Electrical Conduit Importer Moves to Toss Witness Testimony in Customs Spat

Importer Shamrock Building Materials moved April 11 to throw out the testimony of a witness in a customs classification dispute, telling the Court of International Trade that the witness, Athanasios Meliopoulos, is "woefully incompetent." The plaintiff said that Meliopoulos isn't qualified to render an opinion on the only relevant question of the case -- whether the imported electrical conduit tubing is lined with insulating materials (Shamrock Building Materials v. United States, CIT #20-00074).

To test this question, the parties must establish the lining's chemical composition. "Dr. Meliopoulos admitted that he is not a chemical engineer," the motion said. "He also admitted that he was not a materials scientist. ... When he was asked if he had any training in organic chemistry, he testified that he only had training in high school and college, 'a long time ago.' ... We respectfully submit that these admissions make it very clear that he is not an expert on insulating materials and that he certainly does not have the requisite experience with the tubing in question so as to be able to render opinion testimony that they are not insulating materials."

The witness' testimony is filled with "bald assertions, with no basis in chemistry, that the coating is not insulating," the brief said. As a result, Shamrock said, the court should throw out this testimony.