The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged 10 individuals linked to a "massive scheme" to defraud cargo line Polar Air Cargo Worldwide of tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Nine of the individuals were arrested April 12; one remains at large. Some of the individuals served as executives at Polar while others worked as vendors doing business with the company.

The Court of International Trade is considering asking certain plaintiffs in the massive Section 301 litigation how they would like to proceed with claims that are distinct from the ones already decided by the trade court. Speaking at an April 11 status conference with the government and representatives of the 15-member steering committee for the plaintiffs, Judge Mark Barnett asked if the court should ask those plaintiffs whether or not they want to continue to litigate the distinct claims, and if the claims move forward, whether there is any reason to wait to resolve them (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT # 21-00052).

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 3-9.

The Court of International Trade on April 11 dismissed without prejudice a suit from Environment One Corp. seeking to impose a Section 301 exclusion on 31 entries, for failing to state a claim on which relief can be granted. While Judge Mark Barnett ruled against the government's motion to dismiss the case pertaining to 23 of the entries for lack of jurisdiction, the judge ultimately granted the U.S. motion to dismiss the case since the plaintiff failed to include key information about the merchandise at issue in the case's amended complaint. Barnett gave Environment One 10 days to file a second amended complaint lest the case be dismissed with prejudice.

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: