CBP will pay importer Marubeni-Itochu Steel America $494,902.80 to resolve the company's lawsuit, which said the agency failed to refund excess antidumping duty cash deposits. Per the Sept. 11 stipulated judgment, Marubeni will drop its claims against the government (Marubeni-Itochu Steel America v. U.S., CIT # 23-00004).

Both the government and defendant Crown Cork & Seal USA said they're experiencing delays in discovery in a fraud case against the importer, they said in a Sept. 8 joint status report. The case concerns metal can lid imports entered between 2004 and 2009 and valued at around $51 million. The government did not produce the requested 52 discovery requests by the Aug. 21 due date and Crown said it has experienced issues with third-party discovery relating to unaffiliated brokers (U.S. v. Crown Cork & Seal USA, CIT # 21-00361).

Chinese printer cartridge maker Ninestar Corp., along with eight of its Zhuhai-based subsidiaries, opposed the U.S.'s motion to extend the time to file a response to their request for a preliminary injunction in a case against their addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. Ninestar said the government, in asking for a total of 62 more days, failed to show "good cause" for needing a delay to address "even one element of the preliminary injunction test" (Ninestar Corporation v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).

Canadian exporter Midwest-CBK asked the Court of International Trade to enter judgment against it in a case involving whether sales from a Canadian warehouse to U.S. customers are "sales for export to the U.S." or "domestic sales." Midwest said that over the course of the now six-year-old case, it ceased actively doing business and restructured itself, which has made complying with court orders to produce evidence impossible (Midwest-CBK, LLC v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 17-00154).

The U.S. and defendants led by importer Precision Cable Assemblies settled a False Claims Act case on allegedly underreported imports of wire harness assemblies. The suit was originally brought by Travis Grob, former vice president of operations at the Wisconsin-based Precision Cable Assemblies, as a qui tam action, giving Grob a cut of the settlement (United States v. Precision Cable Assemblies, E.D. Wis. # 22-00570).

Exporters China Manufacturer Alliance and Double Coin Holdings will appeal a July Court of International Trade opinion upholding the Commerce Department's decision to assign Double Coin the 105.31% China-wide dumping rate in an administrative review of the AD order on off-the-road tires from China. Per the notice of appeal, the companies will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the case, the trade court said that the decision comports with the court's past decision finding that Double Coin did not rebut the presumption of Chinese state control over its export activities (see 2307200020) (China Manufacturers Alliance v. United States, CIT # 15-00124).

The federal government opposed referral of a customs case to mediation since the proper classification of the product in question -- The Comfy blanket sweatshirt -- "is not of the type that is likely to be resolved through mediation." Filing its opposition to importer Cozy Comfort's motion for a postassignment conference to explore mediation at the Court of International Trade, the U.S. said mediation would not be beneficial, adding that the proceeding is "not a complex case" (Cozy Comfort Company v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).

The U.S. asked for a stay of a case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on an Enforce and Protect Act investigation on the alleged transshipment of Chinese xanthan gum via India. The government said the case should be suspended until the Royal Brush Manufacturing v. U.S. matter is resolved (All One God Faith v. United States, Fed. Cir. #s 23-1078, -1081).

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Commerce Department erred by not removing countervailing duty costs from the prices used to establish export price and constructed export price in the 2021 review of the antidumping duty order on softwood lumber products from Canada, petitioner Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations argued (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. U.S., CIT # 23-00189).