CAFC Affirms Commerce's Rejection of Untimely Filing in Chloropicrin AD Sunset Review
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Jan. 18 order upheld the Court of International Trade's ruling concerning an untimely filing in an antidumping duty sunset review that led to an AD order's revocation. The trade court said the Commerce Department did not abuse its discretion when enforcing the filing deadline. The appellate court affirmed without an opinion.
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The case concerns the AD order on the chemical compound chloropicrin from China. Commerce announced it was going to carry out a sunset review of the order, but the agency revoked the order when no party responded to the notice. Three chloropicrin producers then attempted to retroactively extend the deadline for applying for the review, arguing the filing attorney thought the filing already had been made, that there were internet issues at the time of filing and that there were medical issues precluding the filing. Despite these claims, the agency enforced its deadline and rejected the extension request.
The trade court upheld Commerce's ruling in a June opinion (see 2205310029). CIT said Commerce didn't abuse its discretion in denying the retroactive deadline expansion application, and it didn't agree with the plaintiffs' position that the listed medical issues could be characterized as an unexpected medical emergency. Judges Kimberly Moore, Timothy Dyk and Sharon Prost at the Federal Circuit held oral argument in the case a few days before their decision.
(Trinity Manufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1329, dated 01/18/23, Judges Kimberly Moore, Timothy Dyk and Sharon Prost. Attorneys: Adam Gordon of The Bristol Group for plaintiffs-appellants Trinity Manufacturing, Ashta Chemicals and Niklor Chemical Co.; Geoffrey Long for defendant-appellee U.S. government)