NEW YORK -- Three judges at the Court of International Trade offered tips to practitioners arguing before the court during an event at the court's judicial conference earlier this month. Judges Jennifer Choe-Groves, Claire Kelly and Gary Katzmann discussed tips for brief writing, oral argument and filing extension requests, laying out personal preferences and common areas where counsel goes wrong.

In remand results, the Commerce Department assigned four Mexican tomato exporters an adverse facts available dumping margin of 273.43% for a 1996 investigation that has been suspended for 22 years. The department, which resumed its inquiry in 2019, said that those exporters -- one of whom it couldn't even track down -- had failed to participate in verification to the best of their ability (Bioparques de Occidente v. U.S., CIT # 19-00204).

Surety firm Aegis Security Insurance Co. argued on Oct. 21 that the government's action seeking to collect unpaid duties on a Chinese honey entry imported in 2002 is barred by the statute of limitations or CBP's failure to issue the bill for the duties within a reasonable amount of time. Should either of these theories fall short, Aegis said it's entitled to judgment due to CBP's "inordinate and inexcusable delay in billing Aegis" and the fact that its reinsurer went insolvent, among other confounding factors, the company said (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT # 22-00327).

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Chinese drone-maker DJI Technology Co. is challenging the Pentagon's designation of the firm as a Chinese military company, saying the agency applied the "wrong legal standard," mixed up individuals "with common Chinese names" and relied on "stale alleged facts and attenuated connections that fall short of demonstrating" the company is connected to the Chinese military (SZ DJI Technology Co. v. U.S., D.D.C. # 24-02970).

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 21 sent back the Commerce Department's de jure specificity finding regarding exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret's exemption from Turkey's 0.2% Banking and Insurance Transactions Tax on foreign exchange transactions. Judge Gary Katzmann said that, in the 2020 review of the countervailing duty order on Turkish rebar, the agency failed to show that the exemption was limited by enterprise or industry.

Exporter Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xiang) Industry Co. on Oct. 18 told the Court of International Trade that it has statutory and constitutional standing to challenge CBP's denial of its petition to modify the withhold release order imposed on silica-based products made by its parent company Hoshine Silicon and its subsidiaries (Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00048).

The U.S. on Oct. 15 urged the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to dismiss a lawsuit from nonprofit advocacy group Texas for Israel and its members challenging the constitutionality of the Biden administration's West Bank-related sanctions authority.

Producers led by the U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition argued Oct. 16 that the ITC’s negligibility finding regarding aluminum extrusion exports from the Dominican Republic was only reachable because the ITC edited exporter Kingtom Aluminio’s data (see 2409040045) (U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition v. U.S., CIT # 23-00270).

Importer Cozy Comfort Co. and the U.S. submitted additional briefing ahead of their trial next week at the Court of International Trade on the tariff classification of The Comfy -- a wearable blanket imported by Cozy Comfort (Cozy Comfort Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).