The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed a breach of contract case against "K" Line RoRo Bulk Ship Management (KRBS), while retaining the two other related defendants, according to an Aug. 8 opinion. In the case, Ford Motor Co. is attempting to recoup $7.2 million in losses for the damage or destruction of 246 trucks in a fire on board a cargo ship that Ford said was operated by KRBS along with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) and “K” Line America, (KAM) (Ford Motor Company v. Kawakaki Kisen Kaisha et. al., E.D. Mich. # 21-10119).

Importer NLMK Pennsylvania and the U.S. jointly requested a stay in a suit on the Commerce Department's refusal to grant the company exclusions for Section 232 steel and aluminum duties so that the parties can "focus their efforts on resolving this matter through settlement." Filing a joint motion Aug. 9 for stay at the Court of International Trade, the parties said they have been engaging in settlement talks and an agreement has been reached "in principle" (NLMK Pennsylvania v. U.S., CIT # 21-00507).

Antidumping duty petitioner Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee's claims against the exclusion of importers Worldwide Door Components' and Columbia Aluminum Products' door thresholds from the scope of the AD/CVD orders on aluminum extrusions from China sit on an incomplete reading of the scope, the importers argued. Filing a reply brief on Aug. 8 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Worldwide and Columbia claimed that the petitioner ignored the finished merchandise exclusion in the scope and that the Commerce Department refused to consider this exclusion in its initial scope ruling (Worldwide Door Components v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1532) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1534).

The Commerce Department on remand at the Court of International Trade said antidumping duty respondent Fusong Jinlong Group was eligible for a separate rate from the China-wide entity, though the agency ultimately kept the 85.13% margin for the exporter using adverse facts available. Following the remand, the only difference is that the non-individually examined respondents in the 2018-19 review of the AD order on multilayered wood flooring from China are now levied a 42.57% rate instead of the 0% margin taken from respondent Senmao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co. (American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring v. U.S., CIT # 21-00595).

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should stay a case concerning an antidumping duty investigation after the termination of a suspension agreement on tomatoes from Mexico while two related cases are being considered at the lower court, Mexican exporter Bioparques de Occidente said in an Aug. 8 motion to stay (Bioparques de Occidente, S.A. de C.V., et al. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-2109).

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York set a plea proceeding for former FBI agent Charles McGonigal in a case charging him with violating U.S. sanctions on Russia. Judge Jennifer Rearden set the Aug. 15 proceeding on word that McGonigal "may wish to enter" a guilty plea (U.S. v. Charles McGonigal, S.D.N.Y. # 23-00016).

The Commerce Department stuck by its position that Germany's KAV program is de jure specific and can be countervailed as part of the countervailing duty investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade Aug. 7, Commerce said that because the German government, through legislation, limited access to the program's relief to a "group" of enterprises, the eligibility criteria are vertical and satisfy the de jure specificity standard laid out in the statute (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).

The Commerce Department stuck by its benchmark picks for the land program and the aluminum plate, sheet and strip program in a suit on the 2016-17 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade on Aug. 4, Commerce said Trade Data Monitor data on Harmonized System subheading 7606.12 was properly used as the benchmark for the aluminum plate program, and that a 2010 Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) report on Thailand was the proper land benchmark (Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00133).

The Commerce Department legally selected Malaysian import data to value backsheet and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) in an antidumping duty review on solar cells from China because that data best corresponds to the inputs used by exporter Risen Energy Co., the U.S. argued in an Aug. 3 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Risen Energy Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-11550).