Building Material Distributors, Inc., consolidated plaintiff in an antidumping case in the Court of International Trade, will appeal the court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to an Aug. 9 notice of appeal (Xi'An Metals & Minerals Import & Export Co., Ltd., et al. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #20-00103). The case was over the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel nails from China in which the Commerce Department applied total adverse facts available. BMD will appeal CIT's contention that Commerce had the right to apply total AFA for a mandatory respondent's failure to provide its factors of production data on a control number-specific basis (see 2106090048).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut denied Arif Durrani's "frivolous" motion to vacate his 34-year-old conviction and sentence, in an Aug. 3 order. Durrani was convicted in 1987 of violating the Arms Export Control Act by shipping Hawk missile parts to Iran without a license. The issues raised in his September 2020 motion to vacate "have been exhaustively addressed -- and rejected -- in prior motions brought by Durrani," the court said. Durrani also has served his prison sentence. "Moreover, as the government notes, to the extent Durrani’s petition is construed as one under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, it necessarily fails because Durrani is no longer 'in custody' as required under the statute," the order said (Arif Durrani v. United States, D. Conn. #20-01373).

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied, in part, and declared moot, in part, a Michigan-based car importer's challenge to two titling requirements imposed by the state of Ohio, in an Aug. 3 opinion. Judge Edmund Sargus found the challenge to a bond release letter requirement to be moot given the requirement was already lifted and that the claim against in-state inspection requirements fails since the regulation does not discriminate against out-of-state interests.

The Commerce Department correctly relied on data from Xeneta XS over Maersk Line when calculating the respondent's surrogate ocean freight expenses in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade said in an Aug. 10 opinion. Judge Claire Kelly sustained the remand results after twice remanding them, finding substantial evidence backing the second redetermination.

The U.S. government will appeal a Court of International Trade decision striking down the expansion of Section 232 national security tariffs to cover steel "derivatives" products to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to an Aug. 7 notice of appeal. The decision, in a case brought by Oman Fasteners, found that the president illicitly announced the tariff expansion after a procedurally required 105-day deadline laid out in the Section 232 statute (see 2106110022). The decision in Oman Fasteners came after the court had already found the tariff expansion to be illegal. That case, PrimeSource Building Products, Inc. v. U.S., is already making its way through the Federal Circuit (see 2106170058) (Oman Fasteners, LLC, et al. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #20-00037).

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

The Court of International Trade should deny the U.S.'s motion for remand in an antidumping case since it is unclear whether the court has the authority, plaintiff Pirelli Tyre Co. said in an Aug. 9 brief. Since the proposed reasoning for the voluntary remand revolves around the conduct of a company not party to the case, the court may not have the legal authority to issue such a remand, Pirelli said. Even with such authority, the remand should not be permitted since it is not necessary to achieve the U.S.'s objective and would harm Pirelli's interests, the plaintiff said (Pirelli Tyre Co., Ltd. et al. v. U.S., CIT #20-00115).

The Commerce Department's remand results in a countervailing duty investigation did not comply with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's opinion, plaintiff Nucor Corporation said in Aug. 6 comments filed in the Court of International Trade. The remand results "articulate but don't properly apply a standard that would comply with the statutory adequate remuneration standard," Nucor said, opposing Commerce's finding that the South Korean government did not provide a subsidy to producers of hot-rolled steel via cheap electricity (POSCO v. United States, CIT #17-00137).

The Court of International Trade granted on Aug. 6 a consent motion to stay in a case brought by World Wide Packaging in which the company challenged CBP's appraisal of its imports of plastic tubes and caps from China based on the post-importation sale to its downstream U.S. customers. In its motion to stay, World Wide Packaging urged the court to grant its request following a meeting between counsel for the plaintiff and the Department of Justice. "Over the past week, counsel to Plaintiff and Defendant have discussed whether this appeal is susceptible to a stipulated judgment," the motion said. "The parties have agreed to continue these discussions in the weeks ahead. Plaintiff also intends to share a proposed stipulated judgment with Defendant in an effort to reach a negotiated solution. Defendant’s counsel will require time to vet the proposal with his client. Plaintiff’s counsel will also need time to review with their client any competing proposal from Defendant." Lars-Erik Hjelm and Devin Sikes of Akin Gump met with Peter Mancuso of DOJ in the meeting. In return, the court granted the stay until Feb. 7, 2022 (World Wide Packaging, LLC v. U.S., CIT #21-00189).

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