The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 18-24:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 11-17:

Queen Apparel NY, and its sole owner, Hank Hyunho Choi, agreed to pay $50,000 and cease all future importing activities due to fraudulent underreporting of imports to evade customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said. Queen and Choi admitted to falsifying customs documents to skirt the import duties, leading to the settlement. The company made and imported garments for other companies that would then sell those garments through department stores and retail chains in the U.S., the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Choi managed the business. From 2009 to 2013, Choi and his company made the garments overseas, brought them to the U.S. and then repeatedly undervalued the shipments on customs forms to evade paying the proper amount of duties. This conduct was discovered via a whistleblower who filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The case was settled, with the eventual agreement containing admissions from Queen and Choi about the nature of their business and conduct during the relevant time period.

The Court of International Trade granted the Department of Justice's motion to stay a case challenging the expansion of Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum “derivatives,” in an Oct. 14 order, due in part to the defendant's likelihood of succeeding on appeal. Finding that a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion indicates DOJ's chances of success at the appellate court, CIT also stayed any resulting liquidation but noted that the fact pattern in the present case reads differently from that of the recent Federal Circuit case.

An importer’s lawsuit against its customs broker for the broker’s alleged failure to stay on top of issues related to some FDA-regulated entries will continue, after a judge of the Western Washington U.S. District Court declined to halt the discovery process in the case. The broker says its terms and conditions cut its liability to a mere $200, but the judge said the importer’s arguments that those liability limits are invalid could be bolstered by more evidence.

A customs broker exam taker who is appealing his failing score is asking the Court of International Trade to overturn CBP’s denial of credit for seven questions from the April 2018 test. In a brief filed Oct. 1, Byungmin Chae says CBP erroneously graded his customs broker exam, denying him a broker license on its mistaken finding that he did not score 75 percent or higher.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 3:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 20-26:

George Iloulian, CEO of apparel company Delta Uniforms of New York, skimped on import duties by understating the true value of his company's imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said. Arrested on Sept. 23, Iloulian was then presented in Manhattan federal court where the civil fraud lawsuit was unsealed. Iloulian is accused of violating the False Claims Act by lying on entry documents submitted to CBP.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 13-19: