The government's service of German exporter Koehler on its U.S. counsel in a customs penalty suit was "improper and insufficient," leaving the Court of International Trade without personal jurisdiction over the company, Koehler argued in an Oct. 24 motion to dismiss. The company added that even if service was sufficient, the court has no personal jurisdiction over the company anyway, since it's a German firm and the U.S. allegations don't relate to any activity by the company in the U.S. (United States v. Koehler Oberkirch GmbH, CIT # 24-00014).
The International Trade Commission legally found on remand that Russian seamless pipe imports are non-negligible, as part of its injury determination on the products, the Court of International Trade held on Oct. 25. Judge M. Miller Baker said that CBP made "reasonable estimates" of the amount of in-scope merchandise imported from other nations, as this would affect the negligibility calculation for Russian seamless pipe.
Exporter The Ancientree Co. failed to timely raise a ministerial error allegation regarding an adjustment to its U.S. price in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade held on Oct. 24. Judge Mark Barnett said that the Commerce Department's regulations required Ancientree to identify any ministerial errors present in the preliminary results and make all relevant arguments about them in its administrative case brief -- something the company failed to do.
The EU General Court on Oct. 23 annuled the sanctions listing of Vladimir Gheorghe Plahotniuc a former member of Moldova's Parliament, who was listed for allegedly committing bank fraud and bribing the former president of Moldova in exchange for political favors.
The Court of International Trade this week announced that amendments to four court rules will become effective Nov. 8. The court said it approved the changes earlier this month.
Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology will meet with the U.S. to discuss next steps in the company's lawsuit against its designation as a Chinese military company after the Pentagon removed the firm from its list of companies with ties to China's military but immediately relisted it (see 2410230018). DOD relisted the company "based on the latest information available" (Hesai Technology Co. v. U.S. Department of Defense, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank is not shielded from "common-law foreign sovereign immunity" in the U.S. government's suit against the bank for sanctions evasion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said earlier this week, ruling that the U.S. may prosecute it on charges that it helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions (United States v. Turkiye Halk Bankasi, 2nd Cir. # 20-3499).
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public Oct. 23 sustained the Commerce Department's rejection of eight Section 232 steel tariff exclusion requests from importer Seneca Foods Corp. on its tin mill product entries. Judge Gary Katzmann said the rejections were backed by substantial evidence and in line with agency practice.
An indictment was unsealed on Oct. 22 charging Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier general Ruhollah Bazghandi and members of his network with sanctions evasion, among other charges, in their efforts to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York City, DOJ announced.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade: