CIT Enters Default Judgment Against Garlic Exporter in Customs Penalty Suit

The Court of International Trade on May 13 entered default judgment against Chinese exporter Cherish Your Health Food Inc. in a customs penalty case. The U.S. brought the suit in October 2023 claiming that the company hadn't paid antidumping duties on five fresh garlic entries imported in 2018-20 (United States v. Cherish Your Health Food, CIT # 23-00230).

Judge Thomas Aquilino entered the default judgment against the company after it failed to plead or otherwise respond to the government's complaint, ordering the exporter to pay $477,269.30.

The U.S. moved for default judgment last month. In its motion, the government identified two groups of entries: "Group A" and "Group B." The U.S. said Cherish entered three Group A shipments, in 2018 and 2019, entering them as Type 01 entries and omitting the AD case number from the entry paperwork filed with CBP (see 2404020064).

The Gruop B entries were entered in 2020 and also were classified as Type 01 without referecne to the AD case number or the duty rate. For those entries, CBP rejected the entries for the missing information, refiling them as Type 03, subject to AD, and including the other missing data. However, the exporter didn't pay the cash deposits for the entries.

Surety company Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance paid $50,000 for each group of entries. Cherish has not responded to any CBP notices.