Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States

696 F. Supp. 1525, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 813, 12 C.I.T. 813, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 251
United States Court of International Trade·Decided September 12, 1988·No. Court 86-06-00765·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinions

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WATSON, Judge:

In this opinion the Court denies plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration of this Court’s Order of July 26, 1988 denying plaintiffs’ Motion to Modify Injunction Pending Appeal.

BACKGROUND

On August 11, 1988, plaintiffs filed the subject Motion for Reconsideration of the Court’s Order of July 26,1988 which denied their Motion to Modify Injunction Pending Appeal dated June 28,1988. Plaintiffs allege that the Order of July 26 failed to comply with Rule 52(a) of the Rules of this Court.1 Plaintiffs also allege that the Order conflicts with the recent decision in Ipsco, Inc. v. United States, 12 CIT —, 692 F.Supp. 1368 (1988), which granted in-junctive relief in a similar case.

Plaintiffs brought the underlying action contesting both the final determination of the International Trade Administration of the United States Department of Commerce (“ITA” or Commerce) and the final determination of the United States Interna[1527]*1527tional Trade Commission on the dumping of malleable cast iron pipe fittings from Brazil which caused material injury to a domestic industry.

On January 12, 1988, this Court entered a final judgment on the merits of the case affirming both determinations of the government. See Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 12 CIT —, 678 F.Supp. 898 (1988).

Prior to that time, plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the automatic liquidation of entries made during the first post-order review period and which had become subject to the automatic assessment provision of § 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the “Act”)2 and the implementing § 353.53a(d) of Commerce’s Regulations.3

The Court denied plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction in Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 11 CIT —, 669 F.Supp. 437, 439 (1987) {Tupy I), holding that plaintiffs failed to show immediate and irreparable harm because “[a]ny harm ... that plaintiffs may suffer if the entries are liquidated is undeniably the result of their failure to utilize the administrative remedy provided.” The Court accepted ITA’s argument that under the 1984 amendment to § 751 of the Act, plaintiffs had the option to request an administrative review of the subject entries and thus prevent the alleged “irreparable harm” of automatic liquidation under 19 C.F.R. § 353.53a(d). The Court found that plaintiffs did not challenge the validity of the regulations, nor did they dispute “that they were properly notified of the necessity of requesting a review” in order to prevent the automatic assessment of duties. Id.

The Court recognized the importance of the issues raised by plaintiffs’ motion for injunctive relief and granted a certification for interlocutory appeal and a stay of its denial of the preliminary injunction pending appeal. See Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 11 CIT —, 671 F.Supp. 27 (1987) {Tupy II). When this Court issued its final decision on the merits, however, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed the interlocutory appeal of our denial of the preliminary injunction on the grounds of mootness. See Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 841 F.2d 1101 (Fed. Cir.1988). The stay of the decision denying the preliminary injunction in Tupy I pending the interlocutory appeal became ipso facto dissolved.

Plaintiffs appealed the final judgment on the merits and moved for a new stay pending appeal. We granted plaintiffs’ motion for a second stay under Rule 62 of the Rules of this Court to preserve the status quo. See Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 12 CIT —, Slip Op. 88-32 (Mar. 16, 1988) {Tupy III) [available on WESTLAW, 1988 WL 24558].

On June 28, 1988, plaintiffs moved to expand the scope of the stay granted in Tupy 7/7 to include entries made during the second review period. These new entries became subject to automatic liquidation, because plaintiffs once again failed to request an administrative review for these new entries. The Court denied that motion in its Order entered without an opinion on July 26, 1988.

[1528]*1528DECISION

The Court finds that Rule 52(a) of the Rules of this Court does not apply to its Order of July 26, 1988, denying plaintiffs’ motion to modify the stay. That order does not dispose of an “interlocutory injunction”, but is a discretionary action under Rule 62 of the Rules of this Court which is entitled Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment. Rule 62(c) in pertinent part states that:

the court in its discretion may suspend, modify, restore, or grant an injunction during the pendency of the appeal

(emphasis added). In its Order of July 26, 1988, this Court did not choose to either “suspend, modify, restore, or grant an injunction”, but chose to refrain from exercising its discretion to do so for the reasons described below.

With regard to plaintiffs’ allegation that the Order’s compliance with Rule 52(a) is necessary in order to facilitate its appellate review, we conclude that, unlike a decision to grant or deny an “interlocutory” injunction subject to Rule 52(a), the discretionary Order of the Court denying a stay pending appeal of the final judgment is not subject to appellate review. Instead, considering the circumstances of this case, we believe that the Order dated July 26, 1988, entitles plaintiffs to seek the injunctive relief in the Court of Appeals as the court of first instance.

The four criteria of preliminary injunctions are widely utilized by the courts in determining whether to grant a stay of their own final judgments pending appeal. The weight and the legal effect of the four criteria in the context of a discretionary stay pending appeal of the final judgment, however, are substantially different. In Davis v. Lukhard, 106 F.R.D. 317 (E.D.Va. 1984), the court denied a motion for stay pending appeal, stating that:

the criteria for exercising discretion pending appeal are not the same as those appropriate to the granting of a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction.

Id. at 318. With regard to the criteria of the likelihood of prevailing on the merits, the Davis court stated that, after having determined the merits of the case,

[t]o think plaintiffs were ‘likely’ to obtain a reversal on appeal would require that I think the Court of Appeal would not apply the law.

Id. at 319 (emphasis in original). Similarly, after having determined the impact intended by the applicable law, the court was unable to find “irreparable harm” where the intent of the law

assumes that plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm in the indefinite future so long as the new laws adopted by Congress and enforced by the defendant remain in effect. With all the notice plaintiffs have had of the impending implementation, the immediacy of ‘irreparable harm’ does not exist.

Id.

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Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States, 696 F. Supp. 1525, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 813, 12 C.I.T. 813, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 251 (cit 1988).

696 F. Supp. 1525 (Fundicao Tupy S.A. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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