United States v. Katana Racing, Inc.

75 F.4th 1346
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedAugust 3, 2023
Docket22-1832
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 75 F.4th 1346 (United States v. Katana Racing, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Katana Racing, Inc., 75 F.4th 1346 (Fed. Cir. 2023).

Opinion

Case: 22-1832 Document: 45 Page: 1 Filed: 08/03/2023

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

UNITED STATES, Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

KATANA RACING, INC., DBA WHEEL & TIRE DISTRIBUTORS, Defendant-Appellee ______________________

2022-1832 ______________________

Appeal from the United States Court of International Trade in No. 1:19-cv-00125-TJA, Senior Judge Thomas J. Aquilino, Jr. ______________________

Decided: August 3, 2023 ______________________

EMMA EATON BOND, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash- ington, DC, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also repre- sented by BRIAN M. BOYNTON, TARA K. HOGAN, PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY.

PRATIK A. SHAH, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, DC, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by PATRICK KLEIN, JOHN M. PETERSON, Neville Peterson LLP, New York, NY; RICHARD F. O’NEILL, Seattle, WA. Case: 22-1832 Document: 45 Page: 2 Filed: 08/03/2023

______________________

Before PROST, SCHALL, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges. SCHALL, Circuit Judge. On July 15, 2019, the United States brought an action in the United States Court of International Trade against Katana Racing, Inc. (“Katana”). In that action, the govern- ment sought to recover unpaid customs duties and fees pur- suant to the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1592(d). J.A. 89–94. Instead of answering the complaint, on August 30, 2019, Katana filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to United States Court of International Trade Rule (“CIT Rule”) 12(b). Among other things, Katana asserted that the com- plaint should be dismissed pursuant to CIT Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of jurisdiction because the government had filed suit after the statute of limitations set forth at 19 U.S.C. § 1621 had run. Katana stated that, although it had signed a waiver of the statute of limitations on October 25, 2016, it had revoked the waiver prior to the expiration of the lim- itations period. J.A. 242–45. In a decision dated March 28, 2022, the Court of International Trade found that Katana had properly revoked its October 25, 2016 waiver of the statute of limitations. As a result, the court held that the government’s suit was untimely, and it dismissed the suit pursuant to CIT Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of jurisdiction. United States v. Katana Racing, Inc., 569 F. Supp. 3d 1296, 1314 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2022). The government now appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we hold that the Court of International Trade erred in dismissing the government’s suit for lack of jurisdiction. We therefore reverse the court’s decision and remand the case to the court for further proceedings. Case: 22-1832 Document: 45 Page: 3 Filed: 08/03/2023

US v. KATANA RACING, INC. 3

BACKGROUND I The facts pertinent to this appeal are set forth in the government’s complaint. See Bioparques de Occidente, S.A. de C.V. v. United States, 31 F.4th 1336, 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2022) (“At the motion to dismiss stage, we ‘must accept well-pleaded factual allegations as true and must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the claimant.’” (quoting Hutchison Quality Furniture, Inc. v. United States, 827 F.3d 1355, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2016))). Katana, a California-based distributor of high-end wheels and tires, was the importer of record for 386 entries of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China be- tween November 24, 2009, and August 7, 2012. J.A. 89– 91. For those 386 entries, Katana supplied U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“Customs” or “CBP”) with invoices that listed prices lower than what Katana actually paid its Chinese vendors. Id. at 91. Due to this error, Katana un- dercalculated the amount of safeguard duties, regular cus- toms duties, harbor maintenance fees, and merchandise processing fees it owed Customs by $5,742,483.80. Id. On June 20, 2019, Customs issued a demand to Katana for the unpaid duties and fees. Id. at 93. As noted, on July 15, 2019, the government filed suit against Katana for unpaid customs duties and fees “[b]ased on its violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1592(a) and under 19 U.S.C. § 1592(d).” Id. at 93–94. According to the government, “Katana did not exercise reasonable care to ensure that [the 386 entries at issue] . . . reflected accurate values of the merchandise, and thus Katana violated 19 U.S.C. § 1592(a).” Id. at 92. 1

1 Section 1592(a) provides: Case: 22-1832 Document: 45 Page: 4 Filed: 08/03/2023

Although filed outside the statute of limitations time period set forth at 19 U.S.C. § 1621, the government’s com- plaint stated that it was timely because Katana had exe- cuted three consecutive waivers of the statute of limitations. In the last of these waivers, dated October 25, 2016, Katana indicated that the statute of limitations would be waived for a period “up to and including July 15, 2019,” the date the government filed suit. Id. at 90 (quot- ing J.A. 173). II As noted, on August 30, 2019, Katana moved to dismiss the government’s action under CIT Rule 12(b). J.A. 204– 05. Specifically, Katana’s motion sought dismissal under CIT Rule 12(b)(6) for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted” and CIT Rule 12(b)(1) for “lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.” Id. at 204; CIT Rule 12(b). Katana’s motion included a statement of facts supported by exhibits other than the pleadings. J.A. 213–21, 215 n.4, 252. In that statement of facts, Katana asserted that it “had been the victim of a pervasive scheme of identity theft,

[N]o person, by fraud, gross negligence, or negligence . . . may enter, introduce, or at- tempt to enter or introduce any merchandise into the commerce of the United States by means of (i) any document or electronically transmitted data or information, written or oral statement, or act which is material and false, or (ii) any omission which is material[.] Section 1592(d) states that “if the United States has been deprived of lawful duties, taxes, or fees as a result of a violation of [§ 1592(a)], the Customs Service shall require that such lawful duties, taxes, and fees be restored, whether or not a monetary penalty is assessed.” Section 1592(c) of 19 U.S.C. sets forth “[m]aximum penalties” for violations of § 1592(a). Case: 22-1832 Document: 45 Page: 5 Filed: 08/03/2023

US v. KATANA RACING, INC. 5

as Chinese vendors had engaged U.S. customs brokers to file entries in Katana’s name, without Katana’s knowledge or permission.” Id. at 215. Although it acknowledged that a CIT Rule 12(b)(6) mo- tion turns on the facts as alleged in the complaint, id. at 222, Katana stated that, “[t]o the extent the parties rely on materials outside the pleadings,” the Court of Interna- tional Trade should treat Katana’s motion as a motion for summary judgment under CIT Rule 12(d), id. at 215 n.4. 2 In its motion, Katana also stated that the court could con- sider evidence outside the pleadings to establish the predi- cate facts when considering a CIT Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 221– 22 (citing Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Watkins, 11 F.3d 1573, 1583–84 (Fed. Cir. 1993)). Katana made three main arguments in its motion to dismiss.

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Related

United States v. Katana Racing, Inc.
724 F. Supp. 3d 1366 (Court of International Trade, 2024)

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75 F.4th 1346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-katana-racing-inc-cafc-2023.