John Foote, former chief of Kelley Drye's customs practice, has joined Sidley as a partner in the global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice, the firm announced. Foote, who worked at Kelley Drye since 2020, represents clients on various customs matters at both the administrative and judicial levels, including classification, valuation, country of origin, drawback, tariff exclusions, withhold release orders and antidumping/countervailing duty evasion issues, Sidley said. Prior to joining Kelley Drye, Foote worked as an associate and partner at Baker McKenzie for six years.
Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann granted the government's stay request in various cases before him, due to the federal government shutdown. The judge gave the U.S. five days to file a status report after the shutdown ends to propose revised deadlines for the cases. Katzmann's approach differs slightly from the other judges, who largely also stayed the cases in which the U.S. had requested a pause, though the judges gave the U.S. a range of seven to 14 days to file a status report (see 2510020051). Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves extended the government's deadlines "commensurate with the duration of the lapse in appropriations," while Judge Jane Restani was the only judge to deny the stay motions, writing that the U.S. can seek specific relief if a deadline looms before the end of the shutdown.
Court of International Trade Judge Thomas Aquilino is now an inactive judge at the trade court, CIT Clerk of Court Gina Justice confirmed to Trade Law Daily. Judge Mark Barnett reassigned the cases pending before Aquilino to other CIT judges. Justice said Aquilino, who was appointed to the court in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan, is "subject to recall if needed." The judge assumed senior status in 2004.
A Los Angeles-based wholesale clothing importer and two of its executives were sentenced on Sept. 29 for avoiding payment of over $8 million in customs duties on imported clothing and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 3 issued its mandate in an antidumping duty and countervailing duty scope case on importer Valeo North America's T-series aluminum sheet. In August, the Federal Circuit said the Commerce Department properly included Valeo's sheet in the scope of the AD/CVD orders on common alloy aluminum sheet from China (see 2508120034). The court disagreed with the importer as to the ambiguity in the orders' scope and on whether its aluminum sheet falls outside the orders' scope, since it's heat-treated (Valeo North America v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1189).
Importer Detroit Axle opposed the government's motions for an extension of time to respond to the company's motions for leave to amend its complaint and for partial summary judgment in its case against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis threshold for goods from China. Detroit Axle said the U.S. "has failed to establish 'good cause'" for being given another 35 days to respond to the motions to amend and for partial summary judgment if the Court of International Trade dissolves the stay of the case (Axle of Dearborn d/b/a Detroit Axle v. United States, CIT # 25-00091).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 30 vacated a decision from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to "switch to a new system for mitigating the risk of a pest outbreak caused by imported Chilean table grapes." Judge Amir Ali held that the action was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (California Table Grape Commission v. U.S. Dep't of Ag., D.D.C. # 24-02645).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 2 scheduled a pair of cases for oral argument on Nov. 4 regarding the International Trade Commission's policy of redacting business proprietary information in questionnaire responses. The court said the two sides, which are the ITC and two court-appointed amici, will each get 20 minutes, with the two amici -- patent attorney Andrew Dhuey and Alex Moss, the executive director of the Public Interest Patent Law Institute -- splitting their 20 minutes (In Re United States, Fed. Cir. #s 24-1566, 25-127).
The Court of International Trade's ruling that a product is "imported" for duty drawback purposes when it's admitted into a foreign-trade zone and not when entered for domestic consumption would lead to a partial repeal of the FTZ Act, importer King Maker Marketing argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. King Maker said the trade court's decision would lead to "absurd and anomalous results," since it would require finding the clock for drawback claims to start before the right to make the claim accrues (King Maker Marketing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1819).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 1 appointed two new members to the court's advisory council. Judge Kimberly Moore appointed Gabriel Bell, the head of Latham & Watkins' intellectual property appellate practice, and Kathi Vidal, partner at Winston & Strawn and leading IP litigator. Moore also reappointed Michelle Klancnik, assistant general counsel at the International Trade Commission, and Sonal Mehta, partner at WilmerHale, members to the council. All four will serve three-year terms, starting Oct. 1.