CPC International, Inc. v. United States

19 Ct. Int'l Trade 978, 896 F. Supp. 1240, 19 C.I.T. 978, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2028, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 176
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 24, 1995
DocketCourt No. 95-02-00144
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 978 (CPC International, Inc. 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
CPC International, Inc. v. United States, 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 978, 896 F. Supp. 1240, 19 C.I.T. 978, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2028, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 176 (cit 1995).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

Background

Newman, Senior Judge:

CPC International Inc. (“CPC”) seeks preim-portation judicial review pursuant to the court’s jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(h). At issue is Customs Headquarters Ruling Letter 557994 of October 25,1994 (“HRE’), which ruled that CPC’s retail containers of finished peanut butter manufactured in the United States in part from Canadian peanut slurry must be marked to disclose that Canada is the country of origin, i.e., “Product of Canada.” On February 8, 1995, slightly over three months after the ruling, CPC filed this lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the HRL is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and otherwise not in accordance with law.

Defendant moves to dismiss in accordance with CIT Rule 12(b)(1), claiming the court lacks jurisdiction under § 1581(h) since plaintiff has failed to demonstrate it would be irreparably harmed if preimportation review were denied. Therefore, argues the government, prior to judicial review plaintiff must first exhaust its administrative remedy by following the normal protest channels of review under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a).

Plaintiff counters that should the court determine that § 1581 (h) does not grant the court jurisdiction, a declaratory judgment in preimportation review falls within the court’s residual jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) since the protest remedy is inadequate.

For the following reasons, the court holds that it has jurisdiction under § 1581(h), and thus, defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied.

Discussion

The court’s jurisdictional basis for preimportation judicial review of a ruling is 28 U.S.C. § 1581(h), reading:

(h) The Court of International Trade shall have exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action commenced to review, prior to the [979]*979importation of the goods involved, a ruling issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, or a refusal to issue or change such a ruling, relating to classification, valuation, rate of duty, marking, restricted merchandise, entry requirements, drawbacks, vessel repairs, or similar matters, but only if the party commencing the civil action demonstrates to the court that he would be irreparably harmed unless given an opportunity to obtain judicial review prior to such importation. [Emphasis added.]

H.R. Rep. No. 1235, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 47, reprinted in 1980 U.S. Code Cong. & Adm. News 3729, 3758, explains the legislative intent in permitting preimportation judicial review:

[i]t is not the Committee’s intent to permit judicial review prior to the completion of the import transaction in such a manner as to negate the traditional method of obtaining judicial review of import transactions. Such review, however, is exceptional and is authorized only when the requirements of subsection (h) are met.

Hence, it is clear that Congress manifested a preference for post-importation judicial review of Customs’ rulings following the traditional channels of administrative protest (19 U.S.C. §§ 1514 and 1515),1 and its intent that preimportation judicial review should be available only in exceptional cases and where the importer can demonstrate it would be irreparably harmed unless given an opportunity to obtain judicial review prior to importation. On the latter issue, as with jurisdiction generally, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof. American Frozen Food Inst., Inc. v. United States, 855 F. Supp. 388, 393 (1994); National Juice Prods, Ass’n v. United States, 628 F. Supp. 978, 982 (1986).

It is well established that “irreparable harm” within the purview of § 1581(h) is harm that cannot be redressed in a court of law. Essential to the inquiry into irreparable harm is the immediacy of the injury and inadequacy of future corrective relief. American Frozen Food Inst., Inc. and National Juice Products Ass’n. Where an importer demonstrates that compliance with a ruling of Customs regarding country of origin marking would cause the importer to incur costs, expenditures, business disruption or other financial losses, for which the importer has no legal redress to recover in court, even if the importer ultimately prevails on the merits in contesting the ruling, the importer suffers irreparable harm within the purview of § 1581(h). National Juice; American Frozen Food Inst., Inc.; 718 Fifth Avenue Corp. v. United States, 7 CIT 195 (1984); Lois Jeans & Jackets, U.S.A., Inc. v. United States, 566 F. Supp. 1523 (1983).

Specifically, in the context of a ruling of Customs concerning country of origin marking, irreparable harm may take, among others, the following forms: an importer’s inability to immediately acquire new labels or packaging that comply with a ruling effective immediately; due to unavailability of labels or packaging complying with the ruling, the [980]*980importer’s inability to timely ship customer orders with consequential damage to customer confidence and relationships; expenses of redesigning new labels or packaging complying with the ruling; expenses of affixing new labels; loss and expense incident to storage or destruction of noncomplying labels and packaging in inventory; costs and expenditures for reengineering production methods or inventory control and tracking systems. See e.g. National Juice; American Frozen Food Inst., Inc.; 718 Fifth Avenue Corp.; Lois Jeans.

Plaintiff may, but need not, demonstrate that it would suffer multiple forms of irreparable harm. Moreover, “[wjhat is critical is not the magnitude of the- injury, but rather its immediacy and the inadequacy of future corrective relief.” National Juice, 628 F. Supp. at 984. However, in determining whether § 1581(h) jurisdiction should be invoked, the availability of viable inexpensive interim means for compliance with the ruling that would “reduce the impact of the change in labeling and substantially mitigate the damage” may be considered by the court. National Juice, 628 F. Supp. at 985-87, citing Association of Food Industries, Inc. (Pistachio Group) v. von Raab, 624 F. Supp. 1557 (1985) (“interim stickering” found not viable; “[i]n any case, even if adhesive stickers were physically possible to apply, plaintiffs could not recoup the significant costs of acquiring the equipment and stickers”). See also Inner Secrets/Secretly Yours, Inc. v. United States, 1995 WL 72429 (CIT, Feb. 1995) (failure to attempt mitigation detracts from importer’s argument that it may be irreparably harmed).

Plaintiff strenuously maintains that if preimportation judicial review of the HRL were not granted, plaintiff would incur certain costs, expenses and losses, identified infra,

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19 Ct. Int'l Trade 978, 896 F. Supp. 1240, 19 C.I.T. 978, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2028, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cpc-international-inc-v-united-states-cit-1995.