The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade set a briefing schedule in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on mattresses from Thailand following the departure of respondent Saffron Living Co. from the case. Plaintiffs, led by U.S. company Brooklyn Bedding, are to compile and serve their soft appendix within seven days of the Oct. 6 order and then are to file their comments on the Commerce Department's remand results within seven days of the appendix being filed. The U.S. will file its response no later than 15 days after the remand comments (Brooklyn Bedding v. U.S., CIT # 21-00285).
The U.S. filed a consent motion for 21 more days to file a motion to dismiss a case from International Rights Advocates seeking to compel DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller to respond to allegations that cocoa imports from Cote d'Ivore were made with forced labor. If granted, the motion to dismiss would be due Nov. 6 (International Rights Advocates v. Mayorkas, CIT # 23-00165).
Commerce has wide discretion to change how it defines how a subsidy is specific in countervailing duty cases, countervailing duty petitioners led by Ellwood City Forge Co. said in Oct. 6 remand comments at the Court of International Trade that argued in favor of Commerce's continued finding in a CVD investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks that Germany's KAV program was de jure specific (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).
Importer Spirit Aerosystems' reading of the statute pertaining to its drawback claim for unused substitution drawback would lead to "unpredictable and often absurd results," the U.S. said in an Oct. 6 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Spirit's argument that CBP's implementation of the statute "misconstrues basic tariff terms, renders entire sections" of the law "inoperative, and requires the omission of certain words from the drawback statute," the government claimed (Spirit Aerosystems v. United States, CIT # 20-00094).
Lydia Childre, former international trade and logistics senior associate at Venable, has joined boutique trade law firm Lighthill, the firm announced on LinkedIn. Childre worked at Venable for nearly two years after serving as a senior project adviser on Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. Her practice at Lighthill will center on "national security and trade policy," the firm said. Lighthill was founded earlier this year by former Crowell & Moring attorney John Anwesen (see 2307050026).
The World Trade Organization's Chief Economist Ralph Ossa dropped his outlook for world trade growth by over half for the remainder of the year, predicting that world merchandise trade volume growth will be at a 0.8% rate instead of a 1.7% rate. Issuing a report on Oct. 5, Ossa noted that the outlook for 2024 remains steady and "relatively strong." For next year, trade growth is expected to sit at 3.3% -- a slight bump from previous estimates of 3.2%.
The U.S. asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 5 for 14 more days to file its reply brief in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on utility scale wind towers from Canada. The government said a second extension -- the first was 58 days long -- is required by its heavy workload in other matters. All the parties consented to the motion, though Jay Campbell, counsel for appellants led by Marmen Inc., said the companies believe that an extension is unwarranted, given the first, 58-day, extension (Marmen v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1877).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia adopted an amended briefing schedule in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's case against three of her colleagues pertaining to their fitness investigation of the 96-year-old judge (Hon. Pauline Newman v. Hon. Kimberly Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
The Court of International Trade in an Oct. 4 order granted a consent motion to remove antidumping duty respondent Saffron Living Co. from a case on the AD investigation on mattresses from Thailand. Per the motion to remove, Saffron said it withdrew from participation in the underlying AD investigation and "has thus concluded that continued participation in this appeal is no longer in its commercial interests" (Brooklyn Bedding. et al. v. United States, CIT # 21-00285).