Pistachio Group of the Ass'n of Food Industries v. United States

10 Ct. Int'l Trade 475, 642 F. Supp. 1176, 10 C.I.T. 475, 1986 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1209
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 17, 1986
DocketCourt No. 86-04-00475
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 10 Ct. Int'l Trade 475 (Pistachio Group of the Ass'n of Food Industries 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
Pistachio Group of the Ass'n of Food Industries v. United States, 10 Ct. Int'l Trade 475, 642 F. Supp. 1176, 10 C.I.T. 475, 1986 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1209 (cit 1986).

Opinion

[476]*476Memorandum Opinion and Order

DiCarlo, Judge:

On March 11,1986, Commerce published its Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Countervailing Duty Order; In-Shell Pistachios From Iran, 51 Fed. Reg. 8344. On April 7, 1986, within thirty days after the publication of the countervailing duty order, plaintiffs filed a summons contesting the final determination pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(A)(II) (Supp. II 1982). On May 9, 1986, thirty-two days after the filing of the summons, plaintiffs filed their complaint.

On June 6,1986, defendant moved to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that plaintiffs failed to file the complaint within thirty days after the summons was filed, and moved to stay the filing of the administrative record until forty-five days after disposition of the motion to dismiss. On June 11,1986, plaintiffs moved for an extension of time within which to file the complaint.

The questions presented are (1) whether the Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2636(c) (Supp. II1984) in an action brought under 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(A)(II) in which the summons is timely filed but the complaint is not filed within thirty days after the filing of summons, and (2) if so, whether plaintiff should be granted leave to file its complaint out of time under Rule 6(b) of the Rules of this Court. The Court holds that this action is not barred by plaintiff’s failure to file its complaint within thirty days after the filing of the summons and that plaintiff is granted leave to file its complaint.

The time within which this action must be commenced is controlled by 28 U.S.C. § 2636(c). See Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. United States, 742 F.2d 1405, 1412 (Fed. Cir. 1984). Plaintiff asserts that the question whether a timely complaint is a jurisdictional prerequisite was answered in Jernberg Forgings Co. v. United States, 7 CIT 62 (1984), vacated on other grounds, Slip Op. 84-116 (October 15, 1984), wherein an untimely complaint was held not to bar jurisdiction. Although the Court reaches the same result as in Jernberg, that case is not dispositive of the jurisdictional question since that case involved lánguage of section 2636(c) which has been changed by the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-573, 98th Cong. 2d Sess. (1984). See NEC Corp. v. United States, 9 CIT 557, Slip Op. 85-116 (November 19, 1985), appeal pending, (Fed. Cir. Nos. 86-912, 86-922).

Section 2636(c), as amended states:

A civil action contesting a reviewable determination listed in section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930 [19 U.S.C. § 1516a] is barred unless commenced in accordance with the rules of the Court of International Trade within the time specified in such section. [Emphasis added.]

28 U.S.C. § 2636(c) (Supp. II 1984).

The question whether the action is barred depends upon whether the action was commenced in accordance with the Rules of this Court within the time specified in 19 U.S.C. § 1516a.

[477]*477The commencement of actions is governed by Rule 3 of the Rules of this Court which states in pertinent part:

A civil action is commenced by filing concurrently with the clerk of the court a summons and complaint except that the following civil actions are commenced by filing a summons only:
(2) an action described in 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) to contest a determination listed in section 516A(a)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930. [Emphasis added.]

Since an action to contest a determination listed in section 1516a(a)(2) is commenced under the Rules of this Court "by filing a summons only,” the Court has jurisdiction over any such action in which the summons is filed within the time specified in section 1516a. Section 1516a states in pertinent part:

Within thirty days after—

(i) the date of publication in the Federal Register of—
«U «1* *1* «T« «Ja V V íp Jp ¿P 7p
(II) an antidumping or countervailing duty order * * *
an interested party who is a party to the proceeding in connection with which the matter arises may commence an action in the United States Court of International Trade by filing a summons, and within thirty days thereafter a complaint * * *.

Since plaintiff filed a summons within thirty days after the publication of the countervailing duty order, this action was "commenced in accordance with the rules of the Court of International Trade within the time specified in [section 1516a],” 28 U.S.C. § 2636(c), and accordingly the Court has jurisdiction.

Defendant erroneously argues that when Congress amended section 2636(c) it intended to make the filing of a complaint within thirty days after the filing of a summons a jurisdictional prerequisite. Defendant’s interpretation begins with a deletion of the reference in section 2636(c) to commencement in accordance with the Court’s rules. It then reads the section to mean that commencement can only be accomplished by fulfilling both the summons and complaint procedures set forth in section 1516a, irrespective of the manner in which commencement is defined in the Rules of this Court. Defendant further argues that in Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. United States, 742 F.2d 1405 (Fed. Cir. 1984), "the appellate court concluded that the time limits specified in section 1516a, not section 2636(c), controlled.” Brief for Defendant at 5.

Like Jernberg, supra, Bethlehem Steel was a case involving the law as it existed prior to the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-573, 98th Cong. 2d Sess. (1984). The Bethlehem Steel Court held that an action challenging a negative aspect of an affirmative determination by the Department of Commerce was properly brought within thirty days after the publication of the final countervailing [478]*478duty order rather than within thirty days after the earlier final affirmative countervailing duty determination.

In discussing the relationship between sections 1516a and the former version of section 2636(c), the Bethlehem Steel Court found those provisions to be "in pari materia” and without conflict. 742 F.2d at 1412.

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10 Ct. Int'l Trade 475, 642 F. Supp. 1176, 10 C.I.T. 475, 1986 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 1209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pistachio-group-of-the-assn-of-food-industries-v-united-states-cit-1986.