The Court of International Trade granted three wildlife advocacy groups' voluntary dismissal of a case seeking an import ban on fisheries from nine countries after the groups reached a settlement with the U.S. government. Judge Gary Katzmann dropped the case, though he retained jurisdiction over the matter to oversee implementation of the settlement, at the parties' request.
California-based importer Evolutions Flooring and its owners, Mengya Lin and Jin Qian, agreed to settle claims they violated the False Claims Act by "knowingly and improperly evading customs duties" on multilayered wood flooring from China, DOJ announced. DOJ said the company and its owners will pay $8.1 million to settle the case, noting that whistleblower Urban Global will receive around $1.2 million of the proceeds.
The European Commission will delay its first wave of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. from April 1 until mid-April, commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement March 20. Gill said the tariffs were delayed to "align the timing" of the EU's two sets of retaliatory actions announced last month (see 2503120042).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 10-16:
Trade and patent attorney James Jeffries has rejoined Kutak Rock as an attorney in the intellectual property and corporate practice group, the firm announced. Jeffries worked as chief legal officer at Kuat Innovations from 2021 to 2025 after initially working for Kutak Rock as an attorney and partner from 2018 to 2021. At Kutak, Jeffries will work on trademark and patent matters, along with customs and international trade issues, including tariff exposure mitigation and vendor relationship structuring.
The entire international trade practice of Curtis Mallet-Prevost has joined Pillsbury Winthrop, Pillsbury announced on March 17. Led by partners Daniel Porter, Matthew McCullough and James Durling, the 14-member trade team will greatly expand Pillsbury's international trade practice, the firm said. Porter was the head of Curtis' trade practice, initially joining the firm in 2012.
A federal court in the District of Columbia last week dismissed a suit against U.S. personal care product giant Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Ansell Healthcare Products, which alleged that the companies knowingly benefited from taking part in a venture that engaged in forced labor. Judge Carl Michols held that Kimberly-Clark and Ansell didn't take part in a venture and didn't have the "requisite knowledge" to establish liability under the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act (Mohammed Forhad Mia, et al. v. Kimberly-Clark, et al., D.D.C. # 1:22-02353).
Jane Dempsey, former attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the International Trade Commission, has joined Polsinelli as counsel in the trade remedies practice, the firm said. At the ITC, Dempsey served as lead counsel in trade remedies litigation before the Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
A State Department notice declaring that all agency efforts to control international trade now constitute a "foreign affairs function" of the U.S. under the Administrative Procedure Act will ultimately be subject to the discretion of the courts, trade lawyers told us.
Four Indonesian citizens filed suit on March 12 in a California federal court alleging that tuna seller Bumble Bee Foods violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by knowingly benefiting from a venture that engaged in forced labor. The four individuals -- Akhmad, Angga and Muhammad Sahrudin and Muhammad Syafi'i -- said they worked as laborers on longline fishing vessels that Bumble Bee sourced its albacore tuna from and alleged that the company knowingly benefited from their forced labor (Akhmad Sahrudin v. Bumblee Bee Foods, S.D. Cal. # 3:25-00583).