The Commerce Department cannot ignore a Court of International Trade's ruling that the evidence on which the agency relied to issue a scope ruling was not valid in its scope redetermination, the Department of Justice said in a Feb. 4 brief. Replying to defendant-intervenor ASC Engineered Solutions' comments on Commerce's decision to exclude certain flanges from the scope of the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China, DOJ said that while it initially agreed with ASC's arguments, it cannot simply disregard the court's decision (MCC Holdings dba Crane Resistoflex v. U.S., CIT #18-00248).
The Court of International Trade reported that it settled all issues via mediation in two cases over the Commerce Department's denial of Section 232 exclusion requests. The mediation, held by Judge Leo Gordon, was ordered after the consolidated plaintiffs' request for a status conference was denied as moot. The plaintiffs wanted the status conference to discuss the availability of a remedy for already-liquidated entries, but the specifics of mediation were not made known (N. Am. Interpipe, Inc. v. U.S., CIT #20-03825) (Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, et al. v. U.S., CIT #20-03923).
CBP took exporter LB Wood Cambodia's statements "completely out of context" in an "unceasing attempt to crucify" the company in an antidumping and countervailing duty evasion investigation, plaintiff-intervenor Interglobal said in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade. CBP ascribed "the worst possible motives" to all the parties to the litigation, including LB Wood, and used "its own misstated presumption as grounds for pole-vaulting" to the conclusion that any evidence that undermines the agency's decisions is "inherently suspect," the brief said (American Pacific Plywood v. U.S., CIT #20-03914).
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should reconsider its wrongfully decided opinion finding that the Commerce Department cannot make a particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test in antidumping duty proceedings, three defendant-appellants told the Federal Circuit in a Feb. 2 brief. Seeking a full court hearing, Atlas Tube, Searing Industries and Nucor Tubular Products said that the decision violates D.C. Circuit precedents over the "operation of ordinary canons of statutory construction in the administrative law context," and the Federal Circuit's precedents over deference afforded to Commerce (Dong-A Steel Company v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2153).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Steel company Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Company, plaintiff in an antidumping scope challenge, signed off on the Commerce Department's remand results excluding the exporter's dual-stenciled pipe from the scope of the order. In October, the Court of International Trade said that Commerce was wrong to include the dual-stenciled pipe in the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand, seeing as there was no International Trade Commission injury determination on line pipe from Thailand (see 2110070029). On remand, Commerce excluded dual-stenciled pipe from the order under respectful protest. Saha Thai said these results comply with the court's orders and should be sustained (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Company, Limited v. United States, CIT #20-00133).
State marijuana legalization laws do not create an exemption to the federal ban on importation of drug paraphernalia, the Department of Justice said in a Jan. 31 filing at the Court of International Trade. Arguing against an importer's motion for judgment in the case, as well as its own cross-motion for judgment in November (see 2111100047), DOJ says an exemption from the federal ban at 21 USC 863 for any "person authorized by local, state, or federal law to manufacture, possess, or distribute such item" is not triggered by state laws that legalize marijuana across the board (Eteros Technologies USA v. United States, CIT #21-00287).
The Court of International Trade should throw out Wheatland Tube's case intended to compel CBP to respond to the company's requests for information and a tariff classification ruling because Wheatland has received all the relief to which it is legally entitled, the Department of Justice said in a Feb. 2 motion to dismiss the case. CBP has already responded to this RFI and the petition for a tariff classification ruling over the company's electrical conduits from Mexico, DOJ said. CBP also told Wheatland it agrees with the company's stance on the correct classification of its steel conduit pipe and was defending this position in separate litigation (Wheatland Tube Co. v. United States, CIT #22-00004).
The Court of International Trade properly found that there was no statutory basis for conducting expedited countervailing duty reviews, plaintiff-appellee Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Jan. 31 reply brief. The language in certain sections of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act doesn't establish that Congress "clearly and unambiguously" meant for Commerce to set up CVD expedited review procedures, the committee said (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1021).
OtterBox filed a complaint with the Court of International Trade on Feb. 1, seeking to reclaim interest on tariffs it paid as part of prior disclosures on entries that have since been reclassified in its favor. Ottberbox argues that CBP has incorrectly withheld interest when returning overpayments after CIT ruled in OtterBox's favor in a tariff classification case on cellphone cases. The complaint accuses CBP of stalling in its obligation to “refund all duties overpaid, plus interest, as provided by law.”