Prysmian Cables & Sys. USA, LLC v. United States

756 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2025 CIT 09
United States Court of International Trade·Decided January 22, 2025·No. 24-00101·Published

Opinion

Slip Op. No. 25-9

UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

PRYSMIAN CABLES AND SYSTEMS USA, LLC,

Plaintiff, Before: Stephen Alexander Vaden, Judge

v.

Court No. 1:24-cv-00101

UNITED STATES, et al.,

Defendants.

OPINION

[Granting Defendant’s Amended Motion to Partially Dismiss Case.]

Dated: January 22, 2025

Brad S. Keeton, Frost Brown Todd LLP, of Lexington, KY, for Plaintiff Prysmian Cables and Systems USA, LLC.

Kyle S. Beckrich, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, for Defendant United States. With him on the brief were Brain M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Patricia M. McCarthy, Director; and Tara K. Hogan, Assistant Director.

Vaden, Judge: The United States moves to partially dismiss the Amended Complaint filed by Plaintiff Prysmian Cables and Systems USA, LLC (Prysmian). Prysmian claims that the Department of Commerce (Commerce) violated 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) and 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) — both sections of the Administrative Procedure Act — when it denied Prysmian’s Section 232 exclusion requests for aluminum imports into the United States. The Government seeks to dismiss all Prysmian’s 5 U.S.C. § 706(1)

claims and fifteen of Prysmian’s seventeen 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) claims. For the reasons set forth below, this Court GRANTS the Government’s Motion.

BACKGROUND

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 empowers the President of the United States to impose trade measures when the President determines action “must be taken to adjust the imports of [an] article and its derivatives so that such imports will not threaten to impair the national security.” 19 U.S.C. § 1862(c)(1)(A)(ii). On March 8, 2018, President Donald J. Trump invoked Section 232 and imposed a ten percent tariff on aluminum imports, finding that those imports threatened to impair national security. See Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States, Pres. Proc. No. 9,704, 83 Fed. Reg. 11,619 (Mar. 8, 2018). In his Proclamation, the President directed the Secretary of Commerce to allow exclusions from the tariff for aluminum products not immediately available in the United States in sufficient quality or quantity. Id. at 11,619.

Prysmian is a domestic company that imports aluminum to produce conductive cable for electrical power generation, transmission, and distribution. Am. Compl. ¶ 3, ECF No. 16. To continue manufacturing products at its current pace, Prysmian sought exclusions on certain aluminum rods procured from companies in Canada, Bahrain, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina. Id. ¶¶ 38–45. Between 2018 to 2021, Prysmian submitted seventeen separate exclusion requests. Id. ¶ 46. Commerce denied all Prysmian’s requests, starting in 2019. Id.

On June 7, 2024, Prysmian filed suit in this Court. Compl., ECF No. 2.

Prysmian filed its Amended Complaint on September 10, 2024. Am. Compl., ECF No. 16. It alleges that Commerce violated 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) because Commerce unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed its decisions on Prysmian’s exclusion requests. Id. ¶¶ 82–121 (Counts I–VIII). The Amended Complaint further claims Commerce’s ultimate denials violated 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) because its actions were arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law. Id. ¶¶ 122–69 (Counts IX– XVI).

On October 25, 2024, the Government filed its Amended Motion to Partially Dismiss. Corrected Am. Mot. to Dismiss Case (Def.’s Mot.), ECF No. 21. In its Motion, the Government argues that this Court should partially dismiss Prysmian’s Complaint for two reasons. It asserts that 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) does not apply to agency denials. Def.’s Mot. at 4–6, ECF No. 21. The Government argues that the statute describes an agency’s failure to act, not its decision to deny a request. Id. at 4. According to Commerce, a denial is the “agency’s act of saying no to a request,” whereas a “failure to act ‘is simply the omission of an action without formally rejecting a request.’” Id. at 4 (quoting Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness All., 542 U.S. 55, 63 (2004)). Because Commerce denied Prysmian’s exclusion requests, Commerce did not fail to act; and Prysmian’s claims should be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Id. at 6.

Prysmian disagrees. Pl.’s Resp. to Mot. to Partially Dismiss Case (Pl.’s Resp.), ECF No. 23. Plaintiff argues that Commerce failed to act because it did not perform three required actions for each denial. First, Prysmian alleges that Commerce failed to apply mandatory criteria to the facts presented in Prysmian’s exclusion requests such as “an assessment of whether domestically produced substitute products … are immediately available in sufficient quantities to meet the requester’s needs ….” Id. at 6; see 15 C.F.R. § 705, Supp. 1(c)(6). Second, Commerce failed to prepare a specific decision memorandum and only provided a form response. Pl.’s Resp. at 7; see 15 C.F.R. § 705, Supp. 1(h)(2)(i). Third, Commerce failed to notify Customs of Prysmian’s entitlement to an exclusion under both the Presidential Proclamation’s requirements and 15 C.F.R. § 705, Supp. 1(h)(3)(ii). Pl.’s Resp. at 7. Because Commerce did not follow these required steps, Prysmian alleges that Commerce failed to act within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). Id. at 7–8.

Next, the Government argues that fifteen of Prysmian’s seventeen 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) claims should be dismissed as untimely. Def.’s Mot. at 6–7, ECF No. 21. Defendant notes any claim brought under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) is subject to a two-year statute of limitations. Id. at 6 (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2636(i)). Because the filing date of the original complaint was June 7, 2024, the claims that accrued between May 4, 2019, to April 6, 2022, are untimely under 28 U.S.C. § 2636(i). Id. at 7.

Prysmian believes all seventeen of its exclusion requests are timely. Prysmian agrees it filed its Complaint on June 7, but it argues that Commerce’s denial of its

exclusion requests is a continuing violation. Pl.’s Resp. at 9–12, ECF No. 23. Because Commerce’s “only reasonable conclusion” was to grant the exclusions, “[Commerce] has repeatedly and continuously … violat[ed] its legal obligations[.]” Id. at 11. Alternatively, Prysmian argues that, if the continuing violation doctrine does not apply, the correct statute of limitations is the six-year limitation period under 28 U.S.C. § 2640(a) instead of the two-year period under 28 U.S.C. § 2636(i). Id. at 12– 13.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i). When the specific jurisdictional grants of 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a)–(h) do not apply, then 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) contains a residual grant of jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i)(1)(B) grants the Court jurisdiction over “any civil action commenced against the United States, its agencies, or its officers, that arises out of any law of the United States providing for … tariffs, duties, fees, or other taxes on the importation of merchandise for reasons other than the raising of revenue.” This “‘residual’ grant of jurisdiction . . . may not be invoked when jurisdiction under another subsection of [Section] 1581 is or could have been available ….” Sunpreme Inc. v. United States, 892 F.3d 1186, 1191 (Fed. Cir. 2018). No party challenges Plaintiff’s invocation of jurisdiction, and the Court finds no error in Plaintiff’s jurisdictional claim. See Capron v. Van Noorden, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 126, 127 (1804) (“[I]t [is] the duty of the Court to see that they had jurisdiction, for the consent of the parties could not give it.”); Answers in Genesis of Kentucky, Inc. v.

Creation Ministries Int’l., Ltd., 556 F.3d 459, 465 (6th Cir. 2009) (“[F]ederal courts have a duty to consider their subject matter jurisdiction in regard to every case and may raise the issue sua sponte.”).

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