CIT Denies Bid to Consolidate Suits on Scope Ruling, Denied Scope Ruling Application

The Court of International Trade on March 20 denied U.S. company Deer Park Glycine's bid to consolidate its two cases before the trade court. One case is challenging the Commerce Department's scope ruling which excluded calcium glycinate from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on glycine from India, Japan, Thailand and China, while the other contests Commerce's rejection of a second scope ruling request on the same product.

Judge Claire Kelly held that "there are no likely benefits to consolidation" since the two suits don't "share any common questions of law." While the two suits stem from "some common facts," the judge said the "ultimate legal analyses required for disposition of the cases do not overlap."

The court also noted that each suit is based on a separate record, finding it unclear why consolidation of both suits would "promote judicial efficiency in light of the distinct statutes involved that govern their review." Kelly also said it's "unclear what harm will result from allowing the challenges to the Scope Ruling to proceed independently from the challenges to the Scope Application."

In October 2023, the Commerce Department issued an initial scope ruling finding calcium glycinate to be outside the scope of the AD/CVD orders. A month later, Deer Park submitted another scope ruling bid for the same product, which Commerce rejected as being "duplicative." The petitioner filed the two present cases as a result, later seeking to consolidate them, garnering opposition from the U.S. (see 2403200042).

(Deer Park Glycine v. United States, Slip Op. 24-35, CIT #s 23-00238, 24-00016, dated 03/20/24; Judge: Claire Kelly; Attorneys: David Schwartz of Thompson Hine for plaintiff Deer Park Glycine; Kelly Geddes for defendant U.S. government)