The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 2-8:

BIS is denying export privileges for six individuals for export control law violations, the agency said. BIS denied export privileges for Tayabi Hussain until Oct. 3, 2026 for exporting optical and telescopic equipment and several sets of gas turbine mobile generators from the U.S. to Iran; Shehzad John until Aug. 1, 2026, for exporting to Pakistan an optical scope, laser aimer, laser sight and an AR-15 30 mm red dot sight without the required Commerce Department licenses; Shantia Hassanshahi until Dec. 12, 2021, for conspiring to export "goods and technology" from Canada to Iran without the required Office of Foreign Assets Control license; BIS is also denying export privilidges for Robert Shubert until Oct. 15, 2024, for exporting dual-sensor night vision goggles from the U.S. to Japan without required State Department licenses; Mark Henry until Nov. 19, 2025, for exporting to Taiwan "ablative materials for use, among other things, as a protective coating for rocket nozzles," designated on the U.S. Munitions List (USML), without the required State license; and John Stribling until July 6, 2021, for exporting to Indonesia two pistols and two rifles designated on the USML without required State licenses.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 25 - Oct. 1:

The Supreme Court on Oct. 2 declined to hear an appeal of a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuits may be filed for failure to pay marking duties on unmarked or improperly marked imports. A lower court had in 2015 dismissed the lawsuit (see 1504290070), filed against the pipe fitting importer Victaulic by Customs Fraud Investigations, a company founded to investigate customs fraud, before it was resurrected by the appeals court (see 1610060030). Victaulic subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied certiorari in the case without comment.

The Justice Department settled a fraud lawsuit involving customs duty evasion with Notations, a garment wholesaler, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in an Oct. 3 news release. The wholesaler, Notations, will pay $1 million in damages and implement compliance measures as part of the settlement, it said. The DOJ filed a civil suit last year against Notations and an importer, Yingshun Garments (see 1609280038).

The Court of International Trade will end its reserve calendar procedures, in a change to its rules that takes effect Oct. 23. The amendment to CIT rule 83 creates a new “Customs Case Management Calendar” for challenges of protests denied by CBP, with a hard 24-month time limit, extendable to 48 months, unless the case is assigned, a complaint is filed, the case is consolidated, the case is suspended under a test case, or the case is voluntarily dismissed.

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

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

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 15 denied another bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a gray market importer challenging Lever-Rule protections recently granted to Duracell Batteries (see 1701270015). This time calling the importer by its real name, Milecrest Corporation, after recently finding the company was not allowed to use the pseudonym XYZ Corporation (see 1709130007), CIT again ruled that Lever-Rule determinations to restrict imports of gray market goods may be considered customs rulings challengeable at the trade court. Duracell, which has intervened in the case on the side of the government and filed the motion to dismiss, did not raise any new issues “that would invalidate the court’s previous opinion regarding jurisdiction” issued in July in response to the government’s earlier motion (see 1707240031), CIT said.

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 15 again ruled that filing for bankruptcy does not stop the government from pursuing Section 1592 penalty cases against importers in court. Mirroring a ruling issued by a different CIT judge in August (see 1708110027), CIT Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that Section 1592 has the legitimate public policy purpose of deterring customs fraud and encouraging accurate completion of entry documents. That means it qualifies for the public policy exemption from the automatic stay of claims on debtors during bankruptcy protection, she said. The purpose of the lawsuit is also to fix penalties, rather than collect them, seeing that the court still has a final say in the penalty amount, the court said. In the case, filed in February, the government alleges Greenlight Organic fraudulently imported athletic wearing apparel. Greenlight Organic filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada in July.