US Tells CIT Inadvertent Liquidation of Bearing Entries Due to 'Human Errors'

The U.S. told the Court of International Trade that its inadvertent liquidation of entries subject to an injunction from the court was the result of "human errors." Submitting information requested by the court in response to the injunction violation, the government said its controls to ensure compliance with the court's injunctions weren't followed (Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 24-00025).

The U.S. said it provides two "informal backstops" to ensure injunctions are followed. The first sees the DOJ attorney in charge of the case send a copy of the injunction to CBP and the Commerce Department, while the second has the Commerce team assigned to the case prepare injunction instructions for CBP.

In the present case, which saw the inadvertent liquidation of exporter Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co.'s antifriction bearings, the DOJ attorney didn't send CBP the injunction. The U.S. said this was because this was the DOJ attorney's first trade case, and, as such, he was "unaware of DOJ's role in the communication chain in effectuating service of injunctions." The attorney, Tate Walker, said he's "now familiarized himself with these office policies and has taken steps to ensure future compliance with all court injunctions."

In a recent status report, the U.S. said Shanghai Tainai told it that certain entries subject to an injunction in the case were inadvertently liquidated. CBP said it investigated the matter and reverted all liquidated entries back to unliquidated status. The trade court in response asked for more information about the liquidation, including a table identifying each entry subject to the injunctions, the dollar value of each entry, whether CBP liquidated the entry, when the entry was liquidated and when CBP restored the entry to unliquidated status (see 2408230005). The U.S. provided the information Aug. 28.