US, Surety Company Request Redactions of CIT Oral Argument Transcript in Customs Bond Suit
The U.S. and surety company Aegis Security Insurance Co. both wrote to the Court of International Trade following an oral argument to give notice of their intent to redact information from the proceeding's transcript. The government said it intends to redact the identity of the surety firm for the single transaction bonds at issue in the customs penalty suit, while Aegis said it is looking to redact the amount of the bonds issued by Hartford Insurance Co., the amount of CBP's demand on Hartford and the amount of CBP's demand on Aegis (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT # 20-03628).
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The U.S. brought the suit to get Aegis to pay a customs bond on entries that liquidated in 2006. One of the central questions of the case is whether the statute of limitations has run out, with the government advancing the theory that the statute of limitations runs from CBP's demand for payment and not from liquidation of the entries. The trade court rejected this reading in a separate customs penalty suit (see 2308220054).
During oral argument in the case, held on Nov. 15 before Judge Stephen Vaden, the court asked whether federal common law, as opposed to state law, governs the bond at issue, what exactly federal common law says on the issue and what is the effect on Aegis' claim of "imparity of suretyship from the fact that Plaintiff made demand on Defendant nearly eleven months before Defendant's reinsurer became insolvent."