring outside the U.S. (Xu Lun v. Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., E.D. Wis. # 24-803).
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The Court of International Trade on Nov. 4 granted importer Camel Energy's motion to expedite its case against CBP's detention of two of its battery entries. Judge Claire Kelly, who was assigned to the case on Oct. 29, granted the motion to expedite and said that Camel Energy "may file a proposed briefing schedule" along with a "brief statement of reasons as to why this expedited timeframe is necessary" by Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. ET (Camel Energy v. United States, CIT # 25-00230).
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Dominican aluminum extrusions exporter Kingtom Aluminio, which faces a CBP forced labor finding, defended Oct. 31 the Court of International Trade’s decision to vacate the finding pending the conclusion of litigation. It declared that “[i]ts very survival is in jeopardy” due to the finding (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT # 24-00264).
Battery importer Camel Energy urged the Court of International Trade on Oct. 29 to expedite its case on CBP's exclusion of two of its entries. The company said "good cause" exists to speed up the case, since the importer "continues to incur damages in port and storage fees" and the exclusion of the goods "prevented Camel’s North American customers from receiving their products" (Camel Energy v. United States, CIT # 25-00230).
The U.S. asked the Court of International Trade on Oct. 23 to reconsider a temporary stay of a CBP forced labor finding regarding a Dominican aluminum extrusions exporter (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT # 24-00264).