The procedural stalemate in the Section 301 lawsuits inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade is traceable to Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu and his staff “really looking at everything very carefully,” Grunfeld Desiderio partner Ned Marshak said in an interview. His firm has filed about 800 of the 3,700 complaints, including a case filed Jan. 6 on behalf of flooring company R.A. Siegel based on a two-year statute of limitations running from a 2019 date of liquidation. All the complaints seek to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings and get the duties refunded. Most of the actions based timeliness within the two-year statute of limitations dating to when List 3 was published in the Federal Register or when the tariffs took effect on Sept. 24, 2018. Fewer based the two-year window on dating to when List 3 tariffs were first paid.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 28 - Jan. 3:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 21-27:

Glue manufacturer Chemence and its President James Cooke will pay $1.2 million to the Federal Trade Commission as part of a settlement in the use of deceptive “Made in USA” advertising claims, the FTC said in a Dec. 22 news release. The FTC said it is “the highest monetary judgment ever for a Made in USA case.” The agency said the company's marketing violated an FTC order that was a result of a previous settlement over the same issue after the agency sued Chemence (see 1602030032).

The U.S. Court of International Trade granted a Department of Justice motion requesting leave to file an updated “schedule of cases” related to the first-filed HMTX Industries-Jasco Products Section 301 complaint, according to Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu's Dec. 22 order in docket 1:20-cv-00177. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases, none of which have yet been assigned to an individual Judge,” DOJ said. Roughly 3,700 cases have inundated the court, all seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings on Chinese imports and refunding the duties. The plaintiffs that responded to DOJ’s Sept. 23 motion (see 2009240026) for case management procedures have “generally agreed” that the cases other than the first-filed HMTX-Jasco action “should be stayed while a test-case procedure is implemented,” DOJ said. A schedule of pending cases attached to the motion was updated Dec. 22 and now spans 194 pages, and includes actions filed through Dec. 21.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 14-20:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 7-13:

The Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently paved the way for an importer of Turkish steel to get Section 232 tariff refunds on Turkish steel paid as a result of a tariff increase in 2018, though CIT declined a request to compel immediate payment of the refunds.

A tire importer in Miami pleaded guilty to playing a role in a conspiracy to evade excise taxes on imported tires, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 10 news release. Marco Parra operated Road Tire Plus Corp., and from 2013 to 2016 he conspired “with others in the tire industry to evade paying federal excise taxes on truck tires marked for highway use,” Justice said. “Tire importers are responsible for excise taxes when their truck tires are sold to tire retailers, who then resell the tires domestically. Tire importers typically pass on the cost of the excise tax to tire retailers and collect the excise taxes from them. But, if the tires are later exported rather than sold domestically, the law provides for a credit for the excise taxes paid.”

The COVID-19 pandemic's “unprecedented complications” are making it impossible for CBP to be served summonses and complaints by certified or registered mail from many of the thousands of plaintiffs in the Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the Department of Justice said Dec. 9 in a motion to adopt alternative procedures for service. Staff in CBP’s chief counsel’s office “have been working under maximum telework conditions,” and some mail “has been returned to the sender as undeliverable,” it said. To resolve the issue, DOJ’s international trade field office “agrees to accept service of these documents on behalf of CBP,” it said. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases,” it said. DOJ included a list of 3,659 complaints, covering 193 pages, filed through Dec. 8. All the complaints seek to get the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariff rulemakings vacated and the duties refunded.