Budd Co. Wheel & Brake Division v. United States

700 F. Supp. 35, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 1020, 12 C.I.T. 1020, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 314
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedOctober 31, 1988
DocketCourt 88-09-00725
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 700 F. Supp. 35 (Budd Co. Wheel & Brake Division 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
Budd Co. Wheel & Brake Division v. United States, 700 F. Supp. 35, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 1020, 12 C.I.T. 1020, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 314 (cit 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

CARMAN, Judge:

This Court issued an order on September 28, 1988 vacating the temporary restraining order and denying plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction. This opinion follows the issuance of that order.

Plaintiff, The Budd Company, filed motions and an affidavit pursuant to Rules 7(f), 65(a) and (b) of the Rules of this Court *36 to obtain a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction restraining the International Trade Administration, United States Department of Commerce, (ITA or Commerce), and the United States Customs Service, (Customs), from liquidating entries of tubeless steel disc wheels imported from Brazil and manufactured by defendant-in-tervenor FNV-Veiculos E. Equipamentos, S.A. (FNV). A temporary restraining order was granted on September 22, 1988.

BACKGROUND

On May 23, 1986 plaintiff filed an anti-dumping petition with the International Trade Commission, (ITC), and Commerce on behalf of the United States industry producing tubeless steel disc wheels. Commerce initiated on June 12, 1986 an anti-dumping duty investigation, 51 Fed.Reg. 21,952 (1986). The ITC determined on July 7, 1986, that there was a reasonable indication that an industry in the United States was materially injured or threatened with injury by imports of tubeless steel disc wheels from Brazil. 51 Fed.Reg. 25,752 (1986). At all relevant times the only two Brazilian exporters of tubeless steel disc wheels were Borlem, S.A. Empreedimentos, (Borlem), and FNV.

On December 19, 1986 Commerce issued its preliminary affirmative determination. 51 Fed.Reg. 46,904 (1986). Commerce directed Customs to suspend liquidation of Borlem’s and FNV’s entries and both companies were required to post a bond covering estimated antidumping duties.

Commerce issued its final affirmative an-tidumping duty determination on March 13, 1987. 52 Fed.Reg. 8,947 (1987). The ITC determined on April 27,1987, that an industry in the United States was threatened with material injury by reason of imports from Brazil of tubeless steel disc wheels. 52 Fed.Reg. 17,487 (1987). On May 21, 1987, Commerce then issued an antidump-ing duty order concerning tubeless steel disc wheels from Brazil. 52 Fed.Reg. 19,903 (1987). On that same day, Commerce also issued an amendment to its final determination, correcting a clerical error that occurred in the calculation of less than fair value margins for FNV. Id.

Borlem and FNV instituted an action in this Court challenging Commerce’s final affirmative dumping duty determination in May, 1987. On June 15, 1988 this Court entered an order in Borlem remanding the action to Commerce with instructions to recalculate the antidumping duty margins and correct all clerical, methodological and transcription errors. Borlem, S.A. Empreedimentos Industrias v. United States, — CIT —, Slip Op. 88-77 (June 15, 1988) [1988 WL 63336].

On August 31, 1988, Commerce released a remand determination including new less than fair value margins which were de minimis. Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair value and Amended Antidumping Duty Order; Tubeless Steel Disc Wheels From Brazil 53 Fed.Reg. 34,566 (1988). Based on this amended determination Commerce directed Customs to terminate suspension of liquidation for all entries of tubeless steel disc wheels from Brazil by FNV.

On September 22, 1988 plaintiff commenced this action challenging Commerce’s amended determination and at the same time sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to enjoin the liquidation of tubeless steel disc wheels exported from Brazil by FNV.

DISCUSSION

A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy that can be granted only upon a clear showing that the moving party is entitled to the relief requested. American Air Parcel Forwarding Co. v. United States, 1 CIT 293, 298, 515 F.Supp. 47, 52 (1981).

In order to obtain a preliminary injunction the plaintiff must establish the following four factors: (1) the threat of immediate irreparable harm; (2) the likelihood of success on the merits; (3) that the public interest will be better served by issuance of a preliminary injunction; and (4) that the balance of hardship favors the plaintiff. Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States, 1 Fed.Cir. (T) 74, 76, 710 F.2d 806, 809 (1983); *37 Timken Co. v. United States, — CIT ——, -, 666 F.Supp. 1558, 1559 (1987). A failure to establish any one of the requisite factors is fatal to the application for a preliminary injunction. S.J. Stile Assoc. Ltd. v. Snyder, 68 CCPA 27, 30, C.A.D. 1261, 646 F.2d 522, 525 (1981). The Court has applied the facts at hand to each factor and found that plaintiff has not met the standard necessary to be granted a preliminary injunction.

(1) The Threat of Immediate Irreparable Harm

The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has interpreted this requirement as follows:

Only a viable threat of serious harm which cannot be undone authorizes exercise of a court’s equitable power to enjoin before the merits are fully determined. A preliminary injunction will not issue simply to prevent a mere possibility of injury, even where prospective injury is great. A presently existing, actual threat must be shown.

68 CCPA at 30, 646 F.2d at 525.

Plaintiff contended that it would suffer immediate and irreparable harm if defendant-intervenor’s entries were liquidated pending judicial review. Plaintiff urged should it prevail in its challenge to the final amended determination, without a preliminary injunction enjoining liquidation, the ultimate relief sought by plaintiff would be illusory since the FNY entries would already have been liquidated. Plaintiff, using the reasoning employed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Zenith, argued that liquidation of entries which were the subject of a Section 751 annual review determination constituted irreparable injury and should have like treatment in this case.

While Zenith held that liquidation constituted irreparable injury pending the final results of a Section 751 review, this Court has not given broad extension to that rationale in other proceedings. See Timken, — CIT at -, 666 F.Supp. at 1559-60; Bomont Industries v. United States, — CIT -, -, 638 F.Supp. 1334, 1338 (1986), American Spring Wire v. U.S., 7 CIT 2, 6, 578 F.Supp. 1405, 1408.

In Timken, plaintiff challenged a final determination by the ITA and refused to extend the reasoning of Zenith to allow the suspension of liquidation where there was an antidumping termination order.

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Bluebook (online)
700 F. Supp. 35, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 1020, 12 C.I.T. 1020, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/budd-co-wheel-brake-division-v-united-states-cit-1988.