US Disputes Importer's Amendment to Scheduling Order in Customs Suit on Hoverboards

The U.S. opposed importer 3BTech's motion to amend the scheduling order in a customs case, arguing that the company failed to show good cause for the amount of time requested.

The company said it couldn't "complete an expert rebuttal report" by Jan. 2, telling the court it needs until March 4 to submit the report since the expert has scheduling conflicts, 3BTech's counsel had travel arrangements in December 2023 "that had been previously scheduled" and the importer's counsel had another motion in a separate CIT case due in December (3BTech v. United States, CIT # 21-00026).

None of these explanations show good cause for the extra two months requested, the U.S. said. "This classification action does not involve complicated issues or multiple parties, and there is no real dispute about what the merchandise at issue here is and how it is used," the government argued, clarifying that it doesn't oppose a 30-day extension, only a 62-day one.

The case concerns the classification of electric scooters, known as hoverboards. 3BTech claims that the hoverboards were classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9503.00.0090, which provides for "tricycles, scooters, pedal cars and similar wheeled toys," while the U.S. says the proper subheading is 8711.60 (see 2207220058).