CAFC Defers Consideration of Dismissal Motion in EAPA Case Over Liquidated Entries to Merits Panel

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 2 deferred a U.S. motion to dismiss an Enforce and Protect Act case to the merits panel assigned to the case. The government wanted the case tossed because all the entries at issue had been liquidated (Royal Brush Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-1226).

In the EAPA investigation, CBP said plaintiff-appellant Royal Brush evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on pencils from China by transshipping them through the Philippines. Following a spat over Royal Brush's due process rights at the Court of International Trade, it came to light that four of the five entries at issue were liquidated during the EAPA proceeding, leading the U.S. to move to dismiss the appeal (see 2212090066). Royal Brush argued that dismissing the case on these grounds would deprive it of any judicial recourse and permit CBP's illegal liquidation of the entries.