CIT Drops CBP Redelivery Notice Challenge for Lack of Jurisdiction

A spice company's challenge to a $50,000 penalty for failing to export a shipment of tamarind from Mexico was dismissed from the Court of International Trade for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction, Judge Timothy Stanceu said in a July 19 opinion. CIT found that the case was untimely filed in the court and that the complaint is over a Food and Drug Administration decision merely carried out by CBP.

Jaramillo Spices Corporation imported a shipment of tamarind from Mexico that was subsequently held by FDA on suspicions that the goods were adulterated. Finding that they indeed were, the agency ordered Jaramillo to either export or destroy the tamarind within 90 days. The company failed to do so and was then assessed a $50,000 penalty by CBP. Jaramillo then sent the customs agency what it dubbed an "appeal for penalty or liquidated damages for extenuating circumstances." Customs then denied all relief.

Jaramillo initially filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The district court failed to find that it had the proper jurisdiction over the case and that the complaint, filed under 28 USC 1581(i), actually "appears to be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of International Trade." The importer then filed for a voluntary dismissal without prejudice. The case was dismissed and Jaramillo launched its action in CIT.

Stanceu said that CIT also lacked the proper jurisdiction for the case since Jaramillo's summons was filed after the 180-day deadline set by the statute for cases challenging denied CBP protests. Jaramillo also challenged CBP's "improper delivery notice because the notice of redelivery was premised erroneously on a sample of tamarind that was in fact not contaminated," in its Sept. 1, 2020 complaint. However, "the 'decision' by Customs to issue a notice of redelivery was, in fact, not within that agency’s discretion," Stanceu said. It was actually FDA's refusal of admission that prompted CBP's redelivery notice.

(Jaramillo Spices Corp. v. United States, Slip Op. 21-89, CIT # 20-00148, dated 07/19/21, Judge Stanceu. Attorneys: Fabian Guerrero for plaintiff Jaramillo Spices Corp.; Jason Kenner for defendant U.S. government)