A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Aug. 31, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
The Commerce Department released the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on frozen warmwater shrimp from India (A-533-840). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD duties on importers of subject merchandise entered Feb. 1, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2022.
Nothing in the federal rules expressly or implicitly permits a party to stay discovery just because a motion to dismiss is pending, said plaintiff Tracy McCarthy in a Tuesday memorandum of law (docket 2:23-cv-01019) in opposition to Amazon and Audible’s motion to stay discovery in a fraud case. Defendants moved the court Aug. 23 to stay discovery and related deadlines pending a decision on their motion to dismiss the first amended complaint (FAC), saying discovery should be stayed when the motion is “‘potentially dispositive of the entire case’ and ‘can be decided without additional discovery -- both of which are true here.'" McCarthy's FAC again “fails to state any plausible claim,” defendants said, and no discovery is necessary to decide their motion, “which challenges the FAC’s facial deficiencies.” Defendants don’t raise any threshold issues that would justify a stay, said plaintiff's memorandum. Though courts may take a “preliminary peek” at the merits of a dispositive motion to assess whether a stay is warranted, it “is not intended to prejudge the outcome of the motion,” it said, citing Dorian v. Amazon Web Service. On her opposition to their motion to dismiss, despite Amazon’s assertions, McCarthy made “particularized factual allegations supporting her claims under New York law” for violations under the state’s General Business Law and unjust enrichment, said the memorandum. McCarthy alleged defendants “did not clearly and conspicuously inform her that when she used ‘credits’ to purchase" an audiobook, "she would be automatically enrolled in a membership” to Amazon subsidiary Audible. After a 30-day trial period, defendants charged her $14.95 per month for nearly 3.5 years for a total of $598, it said. McCarthy “specifically alleged what was misleading, as well as the causal connection between the misleading statements and her purported injury for her causes of action,” it said. Plaintiff’s claims and defendants’ defenses “appear to require fact-based analyses that discovery would inform,” said the memorandum, citing Dorian. The parties dispute the nature of the “credits,” the enrollment process and defendants’ disclosures, it said. Defendants’ argument that without a stay they will suffer “real prejudice if they are required to expend time and resources responding to discovery,” McCarthy cited Nelson Capital v. Campbell, in which the same court denied a stay, ruling, “defendants’ burden of producing discovery, preparing for trial, and trial ... does not demonstrate hardship.”
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Aug. 30, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
The U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas in Fayetteville, in a late-Thursday opinion and order, granted NetChoice’s motion for a preliminary injunction blocking Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) from enforcing SB-396, the state’s social media age verification law, when it takes effect Friday.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Aug. 30 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 30 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Counsel for defendant Thomas Branham in a cell tower breach of contract lawsuit against STC Two and Global Signal filed a motion for leave to withdraw as Branham’s counsel of record, said a Friday filing (docket 2:23-cv-00764) in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Columbus. Branham’s attorney, Charley Hess, seeks leave to withdraw as the defendant’s attorney because Branham terminated the representation. The oral termination occurred Friday during a meeting at the cell tower site in Columbus with Branham, Hess and Bruce Moore, one of plaintiffs’ attorneys, said the filing. Branham owns the property in Columbus where a cellsite has been operating for decades under a 1998 Sprint PCS site agreement that was amended in 2013. Under the lease, STC Two and Global Signal are authorized to maintain, operate and sublease the cell tower and related equipment at the site, said their May memorandum of law in support of their motion to dismiss Branham’s counterclaims. Plaintiffs filed their complaint after Branham “repeatedly and brazenly obstructed and/or prevented altogether” STC Two’s access to the cellsite in “blatant violation” of the lease.” In response to the lawsuit, Branham filed his answer and counterclaims, admitting he obstructed STC Two's access to the cellsite, said the motion. Branham “curiously asserted claims” against STC Two for trespass, preliminary and injunctive relief and breach of contract, and he installed a padlock on the gate of the metal fenced enclosure leading to the cellsite, said plaintiffs’ motion. In late May (see 2305240031), the parties said they were close to reaching a settlement, and an order from U.S. District Judge James Graham for Southern Ohio in Columbus stayed all deadlines in the case. In his Friday filing, Hess said there's no trial data set for the case, and motions for a restraining order/ injunction and to dismiss Branham’s counterclaim are pending.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Aug. 29, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s July decision to deny the FTC a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s acquisition of video game company Activision was “riddled with errors and should be reversed,” said the FTC’s opening brief before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Monday. Microsoft announced the agreement to buy Activision for $68.7 billion in January 2022.