NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States

12 Ct. Int'l Trade 381, 684 F. Supp. 1093, 12 C.I.T. 381, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 108
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedMay 6, 1988
DocketCourt No. 88-01-00053
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 381 (NTN Bearing Corp. of America 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
NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States, 12 Ct. Int'l Trade 381, 684 F. Supp. 1093, 12 C.I.T. 381, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 108 (cit 1988).

Opinion

Opinion and Order

Tsoucalas, Judge:

This matter focuses on whether plaintiffs are required to file a second set of civil actions against the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration (Commerce), and the International Trade Commission (ITC), as the result of the publication of an amended final dumping determination and order, where plaintiffs timely commenced an original set of actions after publication of the initial order.

On October 6, 1987, Commerce published an antidumping duty order covering certain tapered roller bearings. Antidumping Duty Order; Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan, 52 Fed. Reg. 37352 (1987). The initial order was based on Commerce’s final affirmative dumping determination, Final Determination of Sales At Less Than Fair Value; Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan, 52 Fed. Reg. 30700 (August 17,1987), and the affirmative final injury determination issued by the ITC. Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof * * * From Japan, USITC Pub. 2020, Inv. No. 731-TA-343 (Final) (Sept. 1987); 52 Fed. Reg. 36847 (Oct. 1,1987). On November 3,1987, plaintiffs commenced an action contesting commerce’s final determination of sales at less than fair value ("LTFV”), NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States, Court No. 87-11-01066, and also commenced an action contesting the final affirmative injury determination rendered by the ITC. NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States, Court No. 87-11-01067.

After NTN had commenced those actions, the government consented to correct clerical errors in the computation of the dumping margins, and on December 11, 1987, Commerce amended its final determination as well as the antidumping duty order, indicating lower dumping margins. Amendment to Final Determination of [382]*382Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Amendment to Antidumping Duty Order; Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan, 52 Fed. Reg. 47955 (Dec. 17, 1987). The ITC took no action in response to Commerce’s amended final dumping determination.

Thereafter, on December 30, 1987, plaintiffs moved in Court No. 87-11-01066, NTN’s initial action contesting Commerce’s dumping determination, for leave to file a supplemental complaint raising issues relevant to the amended determination. On January 19, 1988, this Court granted NTN’s motion. However, the government opposed plaintiffs motion, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the supplemental complaint because that action had not been commenced within 30 days after publication of the amended antidumping duty order, relying on Freeport Minerals v. United States, 3 Fed. Cir. (T) 114, 758 F.2d 629 (Fed. Cir. 1985). As stated in the government’s opposition to the filing of the supplemental complaint:

Based upon the holding in Freeport, it follows that when Commerce published the amended final determination and amended antidumping duty order on December 17, 1987, that publication served as a publication for purposes of 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(A)(i)(II) which authorizes the commencement of an action in this Court within 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register of "an antidumping or countervailing duty order based upon any determination described in clause (i) of subparagraph (B).” Since 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(A)(i)(II) provides for the filing of an action after, and not before the publication of the contested determination, it further follows that plaintiffs must challenge Commerce’s amended determination in a new action instituted after the publication of the amended determination. No case law dealing with supplemental pleadings generally can eliminate the statutory requirements set forth in 19 U.S.C § 1516a.
Under the circumstances, Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a supplemental complaint should be denied since the filing of the supplemental complaint would be futile in this case. The merits of the amended determination must be reviewed in a new action instituted after the publication of the amendments. In such an action, of course, Plaintiffs are not limited to challenging the amendment but are free to challenge all pertinent underlying factual findings and legal issues.

Court No. 87-11-01066, Defendants’ Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Complaint at 5-7 (footnotes omitted).

Plaintiffs also moved for leave to file a supplemental complaint in Civil Action No. 87-11-01067 in order to set forth plaintiffs’ claim in reference to the effect of Commerce’s amended final dumping determination on the validity of the ITC’s injury determination. That motion, not objected to by the government, was similarly granted. [383]*383Notwithstanding the filing of that motion, and concurrent therewith, plaintiffs commenced new actions, within 30 days after publication of the revised antidumping duty order, contesting both Commerce’s dumping determination, as amended, Court No. 88-01-00052, and the Commission’s injury determination. Court No. 88-01-00053 (the instant action). These latter two actions are essentially duplicative of the original actions incorporating the supplemental complaints. Plaintiffs have commenced these actions as a precautionary measure to protect the court’s jurisdiction to hear the challenges to the determinations underlying the antidumping duty order, in the event that the government’s position in Court No. 87-11-01066 may be subsequently adopted.

Defendants have moved to dismiss this action, addressed to the ITC’s injury determination, for lack of jurisdiction, since it was filed more than 30 days after the Commission issued its findings, and no revised decision was issued as a result of Commerce’s amended determination. Plaintiffs request that the court stay this action pending decision in Court No. 87-11-01067 in the event that defendant seeks to attack the court’s jurisdiction in that action based on the government’s position in Court No. 87-11-01066.

Discussion

The amended final dumping determination by Commerce did not result in the ITC revising its final injury determination. Therefore, defendants maintain that publication of the amended antidumping duty order has no effect on the court’s jurisdiction over the initial action to review the ITC’s injury determination. Application of the holding in Royal Business Machines, Inc. v. United States, 1 CIT 80, 507 F. Supp. 1007, affirmed, 69 CCPA 61, 669 F.2d 692 (1982), is instructive on whether plaintiffs must commence a new action against the ITC.

Following the specific ITC injury determination the only legal significance of the final antidumping duty order for plaintiff was as a signal that the time to bring an action for judicial review of the less than fair value and injury determinations was beginning to run.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Ct. Int'l Trade 381, 684 F. Supp. 1093, 12 C.I.T. 381, 1988 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ntn-bearing-corp-of-america-v-united-states-cit-1988.