The U.S. on Sept. 18 brought various claims against the two Singaporean businesses that owned and operated the vessel that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, DOJ announced. The lawsuit looks to recover over $100 million in costs the U.S. incurred over the course of its response to the "fatal disaster" and for "clearing the entangled wreck and bridge debris from the navigable channel so the port could reopen" (In the Matter of the Petition of Grace Ocean Private Limited, D. Md. # 24-00941).

The U.S. told the Court of International Trade on Sept. 18 that CBP seized an entry of 7-keto dehydroepiandrosterone at issue in a suit brought by importer UniChem Enterprises (UniChem Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 24-00033).

A petitioner supported the U.S. argument (see 2408230020) that the Commerce Department correctly calculated a Canadian lumber review respondent’s costs under the transactions disregarded rule. The Sept. 10 reply brief comes as part of a wide-branching case whose parties include the government of Canada (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00187).

The U.S. pushed back against a paint nozzle importer Sept. 17 in a response to a motion for judgment in which the importer argued one if its products -- parts of spray nozzles intended to control the flow of liquid paint -- fell into a heat sink manifold exclusion in an antidumping duty order on aluminum extrusions from China (Wagner Spray Tech Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00241).

Three grape grower trade groups filed a complaint on Sept. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the Agriculture Department's notice allowing table grapes from Chile to be imported under a "systems approach" as opposed to using the standard fumigation requirements (California Table Grape Commission v. United States Department of Agriculture, D.D.C. # 24-02645).

The Commerce Department erred in treating fees exporter Finieco Industria e Comercio de Embalagens paid to a U.S. company as a direct expense in the antidumping duty investigation on paper shopping bags from Portugal, Finieco said in a Sept. 17 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Finieco Industria e Comercio de Embalagens v. U.S., CIT # 24-00160).

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 18 sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to weight average zero percent and adverse facts available antidumping rates to set the rate for the non-individually examined respondents in the 2016-17 review of the AD order on multilayered wood flooring from China.

Exporter ULMA Forja, S.Coop filed a complaint on Sept. 17 at the Court of International Trade to contest the Commerce Department's differential pricing analysis in the 2022-23 review of the antidumping duty order on finished carbon steel flanges from Spain (ULMA Forja, S.Coop v. United States, CIT # 24-00162).

The U.S. in a Sept. 13 brief defended the Commerce Department's finding that the South Korean government's provision of electricity was de facto specific and also its decision to countervail the full allotment of carbon emissions permits under the Korean cap-and-trade program in the 2021 review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea (POSCO v. United States, CIT # 24-00006).

The U.S. and Kevin Ho, owner and director of importer Atria, have agreed to try and resolve a customs penalty action via stipulated judgment and are now working to negotiate a number Ho will pay, the parties said in a Sept. 16 status report. The development comes after Ho pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal proceeding in which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison (United States v. Chu-Chiang "Kevin" Ho, CIT # 19-00038).