The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of March 20-26 and March 27 - April 2:
A San Diego broker-forwarder will pay $1 million in back wages and a $26,215 penalty for “egregious” violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act under a settlement reached with the Department of Labor to resolve allegations that it was illegally paying workers directly in Mexican pesos, DOL said in a March 20 news release.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 13-19:
Two separate motions for summary judgment in a case involving allegedly defective plywood were shot down by Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves in a March 20 opinion. Choe-Groves found that Bral had not sufficiently made a case under the customs regulations that all its imported plywood was defective and should have been appraised at a lower value, but neither had DOJ proven otherwise.
The Court of International Trade doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear a case involving a textile company’s dispute with CBP, saying the company sought relief under the wrong statute, Judge Timothy Stanceu held in a March 10 opinion. The trade court found Printing Textiles, doing business as Berger Textiles, didn’t show why the denied protest challenge should be filed under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, and not Section 1581(a). Berger filed a notice of appeal the next business day.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 6-12:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Feb. 20-26 and Feb. 27 - March 5:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 13-19:
A False Claims Act whistleblower received $210,000 from a $1 million customs fraud settlement with global trading and investment firm Samsung C&T America, McInnis Law announced. The U.S. announced it settled the case over charges SCTA violated the FCA by misclassifying footwear imports via false entry documents to avoid paying customs duties (see 2302080008).
The Court of International Trade's recent decision against the use of first sale valuation for Meyer Corp.'s cookware imports "is a cautionary tale" for importers, customs attorney Lawrence Friedman, partner at Barnes Richardson, wrote in a Feb. 15 blog post. In instances in which parties involved in a potential first-sale transaction are related, such as Meyer's, Friedman said that CBP will "take a very detailed look into the whole series of transactions" and that the importer should expect to show that each tier is a bona fide sale for export to the U.S.