Importer Amsted Rail Co. and its Mexican maquiladora affiliate ASF-K Mexico returned a conflict of interest suit against their former counsel, Buchanan Ingersoll partner Daniel Pickard to the Court of International Trade. Filing another complaint at the trade court after previous claims against the Buchanan partner fell short for jurisdictional reasons, ARC said Pickard "betrayed" the company by using its information against it in an injury petition on freight rail couplers from Mexico and China (Amsted Rail Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00242).
The World Trade Organization's Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft on Nov. 17 agreed to Brazil's terms of accession to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, the WTO announced. Brazil will submit the agreement along with its commitments to the nation's National Congress for approval. Brazil originally submitted its application to accede to the deal in June 2022. Marcio Elias Rosa, Brazil's deputy minister and executive secretary of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, highlighted Brazil's "unwavering commitment to the principles of the WTO and the enhancement of international supply chain," WTO said.
Dispute settlement understanding talks among World Trade Organization members has been very "intense," though the large issues remain unresolved, Maria Pagan, deputy U.S. trade representative and chief of mission in the Geneva office, said Nov. 20. Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference, Pagan said discussions started by acknowledging the different parties' interests as opposed to putting text on the table and hashing out the deal.
Two British reinsurance brokers, Tysers Insurance Brokers Limited and H.W. Wood Limited, settled DOJ investigations on the companies' violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The charges arose out of the parts played by Tysers and H.W. Wood in a scheme to bribe Ecuadorian government officials "to obtain and retain reinsurance business with" Ecuadorian state-owned firms.
Importer PrimeSource Building Products told the Supreme Court on Nov. 20 that it's preserving its right to qualify for any relief the court may grant exporter Oman Fasteners in the company's case against President Donald Trump's expansion of Section 232 steel and aluminum duties onto "derivative" products. PrimeSource sent the letter to the court after its petition for certiorari was denied by the high court on Oct. 30 (see 2310300020). Despite this decision from the Supreme Court, Oman Fasteners pressed on in its bid for the court to take up its case in a separate action challenging the expansion of the duties (see 2311010052). Oman Fasteners argued against the "extreme deference doctrine" exhibited by the appellate court that "contradicts the statutory text and does violence to the separation of powers" (Oman Fasteners v. United States, Sup. Ct. # 23-432).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential Nov. 21 opinion remanded parts and sustained parts of the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on biodiesel from Indonesia. In a letter to litigants, Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until Nov. 30 to review the confidential information in the opinion, stating it's the court's intention to release a public version of the opinion "in the near future." In a previous opinion in the case, the court remanded Commerce's reliance on constructed value for sales not made through Indonesia's Public Service Obligation,saying it needed to be further explained (see 2207050064). The court also told Commerce to further explain its legal authority to make a CV adjustment to account for Renewable Identification Numbers (Wilmar Trading Pte Ltd. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 18-00121).
The Court of International Trade on Nov. 21 upheld the Commerce Department's order to CBP to assess antidumping duties on exporter Goodluck India's entries subject to the third administrative review of the antidumping duty order on cold-drawn mechanical tubing of carbon and alloy steel from India despite a previous order provisionally excluding the entries from the AD order. Judge Gary Katzmann found Goodluck's previous entries, but not the exporter itself, were excluded from the order.
Gary Locke, former U.S. commerce secretary and ambassador to China, has joined Dorsey & Whitney as a senior advisor in the Seattle office, the firm announced. Locke currently chairs Committee of 100, a "leading organization for Chinese Ameircans," and will help guide Dorsey's international practice, the firm said. Locke has a background in foreign direct investment, export controls, government relations and "cross-cultural diplomacy," the firm said.
The U.K. High Court in a decision released Nov. 15 said Senegalese oil trading company Der Mond Oil and Gas couldn't rely on sanctions as a reason for not paying Russian company Litasco SA for money due under an oil sale contract.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will create a "learning center" with the goal of educating local public school students at the court, Chief Judge Kimbelry Moore announced Nov. 20 at the Federal Circuit Bar Association's 2023 Annual Dinner & Reception. The center is expected to open in September 2024 and will feature tours of the courtroom's "historic spaces" along with interactive education programming centering on "the intersection between law and technology." The center will focus on combining "civic education, the judiciary, and STEM" and cap off a multiyear renovation of the National Courts complex, the court said.