The Court of International Trade remanded several aspects of the antidumping investigation on multilayered wood flooring from China (A-570-970) for agency reconsideration, including valuation of several surrogate inputs for Chinese companies Layo and Samling, as well as the way Commerce applied its targeted dumping analysis. Remands on several issues were requested by Commerce, and were granted despite opposition from domestic industry.

A Texas man pleaded guilty July 29 to presenting false information to customs officers, said a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York. Mark Logan, 63, was President of Nevada Classics, a classic car dealership in Las Vegas. As president, Logan facilitated the sale and transportation of a 1957 replica Shelby Cobra automobile from a Canadian seller to a buyer in the U.S., the U.S. Attorney’s office said. A contractor named William Corum was then paid by the buyer to transport the vehicle across the U.S. border with Nevada Classics dealer license plates. In order to circumvent restrictions, Logan told Corum to tell CBP officers that the vehicle was being transported into the U.S. for one day to be in a car show, said the U.S. attorney. Under suspicion that the car was being illegally imported for sale, officers investigated the matter further and seized the vehicle, worth about $85,000. Logan was sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied (here) on July 26 an International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association petition to revisit a challenge to the Department of Transportation’s pilot program that allows Mexican trucking companies to operate in the U.S. After the case was argued in December, the court decided to uphold the program on April 19 (see 13042201). The July 26 ruling also included an amendment to the opinion.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 26 denied a request from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association seeking a review of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rule that requires U.S.-based drivers -- but not drivers based in Mexico or Canada -- to obtain medical certificates. While, unlike the U.S., "Mexico and Canada incorporate physical fitness criteria as part of their licensing regimes," the statutory requirements being implemented from the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act do not call for such an exemption, the OOIDA argued.

In a tariff classification case on clocks that forecast the weather (or meteorological instruments that tell the time), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 25 voided the judgments of both the lower court and CBP, finding in favor of importer La Crosse Technology. The dispute centered on whether the devices should be classified as clocks, thermometers/barometers/hygrometers, or meteorological instruments. CBP had said they’re all clocks, while the Court of International Trade had classified various models in each of the three categories. La Crosse on appeal argued the devices should all be classified as meteorological instruments because that subheading fully describes them. The appeals court agreed, but for different reasons.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld on July 23 the legality of the Security and Exchange Commission’s 2012 conflict minerals rule, in the face of a challenge brought by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, and Business Roundtable. The regulation, which took effect in November 2012, requires users of minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product to disclose annually whether any of those minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country (see 12082308).

Colorado U.S. District Court Judge William Martinez ordered Executive Recycling to pay $4.5 million, and its owner and chief executive officer Brandon Richter to serve 30 months in federal prison, for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently export electronic waste despite telling their clients it would be recycled domestically. The judge also ordered Richter to pay a $7,500 fine and $70,144 in restitution, as well as $142,241.10 in asset forfeiture.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root liable for penalties resulting from kickbacks paid by employees of two freight forwarders to win and maintain federal subcontracts. The decision reverses the Eastern Texas U.S. District Court’s finding that double penalties for knowing violations of the Anti-Kickback Act by employees don’t vicariously apply to the employer.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision awarding the Amera-Seiki Corporation insurance money for a piece of industrial equipment it imported that was damaged at the Port of Los Angeles. The Northern Iowa District Court had ruled that The Cincinnati Insurance Company had to pay out $337,025.50 plus prejudgment interest to cover the loss.

In a suit brought by a group of death row inmates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 23 affirmed a lower court decision that the Food and Drug Administration is violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by allowing imports of misbranded and unapproved sodium thiopental by state correctional departments for use in lethal injections. FDA argued it had discretion to enforce import provisions of the FD&C Act as it saw fit, without being subject to judicial review. But both the D.C. District Court and the appeals court found the FD&C Act clearly requires FDA to refuse admission to misbranded and unapproved new drugs, so the matter is not up to agency discretion.