The U.S. Court.of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's electronic filing system, CM/ECF, will undergo maintenance from Oct. 19 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT Oct. 20, the court announced. The system will be unavailable during this time, though it "may be available for intermittent accessing of documents," the court said. Filers shouldn't try to file any new documents during this time.
Court of Federal Appeals Trade activity
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave notice to the U.S. on Oct. 15 that it has failed to respond to exporter La Molisana's notice of oral argument in a case on the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. Failure to file this document "may result in dismissal or other action as deemed appropriate by the court," CAFC said in the text order (La Molisana v. United States, CIT # 23-2060).
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 11 issued its mandate in an appeal of a case on the countervailing duty investigation on Russian phosphate fertilizers brought by exporters Phosagro PJSC and JSC Apatit. The appeal was previously dismissed by CAFC for failure to prosecute (see 2408200028). A separate appeal of the case from exporter Industrial Group Phosphorite continues at the court, with the company claiming that the Commerce Department contradicted the CVD statute in finding that the Russian government's provision of natural gas was de facto specific (see 2408080058) (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1595).
The United States and an importer of a wearable blanket, similar to a Snuggie, again traded briefs Oct. 10 regarding admissibility of evidence; this time, they specifically covered the issue of whether a CBP employee could testify at an upcoming bench trial (Cozy Comfort Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 10 rejected a Canadian lumber exporter’s attempt to challenge the denial of a cash deposit rate under 28 U.S.C. 1581(i), saying the exporter was attempting "to use § 1581(i) to make an end run around the binational panel’s exclusive review."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Oct. 10 that Canadian lumber exporter J.D. Irving was trying to avoid review by a binational panel by bringing its antidumping duty case to the Court of International Trade under 28 U.S.C. 1581(i) jurisdiction rather than 1581(c). It said that the “true nature” of the exporter’s action was opposition to an AD rate it received in 2019, not the Commerce Department’s subsequent instruction to CBP, as J.D. Irving didn’t participate in the 2020 review. It also said that a binational panel had the power to provide J.D. Irving relief, if warranted (J.D. Irving v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1652).
The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 30 granted exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co.'s application for more time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in an antidumping duty scope case. The high court sent the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a letter notifying the court of the extension on Oct. 7 (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2181).
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 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.