Daimlerchrysler Corp. v. U.S.
| Citation | 442 F.3d 1313 |
| Decision Date | 22 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-1357.,05-1357. |
| Parties | DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit |
Lawrence M. Friedman, Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, of Chicago, Illinois, argued for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief was Ilya A. Bakke.
Saul Davis, Senior Trial Counsel, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, of New York, New York, argued for defendant-appellee. With him on the brief were Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General; and David M. Cohen, Director, of Washington, DC; and Barbara S. Williams, Attorney-in-Charge, International Trade Field Office, of New York, New York. Of counsel on the brief was Michael W. Heydrich, Attorney, Office of Assistant Chief Counsel, International Trade Litigation, United States Customs and Border Protection, of New York, New York.
Before SCHALL, Circuit Judge, CLEVENGER, Senior Circuit Judge, and DYK, Circuit Judge.
DaimlerChrysler Corporation ("Daimler") appeals from a decision of the United States Court of International Trade denying Daimler's motion to amend its summons to include additional protests. The Court of International Trade concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over protests not listed in the original summons because the 180-day period for filing a summons to contest the denial of those protests had expired before the date of the proposed amendment. DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. United States, 350 F. Supp. 2d 1339, 1341-42 (Ct. Int'l Trade 2004) (Chief Judge Restani). We affirm.
In accordance with the Tariff Act of 1930,1 the United States imposes duties on imported merchandise. In order to import merchandise, the importer must make "entry" of the merchandise by filing required documentation with Customs. 19 U.S.C. § 1484 (2000); 19 C.F.R. § 141.4 (2005). As part of the process by which the proper amount of duty is determined (called "liquidation"), Customs assigns imported merchandise a classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTSUS"), 19 U.S.C. § 1202.
Under section 515 of the Tariff Act, an importer may challenge Customs' liquidation of imports, including classification of merchandise under the HTSUS, by filing a "protest" with Customs. 19 U.S.C. §§ 1514(e), 1515 (2000). A protest may challenge the classification of a single entry of merchandise, or encompass a number of entries "if all such entries involve the same protesting party, and if the same category of merchandise and a decision or decisions common to all entries are the subject of the protest." 19 C.F.R. § 174.13(b) (2005). If Customs denies such a protest, it must notify the importer in writing of the denial. 19 U.S.C. § 1515(a) (2000).
Upon receipt of notice of denial of a protest, the importer may bring suit in the Court of International Trade to contest Customs' decision. 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a) (2000). The Court of International Trade has "exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action commenced to contest the denial of a protest, in whole or in part, under section 515 of the Tariff Act of 1930." 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a) (2000). Such a suit may be initiated only by "the person who filed the protest . . . or by a surety on the transaction which is the subject of the protest." 28 U.S.C. § 2631(a) (2000). To institute an action contesting the denial of a protest, the importer must have paid "all liquidated duties, charges, or exactions . . . at the time the action is commenced . . . ." 28 U.S.C. § 2637(a) (2000).
The time limit for commencing a suit is set out in 28 U.S.C. § 2636(a). Section 2636(a) provides:
A civil action contesting the denial, in whole or in part, of a protest under section 515 of the Tariff Act of 1930 is barred unless commenced in accordance with the rules of the Court of International Trade—
(1) within one hundred and eighty days after the date of mailing of notice of denial of a protest under section 515(a) of such Act; or
(2) within one hundred and eighty days after the date of denial of a protest by operation of law under the provisions of section 515(b) of such Act.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2632(b), "[a] civil action in the Court of International Trade under section 515 or 516 of the Tariff Act of 1930 shall be commenced by filing with the clerk of the court a summons, with the content and in the form, manner, and style prescribed by the rules of the court."
