The Court of International Trade stayed all proceedings in a case against 14 individuals for a scheme to evade antidumping and countervailing duties until criminal charges also levied against eight of the defendants are settled, in an April 22 procedural order. The defendants allegedly evaded duties on off-the-road tires, passenger vehicle and light truck tires and truck and bus tires from China. The case in CIT has the government seeking $20.9 million in penalties for customs fraud and $5.6 million in unpaid duties for the eight individuals with criminal charges, as well as six other defendants and the Houston-based company Winland International, which does business as Super Tire. The Section 1582 penalty case alternatively seeks $12.5 million in penalties and $2.2 million in unpaid duties for gross negligence.

The U.S. Supreme Court found that the Federal Trade Commission does not have the authority to seek monetary relief from companies and individuals who engage in unfair or deceptive acts. Penning the unanimous April 22 decision, Justice Stephen Breyer pointed to a 1973 law that granted the commission the right to see preliminary or permanent injunctions against such behavior but did not establish the agency's right to seek monetary relief for the actions. The FTC has used the practice to reap billions of dollars from businesses and individuals allegedly conducting scams, the brief said.

The Department of Justice and defendant-intervenor American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance moved to strike part of Chinese cabinet exporter's argument in an antidumping case, claiming the exporter included a new argument in a court filing that was not part of the underlying investigation. In dual April 22 motions to strike in the Court of International Trade, both DOJ and the AKCA said the argument by the exporter, The Ancientree Cabinet Co., over the proper classification of its inputs for wooden cabinets and vanities in selecting surrogate values for an antidumping investigation from a nonmarket economy was not raised during oral argument. A lawyer associated with the case confirmed Ancientree will file a response to the motion to strike.

The Department of Justice intends to file a counterclaim seeking unpaid duties against an importer challenging the classification of its dried or bleached plant parts, according to a joint status report filed in the case April 21. Though Second Nature originally filed the 19 USC 1581(a) denied protest challenge, DOJ “is now in the process of seeking internal U.S. Government approval to assert counterclaims for underpaid duties on products imported under cover of the subject entries that were previously inaccurately or incompletely described by Plaintiff,” the status report said. Second Nature says it “will not consent to allow [DOJ] to amend its Answer to raise a counterclaim after years of litigation, noting under USCIT Rule 15 leave of Court would be required to allow such an amendment.” Second Nature is challenging classification of the dried or bleached plant parts that are painted, dyed or glittered as not dried or bleached at a 7% duty. If classified as dried or bleached, they would be duty free.

Wood importer Richmond International Forest Products launched a challenge in the Court of International Trade claiming its imports of hardwood plywood from Cambodia were erroneously deemed to be of Chinese origin by CBP. In an April 21 complaint, RIFP said its imports were improperly hit with antidumping and countervailing duties, Section 301 tariffs, Merchandise Processing Fees and additional Harbor Maintenance Fee. In addition, RIFP claims that CBP's failure to consider what it sees as key evidence violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the importer's Fifth Amendment rights of due process.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Judge Gary Katzmann denied a motion from solar panel industry groups to expedite discovery of what they believe to be a key petition in a case over the redaction of a tariff exemption for bifacial solar panels in an April 21 order. The plaintiffs asked to get the government defense to produce a “petition from a majority of the representatives of the domestic industry” upon which President Donald Trump supposedly based his decision to withdraw the tariff exemption. In denying the motion, Katzmann also stipulated that the plaintiffs have until May 5 to file their response to the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss the case.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

In dueling submissions to the Court of International Trade following oral arguments on April 19, DOJ and Ancientree made their final cases for the best surrogate country pick in the antidumping investigation on wooden cabinets and vanities from China. In a feud over whether Commerce should have picked Malaysia or Romania, the main contention was detailed financial statements versus more comparable producers in quantity and quality of product.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit vacated the sentencing of a Jordanian-born U.S. citizen for illicit arms dealings in guided surface-to-air missiles due to a venue error, in an April 12 opinion. Finding that the District Court for the Central District of California was not the proper court to challenge Rami Ghanem for the alleged conspiracy to deal the missiles, the 9th Circuit vacated the sentencing and remanded the case. Ghanem was first arrested in Greece, then extradited to New York, making the Eastern District of New York the proper home for the case, the 9th Circuit said.