US Seeks Default Judgment Against Chinese Garlic Exporter That Owes $476K in AD

The U.S. sought a default judgment April 2 in its case against Cherish Your Health Food Inc., a Chinese fresh garlic exporter that the government said hadn’t paid antidumping duties on five entries (U.S. v. Cherish Your Health Food Inc., CIT # 23-00230).

Cherish failed to plead or otherwise respond to the United State’s complaint against it, the government said. It said that the court clerk entered default against the exporter at its request Jan. 25.

Cherish’ five entries were all covered by antidumping orders on Chinese fresh garlic, the government said, and its failure to file accurate entry paperwork indicating as such on those entries constitutes negligence.

The government split the exporter’s shipments up into two groups: “Group A” and “Group B.”

Between November 2018 and February 2019, it said that Cherish entered its three Group A shipments. It filed them as Type 01 entries -- signifying them as not subject to AD -- and omitted the antidumping case number from the entry paperwork it filed with CBP, the U.S. said. It didn't pay the $290,714.39 in duties it owed at the time, it said.

CBP alerted Cherish to Group A’s missing duties in October 2020, by which point the exporter owed more than $14,000 more in interest, the government said. The agency sent two further demands in January and December 2022 for the payments, it said.

It said Cherish didn't respond, but that its surety, Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance, paid $50,000 to satisfy its own obligation under its bond with the exporter.

In January and April 2020, Cherish entered its two Group B shipments, the government said. Cherish, again, initially classified them as Type 01 and did not reference the AD case number or duty rate, it said.

This time, CBP rejected the entries for the missing information, it said. It said Cherish therefore refiled them as Type 03 -- subject to AD -- and included the other missing data. However, the exporter didn't pay its cash deposits for either entry. CBP timely liquidated the two shipments in February 2022, without protest from Cherish, and issued two duty bills to the exporter that totaled $239,998.05, the government said.

Again, Penn Mutual paid out $50,000 toward the bill, it said, while Cherish didn't respond.

CBP has been mailing duty bills to Cherish “approximately every 30 days” and updating its total debt as interest accrues, the U.S. said.

It asked the Court of International Trade to rule against Cherish in the amount of $475,815.97 if that judgment is entered on or before April 7, or in the amount of $477,269.30 if entered after.