The Commerce Department was permitted to apply "facts otherwise available" in an antidumping duty investigation where it was unable to verify certain information due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice said in a July 2 brief to the Court of International Trade. Responding to plaintiffs, led by Bonney Forge Corp., DOJ said that the pandemic and travel restrictions prohibited Commerce from conducting on-site verifications during an investigation on forged steel fittings from India (Bonney Forge Corporation et al. v. United States, CIT #20-03837).
Court of International Trade activity
A furniture importer's argument that the Enforce and Protect Act investigation finding it guilty of antidumping duty evasion was unconstitutional is not valid since the importer does not have a protectable interest, the Department of Justice said in a July 9 brief in the Court of International Trade. Since a protectable interest is necessary to claim a due process violation has been committed, Aspects Furniture International's constitutional arguments against the EAPA process fall flat, DOJ said (Aspects Furnitre International, Inc. v. United States, CIT #20-03824).
The Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department's final results of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India, in a July 9 confidential opinion. Judge Claire Kelly subsequently issued a letter, stating her intention to have the public version of the opinion published “on or shortly after” July 19. Parties to the case are to review the confidential opinion and identify any confidential information to be bracketed for redaction in the public version. The case, according to the Jan. 30, 2020, complaint, concerned Commerce's use of a particular market situation to increase the cost of hot-rolled coil, the primary input, while computing the cost of the foreign like product in the below-cost analysis of home market sales for the Indian pipes and tubes (Garg Tube Export LLP et al. v. United States, CIT #20-00026).
The Court of International Trade granted a consent motion July 9 to stay proceedings in a case brought by Advantus pending the appeal of decisions made in two cases, ARP Materials, Inc. v. United States and Harrison Steel Castings Co. v. United States. Judge Miller Baker granted the stay until 30 days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issues its mandates in those two cases. ARP and Harrison have not appealed to the Federal Circuit but indicated that they would like to do so (see 2106110053).
The Court of International Trade issued a pair of decisions on July 12 applying precedent from a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision which found that strike pin anchors are not within the scope of the antidumping duty orders on steel nails from Vietnam. One of the decisions found masonry anchors from Midwest Fastener Corp. aren't subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel nails from Vietnam. The other, brought by Fastenal Company Purchasing, said that the company's zinc and nylon anchors "do not fall within the scope of Commerce’s antidumping order on certain steel nails from China." The Federal Circuit opinion, titled OMG, Inc. v. U.S., rejected Commerce's logic that the drive pin component of the anchors is basically a nail.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's second remand results in the fourth administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large power transformers from Korea in a July 9 opinion. Chief Judge Mark Barnett upheld the results after Commerce dropped its adverse inference against Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Hyosung Corporation when calculating their antidumping duty rates. The result left both respondents in the review with a zero percent duty rate.
Christina Ondrick joined McKool Smith as a principal in the firm's Washington, D.C., office, the firm said in a July 7 press release. Ondrick joins McKool from Paul Hastings, where she litigated patent disputes before district courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the International Trade Commission.
Adam Kaufmann has joined Barnes & Thornburg as a partner in the firm's Chicago-based Intellectual Property Department. Kaufmann comes from Kirkland & Ellis, where he litigated patent cases in front of federal courts and the International Trade Commission. He also worked on America Invents Act proceedings.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: