On December 22, 2011, the American Trucking Associations filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s holding in ATA’s challenge to the Port of Los Angeles concession program requirements. Although ATA prevailed on the primary issue in the case, securing a ruling striking down the Port’s independent contractor ban, other components of the program were upheld which ATA is appealing.

The Court of International Trade has ruled, due to untimely claims, it cannot grant relief to two companies that sought refunds of EU beef hormone dispute duties assessed on merchandise entered after the duties were retroactively terminated. According to the CIT, the companies' complaints were filed more than two years after the action that triggered accrual of their claims -- which was the date CBP liquidated the entries and not the date of the CAFC's 2010 ruling that the retaliatory duties were terminated by operation of law in 2007.

The Justice Department has announced that Kexue Huang, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release on charges of economic espionage from Dow AgroSciences LLC to benefit components of the Chinese government and theft of trade secrets from a second company, Cargill Inc.

The Justice Department has announced that Ousama Naaman, a former agent for U.S. company Innospec Inc., was sentenced on December 22, 2011 to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for his participation in a conspiracy to defraud the United Nations Oil for Food Program (OFFP) and to bribe former Iraqi government officials, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Mexican exporter Mueller (Mueller Comercial de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V.) and its U.S. importer Southland (Southland Pipe Nipples Co., Inc.), challenged the International Trade Administration’s assignment of an adverse facts-available AD duty rate higher than the all-others rate, in the AD administrative review of certain circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from Mexico for the November 2007- October 2008 period. The Court of International Trade agreed that the higher rate was unsupported.

On December 20, 2011, the Justice Department announced that Shaoxiong Zhou, a Chinese perfume importer, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution for trafficking in counterfeit perfume.

On December 20, 2011, the Justice Department announced that it has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Aon Corporation, a publicly traded corporation and one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the world, to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). As part of the agreement, Aon has agreed to pay a $1.76 million penalty. Aon has also separately agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission approximately $14.5 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.

Since the AD duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China excludes benches but includes chests, importer Legacy Classic Furniture, Inc. challenged a finding by the International Trade Administration that the company’s combination bench-chests are included in the order. Among other factors it cited, the ITA reasoned that although the product has a padded top which purchasers could use for seating, the box design and cedar-lined storage unit were the item’s defining characteristics.

Vietnamese exporters challenged determinations by the International Trade Administration in the AD administrative review of certain frozen warm water shrimp from Vietnam for the February 2007 - January 2008 period. Notably, Viet Hai Seafood Co., Ltd., doing business as Vietnam Fish One Co., Ltd. challenged the ITA’s refusal to revoke the firm’s inclusion in the AD order despite zero dumping margins for three consecutive years. Fish One argued that: 1) the ITA’s regulations obliged it to perform individual reviews of companies requesting revocation based on achieving three years of zero or de minimis dumping margins, 2) the mandatory selection process, which was limited to only three exporters, was flawed and 3) the zero dumping margin it was assigned in the final results entitled it to revocation.

On December 1, 2011, a California District Court decided to throw out convictions and dismiss a superseding indictment that charged Lindsey Manufacturing Company (LMC) and two of its executives, Keith Lindsey and Steve Lee,¹ for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Court ordered this decision due to Government misconduct and reckless failure to comply with its duties during the course of the trial.