The U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 3 order took up a case over whether the government can indict a foreign state-owned bank under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Turkey's state-owned bank, Halkbank, was charged in October 2019 with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after allegedly working with Iran to evade U.S. sanctions. The case was brought to a New York district court, where a judge allowed the prosecution to proceed, finding that the FSIA doesn't extend to criminal cases and that if it did, its commercial activity exemptions allow for prosecution of the case (Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. U.S., #21-1450).
The Court of International Trade erroneously upheld the Commerce Department's finding that an Australian exporter did not reimburse an affiliated importer for antidumping duties paid and subsequent decision not to deduct the amount of the duties from the exporter's U.S. price, United States Steel Corp. argued in a Sept. 30 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (United States Steel Corp. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-2078).
The Department of Homeland Security in a Sept. 28 move temporarily waived the Jones Act -- a law requiring goods traveling between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-made and -flagged ships -- for vessels headed to Puerto Rico to provide relief from Hurricane Fiona. The waiver runs Sept. 13-24.
Surety company American Home Assurance Co.'s (AHAC's) affirmative defense of laches requires it to prove that it suffered prejudice given the government's delay in commencing a legal action over uncollected antidumping duties. AHAC has failed to do so and thus cannot make its laches claims, the U.S. argued in a Sept. 28 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The surety company has failed to show either defense or economic prejudice in arguing that the case should be dismissed since it was filed beyond the statute of limitations to collect the duties under the bond, the U.S. said (United States v. American Home Assurance Company, CIT #20-00175).
A bill that would make searches free on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service is estimated to add $77 million to the federal deficit from 2022 to 2032, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report.
The Court of International Trade should stay proceedings in a case challenging President Donald Trump's reversal of a tariff exclusion on bifacial solar panels pending resolution of a similar matter, plaintiffs JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. and Jinko Solar (U.S.) Industries argued in an unopposed stay motion (JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. v. United States, CIT #22-00241). The case should be halted until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit settles Solar Energy Industries Association, et al. v. United States, the brief said. In that case, the trade court found that the statute did not allow further trade-restricting measures once a tariff exclusion had been put in place (see 2111160032).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The fact that the Commerce Department verified non-use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program in two administrative proceedings speaks to the validity of its verification process, the U.S. said in a Sept. 28 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Asking the trade court to uphold its use of adverse facts available for countervailing duty respondents' failure to submit full questionnaire responses issued on remand over the EBCP, the government argued that the fact that it verified non-use administratively in other cases shows the need for the requested information (Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. v. United States, CIT #20-00110).
Exporter Jin Tiong Electrical Materials Manufacturer failed to timely submit a separate rate application by the applicable deadline, making it ineligible to rebut the presumption of Chinese government control and get a separate rate, the U.S. argued in a Sept. 28 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Jin Tiong is not absolved from having missed the deadline by a wrongly filed, then later rescinded, questionnaire sent to the exporter by the Commerce Department, the brief said (Repwire v. United States, CIT Consol. #22-00016).
A group of insurers and importers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York looking to seize a vessel as collateral for losses north of $39 million after thousands of shipping containers went overboard during a November 2020 voyage. Filing a five-count complaint at the district court, the plaintiffs said that the court should issue a warrant for the arrest of the vessel and its cargo given a group of shipping companies' damage to the cargo and breach of contract, among other violations (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company of America v. M/V One Apus, S.D.N.Y. #22-08233).