The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
CIT Sends Back Parts, Upholds Parts of AD Review on Wood Flooring From China in Confidential Opinion
The Court of International Trade in a confidential opinion upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. In a letter to litigants, Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until May 12 to review the confidential information in the opinion and respond.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government's motion for leave to correct parts of two statements it made in a now-concluded case on tobacco excise taxes for cigar wrappers. The U.S. said samples of the goods relied on in the case were taken from a specific entry when they were not, adding that it has identified the source of six of the nine samples considered by the court. While importer and appellant New Image Global never raised the source of the samples as a concern, the company filed two related complaints at the Court of International Trade alleging for the first time that the lab reports were false and unreliable (see 2210310062). As a result, the U.S. asked the court for leave to withdraw the two statements that inaccurately describe the entries "out of a deep commitment to transparency and candor" (see 2304240043). The court granted the motion without prejudice to further proceedings before CIT (New Image Global v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 19-2444).
The Commerce Department will not consider arguments for a particular market situation that are devoid of quantifiable data, the agency said as part of a proposed update to its antidumping duty regulations. While Commerce acknowledged that it legally can consider non-quantifiable data per the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in NEXTEEL v. U.S. (see 2304200048), the agency said it finds such arguments "typically unhelpful" to its analysis, proposing to not be required to consider them in determining whether a PMS exists. Commerce added that it will not be required to consider "speculative costs or prices" as well.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will drop SunPower Manufacturing Oregon from an appeal of the case on the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on solar cells from China if the company does not enter an entry of appearance within 14 days. John Magnus, counsel for SunPower, told Trade Law Daily that the company did not participate in the proceedings at the Court of International Trade and shouldn't have been included as a party in the appeal before the Federal Circuit. In the case, the Commerce Department set surrogate values for silver paste, while revising its use of adverse facts available, choosing to use partial neutral facts available (see 2301050026) (Risen Energy Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1550).
The Commerce Department applied a more lenient standard to antidumping duty petitioner Nucor Tubular Products by accepting a correction to a ministerial error that was raised only after the final results in the 2018-19 administrative review of the AD order on heavy walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes from Mexico was issued, respondent Maquilacero argued in comments to the Court of International Trade on Commerce's remand results accepting the correction (Nucor Tubular Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00543).
The Court of International Trade denied countervailing duty petitioner Nucor Corp.'s motion for a stay in a case involving the 2019 administrative review of the CVD order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. Judge Mark Barnett said the court ruled on a similar stay request in a different case also brought by Nucor, finding in both instances that "Nucor's desire to avoid duplicative efforts is not the type of 'pressing need' meriting an indefinite stay" (Nucor Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00003).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a motion from plaintiff-appellants, led by Spanish olive growers Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa, to get an additional 1,500 words to file in their reply brief in a case concerning the countervailing duty investigation on the ripe olives from Spain. Judge Kara Stoll told the olive growers that their brief is not to exceed 7,000 words and is due within 21 days. The olive growers asked for the additional words due to the "complexity of the issues presented in this appeal and the fact-specific nature of the arguments raised by the other parties" (see 2304170032) (Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1162).
CBP ignored Congress' "unambiguous express statutory command when it failed to distribute" interest assessed after liquidation, known as delinquency interest, under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, appellant Monterey Mushrooms said in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Adee Honey Farms, et al. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2105).