The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a lawsuit from clothing company Smart Apparel (U.S.) that accused Nordstrom of breaching a contract when it canceled orders from Smart Apparel that were suspected of being made with forced labor (Smart Apparel (U.S.) v. Nordstrom, W.D. Wash. # 23-01754).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 20 granted Indian exporter Kumar Industries' motion to voluntarily dismiss its appeal of an antidumping duty case. Kumar had appealed a decision sustaining the Commerce Department's assignment of a 13.61% adverse facts available AD rate to the exporter based on its "inadequate explanations" regarding one of its partners' ownership interests in two unnamed companies (see 2311270005). The rate came as part of the first review of the AD order on glycine from India, which found that Kumar prevented Commerce from conducting a proper affiliate analysis. Kumar withdrew the appeal last month, saying it "elected not to further pursue its appeal" (see 2402260033) (Kumar Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1293).
Russian exporters PhosAgro, Apatit and Industrial Group Phosphorite will appeal a January Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's use of exporter PhosAgro's profit before tax number instead of its gross profit mark when calculating the company's phosphate mining rights benefit (see 2401190037). The exporter will take the case contesting the countervailing duty investigation on phosphate fertilizers from Russia to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In its decision, the trade court rejected PhosAgro's clam that its gross profit number "more accurately reflects the commercial reality" of its pricing process (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00117).
The D.C. U.S. District Court on March 11 dismissed a lawsuit from a senior Democratic Republic of Congo elections official challenging his sanctions designation, saying the listing wasn't "arbitrary or capricious" and that due process laws weren't violated.
A South Korean exporter of certain corrosion-resistant steel products filed another complaint March 19 in the Court of International Trade saying that a 2014 to 2018 debt-to-equity restructuring led by the Korean government assisted its previous owners, not its current ones (KG Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. v. U.S., CIT # 24-00056).
The U.S. defended the Commerce Department before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 18 regarding a number of decisions it made during its 13th administrative review of the antidumping duty order on activated carbon from China, including its selection of two Malaysian exporters as surrogates over a respondent’s opposition (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-2413).
Christopher Curran, litigation partner at White & Case, has joined a scope case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Japanese exporter Sigma Corp., according to a March 18 order from the appellate court. The suit was originally brought by manufacturer Vandewater International on whether its steel branch outlets fall within the scope of the antidumping duty order on butt-weld pipe fittings from China (see 2306020065). Curran joins trade lawyers Lucius Lau, Ron Kendler and Walter Spak in representing Sigma (Vandewater International v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1093).
The National Consumers League sought March 13 to have its case against Starbucks moved from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a local D.C. court, arguing that the federal bench lacks subject matter jurisdiction for its claim that the coffee company lied to consumers that it was sourcing its coffee ethically (National Consumers League v. Starbucks Corp., D.D.C. 24-cv-00421).
An exporter argued March 6 to the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department failed to justify allocating one of the exporter’s expenses across the entire period of review instead of on a more specific monthly basis. The department is required to use an allocation method that is as specific as possible, it said (Sahamitr Pressure Container PLC v. U.S., CIT # 22-0107).
CBP violated Phoenix Metal Co.'s due process rights by not giving it notice and a chance to comment on interim measures imposed in an Enforce and Protect Act case on the company's cast iron soil pipe imports, the company said March 15 (Phoenix Metal Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00048).