Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. v. United States

986 F. Supp. 2d 1381, 2014 CIT 61
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJune 6, 2014
DocketSlip Op. 14-61; Court 14-00129
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 986 F. Supp. 2d 1381 (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. v. United States, 986 F. Supp. 2d 1381, 2014 CIT 61 (cit 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

KELLY, Judge:

Plaintiff Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.§. (“Plaintiff’ or “Borusan”) brings this action for a writ of mandamus compelling the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) to perform a verification in the ongoing countervailing duty investigation of Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From India and Turkey, 78 Fed.Reg. 45,502 (Dep’t Commerce July 29, 2013) (initiation of countervailing duty investigations) (“Investigation”), prior to Commerce’s issuance of the final determination. Plaintiff alleges jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i)(2) and (4) (2006), 1 claiming the remedy provided for under the Court’s 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) jurisdiction is manifestly inadequate. The court, sua sponte, dismisses this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Background 2

Plaintiff is a producer, exporter and importer of oil country tubular goods (“OCTG”) from Turkey and is a mandatory respondent in the Investigation. In the proceedings, Commerce received questionnaire responses from both Plaintiff and the Government of Turkey (“GOT”). Commerce issued a negative preliminary determination in the Investigation on December 23, 2013. Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From the Republic of Turkey, 78 Fed.Reg. 77,420 (Dep’t Commerce Dec. 23, 2013) (preliminary negative countervailing duty determination and alignment of final determination with final antidumping determination) (“Preliminary Determination”). One of the alleged subsidy programs in the Investigation, at issue in this case, is the GOT’s alleged provision of hot rolled steel (“HRS”) to Plaintiff for less than adequate remuneration (“LTAR”). In the Preliminary Determination, Commerce found Plaintiff received de minimis subsidies. However, Commerce explained in a sec *1383 tion of its Preliminary Determination titled “Programs and Issues That Require More Information” that it had initiated an investigation into whether two entities, Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari T.A.S. (“Erdemir”) and Iskenderun Iron Steel Works Co. (“Isdemir”), had provided respondents with HRS and that it needed more information from the GOT about Ordu Yardimlasma Kurumu (“OYAK”), the Turkish military pension fund that was the majority shareholder of the two entities. Pl.’s Mot. Writ Mandamus, Ex. 2 at 20, May 30, 2014, ECF No. 6-2 (Decision Memorandum for the Negative Preliminary Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the Republic of Turkey). Thus, Commerce deferred review of the HRS for LTAR program for a post-preliminary analysis. In the post-preliminary analysis published on April 18, 2014, Commerce found subsidy margins for Plaintiff of 25.76% based solely on the HRS for LTAR program. Pl.’s Mot. Writ Mandamus Ex. 4 at 7-9 (Post-Preliminary Analysis). On April 22, 2014, in response to a verification request from the GOT, Commerce stated that its verifiers “will not be verifying the HRS for LTAR program.” 3 PL’s Mot. Writ Mandamus, Ex. 7 at Exs. 1, 2 (Email Attachments to May 22, 2014 Letter from Veysel Parlak). On April 25, 2014, Commerce did conduct a one-day verification of the GOT, but its verification report did not verify the information on the HRS for LTAR program. Commerce later stated, on April 30, 2014, that as the program information was provided by the GOT and not by a company, “this [sort of information] is not something [Commerce] would verify as part of Borusan’s company verification.” 4 PL’s Mot. Writ Mandamus, Ex. 5 (May 5, 2014 Memorandum to File from Shane Subler, International Trade Compliance Analyst).

Commerce’s final determination is scheduled for publication on July 10, 2014. PL’s Mot. Expedited Consideration 1, May 30, 2014, ECF No. 7. Plaintiff brought this action on May 30, 2014, seeking expedited consideration and a writ of mandamus ordering Commerce to conduct verification of the information on the HRS for LTAR program. See Compl., May 30, 2014, ECF No. 5; see also PL’s Mot. Expedited Consideration. The court conducted a telephone conference that same day with both Plaintiff and Defendant. During the telephone conference, the court informed the parties that it was concerned it did not possess jurisdiction to hear the case. The court requested Plaintiff to address two specific issues: (1) why review under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) would not be adequate to remedy the alleged harm; and (2) whether there had been final agency action, which would be required under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). Order, May 30, 2014, ECF No. 10. The court asked *1384 the Plaintiff to address these two concerns in a memorandum addressed to the court no later than Tuesday, June 3, 2014, which the Plaintiff did.

Discussion

As is often repeated, “federal courts ... are courts of limited jurisdiction marked out by Congress.” Norcal/Crosetti Foods, Inc. v. United States, 963 F.2d 356, 358 (Fed.Cir.1992) (quoting Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 15, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976), superseded by statute on other grounds, Judicial Improvements Act, Pub.L. No. 101-650, 104 Stat. 5089, as recognized in Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Servs., Inc., 545 U.S. 546, 557, 125 S.Ct. 2611, 162 L.Ed.2d 502 (2005)). Therefore, the “court may and should raise the question of its jurisdiction sua sponte at any time it appears in doubt.” Arctic Corner, Inc. v. United States, 845 F.2d 999, 1000 (Fed.Cir.1988) (citations omitted). The court may dismiss a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on its own motion because the court must enforce the limits of its jurisdiction. See, e.g., Cabral v. United States, 317 Fed.Appx. 979, 980 n. 1 (Fed.Cir.2008) (citing Arctic Corner, Inc., 845 F.2d at 1000).

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1581®, the Court has jurisdiction to hear “any civil action commenced against the United States, its agencies, or its officers, that arises out of any law of the United States providing for — ...

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986 F. Supp. 2d 1381, 2014 CIT 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/borusan-mannesmann-boru-sanayi-ve-ticaret-as-v-united-states-cit-2014.