The facts of this case are undisputed. Daimler exported United States-origin sheet metal to Mexico for painting and assembly into motor vehicles, and then imported the vehicles into the United States. On a number of occasions, Daimler filed protests seeking a partial duty exemption for these imports pursuant to subheading 9802.00.80 of the HTSUS. Daimler argued that the vehicles qualified for the partial duty exemption because the painting conducted in Mexico was "incidental to the assembly process" under subheading 9802.00.80. Customs repeatedly denied Daimler's protests. Daimler filed a large number of cases in the Court of International Trade challenging the denial of various protests. The Court of International Trade designated as a test case one of Daimler's suits challenging Customs' denial of such a protest and suspended 17 other cases. DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. United States, No. 99-03-00178, 2002 WL 31421861 (Ct. Int'l Trade 2002). We subsequently decided the classification issue in Daimler's favor in the test case, holding that Daimler was entitled to the partial duty exemption it claimed. DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. United States, 361 F.3d 1378, 1380 (Fed.Cir.2004).
The present case was one of the 17 suspended actions. On November 7, 2002, Daimler filed with the Court of International Trade a summons in the form prescribed by the Rules of the Court of International Trade. The summons stated that it included 81 protests covering a total of 2105 entries, listed a single protest number, 2304-91-000043, and stated that "[a]dditional protests and entry numbers [are] continued on [the] attached 41 page[] . . . schedule of protests[.]" Daimler's Br., App. at 13. Despite the representations on the summons form, the attached schedule of protests listed only 74 individual protest numbers and only 1604 entries. Under the heading "Contested Administrative Decision," the summons referred to the "[d]enial of claimed classification under 9802.00.80 for painted sheet metal parts of motor vehicles." Id., App. at 14. Finally, the summons included the statement:
Every denied protest included in this civil action was filed by the same above-named importer, or by an authorized person in his behalf. The category of merchandise specified above was involved in each entry of merchandise included in every such denied protest. The issue or issues stated above were common to all such denied protests. All such protests were filed and denied as prescribed by law. All liquidated duties, charges or exactions have been paid and were paid at the port of entry unless otherwise shown.
The schedule omitted seven protests covering more than 400 entries, and 97 entries from a protest that was specifically identified in the summons (protest no. 2304-93-100037). Thus the form correctly stated that it was designed to cover 81 protests, but failed to list seven of the protests.2 The omitted protests had been denied on May 22, May 23, May 29, and October 4, 2002.
On November 5, 2004, more than 180 days after receiving notice of the denial of the protests, Daimler moved to amend the summons to include the omitted protests and entries. The court allowed Daimler to amend the summons to include the 97 entries covered by the listed protest because "[a]s long as the protests were included in some way, jurisdiction will attach to every entry listed in the protest itself." DaimlerChrysler, 350 F.Supp.2d at 1341. The court barred addition of the seven omitted protests, however, concluding that while "the summons here was timely under 28 U.S.C. § 2636(a) as to whatever it covered," id. at 1341, "if there is no entry number on or attached to the summons and no protest number on or attached to the summons at the time it is filed, the general understanding that DaimlerChrysler intended to pursue this issue as to all possibly affected entries will not suffice" to include the omitted protests in the coverage of the summons. Id. at 1341-42 (emphasis in original). The court thus held that it had no jurisdiction over the omitted protests. Daimler appealed to this court, and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(5).3
We review jurisdictional determinations of the Court of International Trade without deference. Xerox Corp. v. United States, 289 F.3d 792, 794 (Fed.Cir.2002).
Daimler's summons was filed within 180 days of Customs' denials of the relevant protests, including the omitted protests, but Daimler's motion to amend was filed more than 180 days after denial of the omitted protests. We held in Pollak Import-Export Corp. v. United States, 52 F.3d 303, 306 (Fed.Cir.1995), that the 180-day time limit is jurisdictional. The question of whether the seven omitted protests were time-barred and thus outside the Court of International Trade's jurisdiction turns on the sufficiency of the summons as to those protests.
Daimler argues that Pollak holds that failure to comply with any Rule of the Court of International Trade requiring listing the protest numbers is not jurisdictional.4 We held in Pollak that the failure to list the individual entries in a summons did not deprive the Court of International Trade of jurisdiction over those entries. The government argued that section 2632(b) requires that the summons have "the content and [be filed] in the form, manner, and style prescribed by the rules" of the Court of International Trade, and that those rules required listing each entry. 52 F.3d at 306 (internal quotation marks...
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