Florida District Court Awards Chinese Exporter Damages Over Refrigerant Shipments

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled March 31 that Chinese exporter T.T. International is entitled to judgment on its claims of unjust enrichment against BMP International and its U.S. affiliate relating to the sale of refrigerants, disposable cylinders and other products exported from China. Judge Charlene Honeywell sent the case to trial to determine the total amount of damages but also ruled that T.T. is due nearly $1 million from the defendants as that amount is uncontested (T.T. International Co. v. BMP International, M.D. Florida #8:19-2044).

In 2012, BMP began buying products from T.T., laying out the amount of each purchase in commercial invoices on an invoice-by-invoice basis. Around 2015, T.T. began shipping products to BMP USA at the behest of the importer's president, Xianbin Meng. In November 2020, BMP sent T.T. 53 commercial invoices and 53 CBP entry summaries that remain unpaid. The exporter then took its case to court, submitting a 12-count complaint that makes breach of contract and unjust enrichment claims, among other things, against BMP.

Honeywell ruled against T.T. on the issue of breach of contract, given the dispute of material fact on the existence of a contract between the two parties. BMP argued a commercial invoice isn't a contract and said it never agreed to the pricing as laid out in the invoices. T.T. said the invoices can constitute written contracts given BMP's acts of accepting and retaining the product and the customs broker's acts of signing off on the customs forms. The judge denied the claims.

The court was more sympathetic to T.T.'s unjust enrichment claims, however, sending the case to trial to set an amount of damages owed. Honeywell found it was undisputed that the case cleared the three elements for unjust enrichment: the plaintiff conferred a benefit to the defendant, the defendant retained the goods, and it would be inequitable for the defendants to keep the goods without paying for them. The only issue left, though, was the full value of the retained goods.

"Accordingly, Plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment as to liability on their unjust enrichment claims (as to those goods referenced in the BMP CIs [commercial invoices], not the Meng CIs), but only to the extent that no express contract exists," the judge said. As a result, the case is going to trial to sort out the amount of damages to be awarded to T.T. The court also awarded the undisputed $969,588 to the plaintiff in damages.