The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 22-28:

Canadian textile company Tricots Liesse 1983 must pay its surety, Aegis Security Insurance, $768,916.53 along with legal fees for a customs bond payment that Aegis made on Tricots' behalf to cover unpaid duties on textile imports. Tricots must reimburse Aegis after Tricots failed to object to Aegis' motion for a quick ruling on the facts of the case, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Feb. 26 summary judgment. While the bond payment amount is not under dispute, Judge Richard Eaton did not accept Aegis' quote for its legal fees and ordered the surety to provide additional evidence of how much it is owed in attorney's fees, costs and expenses. Aegis initially submitted attorney time sheets on Aegis letterhead, claiming over $92,000 in legal fees that the court deemed did not meet the evidentiary standard for reimbursement. The lawyer for Tricots withdrew from the case Sept. 23, 2020.

Keirton USA Inc., a manufacturer based in Washington state, filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, calling for CBP to stop seizing, denying entry to or detaining any of the company's products. The company makes machinery used to harvest hemp, kale, hops and other farm goods and has had continued troubles with CBP dating back to 2012, with the real issues beginning in May 2020. Keirton's flagship product is the Twister Trimmer -- a cannabis and hemp trimmer that the company assures is only used in a legal capacity.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 15-21:

Some major publishing houses, along with several other smaller publishers, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legality of List 4A of the Section 301 tariffs on China goods. In a Feb. 17 filing, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, with others, said the 10% tariff extension to more than $120 billion in List 4A goods violated the Administrative Procedure Act -- a legal theory used by more than 3,500 other companies in similar cases against the tariffs. Also party to the suit are Bloomsbury Publishing, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Holtzbrinck Publishers, Storey Publishing, Teacher Created Materials, The Experiment, Timber Press and Workman Publishing.

The Court of International Trade ordered the Commerce Department to reconsider its determination that certain hardwood plywood with outer veneers of radiata or agathis pine is circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China. CIT Judge Jane Restani found that Commerce had insufficient evidence to prove that the type of plywood in question was developed after the duties were imposed, in a Feb. 18 decision.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered the delay of a ban on imports of a rival product to Allergan's Botox. The day before the 21-month limited exclusion order was to take effect on South Korean company Daewoong Pharmaceutical's anti-wrinkle treatment Jeuveau, the court temporarily halted the International Trade Commission's ban while the case is being heard. Any oppositions to the motion -- a position held by Allergan and its Korean partner Medytox -- are due by March 2, and any support of the delay must be submitted by March 5. The exclusion order stems from an ITC investigation into allegations that imports of botulinum toxin products violate Section 337 by way of theft of Medytox's and Allergan's trade secrets (see 1903080013). Daewoong and its U.S. subsidiary Evolus oppose the ban, claiming that the ITC has weaponized these investigations against rival manufacturers even when no violation of U.S. law has been committed. “Evolus is pleased with this decision as it allows us to continue to sell Jeuveau® to our customers without interruption,” a spokesperson for Evolus said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb.8-14:

TCL Communication Technology Holdings’ North American smartphone subsidiary became one of the largest importers to join the massive Section 301 litigation when it filed a complaint Feb. 12 in the Court of International Trade. Like the roughly 3,500 other lawsuits inundating the court, TCT Mobile (US) seeks to get the lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese goods vacated and the duties refunded with interest. TCT's claims “accrued with each and every entry of products” with List 3 or List 4A tariff exposure, the company said. The “instant action” was filed within two years of the date that TCT paid the lists 3 and 4A duties, it said, satisfying the court’s two-year statute of limitations on the timeliness of complaints.

Importer E.G. Plastics failed to pay antidumping duties on 25 entries of polyethylene retail carrier bags and now must pay $1.1 million plus pre-judgment interest. Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann issued a default judgment against E.G. Plastics after the company failed to defend itself in court against allegations that it failed to pay the duties on bags imported between 2008 and 2009. “Because E.G. Plastics failed to protest the liquidations of the entries at issue and E.G. Plastics failed to appear, plead, or otherwise defend itself in this action, the court grants the Government’s motion for default judgment,” the decision said.