The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that MTS Logistics, a New York-based non-vessel operating common carrier, is not liable to Turkish manufacturing firm Saray Dokum ve Madeni Aksam Sanayi Turizm for 1,534,000 kg of S-PVC Resin Formosa Formolon 622. Saray said MTS failed to deliver the Resin it bought from Oxyde Chemicals to Istanbul from Houston as provided for in two bills of lading issued by MTS (Saray Dokum ve Madeni Aksam Sanayi Turizm v. MTS Logistics, S.D.N.Y. # 17-07495).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential Aug. 21 opinion again sent back the Commerce Department's decision not to investigate the alleged off-peak sale of electricity below cost as part of the 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. Judge Mark Barnett also remanded for a second time the agency's decision not to treat POSCO Plantec, an affiliate of respondent POSCO, as a cross-owned input supplier of POSCO regarding the supply of scrap (Nucor Corp. v. United States, CIT # 21-00182).
Law firm Alston & Bird agreed to resolve a dispute with Ohio-based Mark One Wipes regarding the company's claims that the firm gave it negligent legal advice related to the labeling of hand-sanitizing wipes imports. Mark One launched its suit in February 2022, claiming that the faulty advice led to injury, including the costs of making, shipping and storing a "useless product," reputational harm and lost profits.
Mediation was unsuccessful in a case from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman against three of her colleagues' investigation into the judge's fitness to continue serving on the court. Per a joint status report submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the parties are looking to continue briefing on Newman's motion for a preliminary injunction against the Federal Circuit Judicial Council's order barring Newman from receiving new cases (Hon. Pauline Newman v. Hon. Kimberly Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
The Commerce Department failed to consider the "reliance interests" of antidumping petitioners led by Bonney Forge Co. when sticking by its decision to find that questionnaires issued in lieu of on-site verification satisfied the statute's requirement for verification, the Court of International Trade ruled on Aug. 21. Judge Stephen Vaden said that while past practice "is not an inescapable straitjacket," an agency must put a "reasoned explanation on the record" in compliance with the rules established by the Supreme Court in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. urged the Court of International Trade to uphold the Commerce Department's remand results in which it found that Vietnam Finewood Co.'s hardwood plywood made using two-ply panels imported to Vietnam from China is not subject to the scope of the AD/CVD orders on hardwood plywood from China. Submitting remand comments to the court, the agency said that since no party contests the remand results, the court should uphold them (Far East American v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00049).
The Commerce Department legally used antidumping duty respondent Dillinger France's normal books and records as facts otherwise available by reallocating production costs between prime and non-prime plate in the AD investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from France, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 15 opinion.
Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its subsidiary Corporacion Financiera Colombiana (Corficolombiana) will pay more than $60 million to settle allegations that the firms violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC and DOJ announced last week. The government alleged Corficolombiana bribed Colombian government officials to win a contract for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in the South American nation.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: