Skf Usa Inc. v. U.S., Slip Op. 07-116.

Decision Date26 July 2007
Docket NumberCourt No. 05-00542.,Slip Op. 07-116.
PartiesSKF USA INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, United States Customs and Border Protection, Robert C. Bonner (Commissioner, United States Customs and Border Protection), United States International Trade Commission, and Stephen Koplan (Chairman, United States International Trade Commission), Defendants, and Timken U.S. Corporation, Defendant— Intervenor.
CourtU.S. Court of International Trade

Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, DC (Herbert C. Shelley, Alice A. Kipel, Susan R. Gihring and William G. Isasi) for SKF USA Inc., Plaintiff.

Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne E. Davidson, Director, Patricia M. McCarthy, Assistant Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice (David S. Silverbrand); of counsel: Charles Steuart, United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, for the United States, Defendant.

James M. Lyons, General Counsel, Neal J. Reynolds, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, Unites States International Trade Commission (David A.J. Goldfine) for the United States International Trade Commission and Stephen Koplan, Chairman, Defendant.

Stewart and Stewart (Terence P. Stewart, Amy S. Dwyer and J. Daniel Stirk), for Timken U.S. Corporation, Defendant-Intervenor.

OPINION

TSOUCALAS, Senior Judge.

I. Jurisdiction

The Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) (2000).

II. Standard of Review

As set out in the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA")1 this Court "will set aside Customs' denial of offset distribution only if it is `arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.'" Dixon Ticonderoga Co. v. United States, 468 F.3d 1353, 1354 (Fed.Cir.2006)(quoting Candle Corp. of America v. U.S. Int'l Trade Comm'n, 374 F.3d 1087, 1091 (Fed.Cir.2004)(citing 5 U.S.C. § 706 (2000))).

III. Background

On September 12, 2006, this Court issued an order directing the United States International Trade Commission ("ITC" or "Commission") and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection ("Customs")2, to "re-examine their decision to deny SKF [Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000] disbursements for the 2005 fiscal year in accordance with" this Court's decision in SKF USA Inc. v. United States ("SKF USA"), ___ CIT ___, 451 F.Supp.2d 1355 (2006). On December 8, 2006, Customs filed its remand determination. See Reconsideration of the Fiscal Year 2005 CDSOA Certification of SKF USA, Inc. ("Customs' Reconsideration"), December 8, 2006.3 On December 11, 2006, the ITC filed its remand determination. See Letter from Patrick V. Gallagher, Jr., ITC, to the Honorable Tina Potuto Kimble, Clerk of the Court (Dec. 11, 2006) ("ITC Remand Determination"). On January 10, 2007, SKF USA Inc. ("SKF" or "Plaintiff") and Defendant-Intervenor, Timken U.S. Corp. ("Timken") filed their comments upon the remand results. See Pl.'s Comments on Remand Determinations Issued By Def. United States Customs and Border Protection and Defendant United States International Trade Commission ("SKF Comm.") at 10; Defendant-Intervenor's Comments on the Remand Results ("Timken Comm.") at 4.

In its remand, the ITC determined that SKF "did participate in the original investigation by questionnaire response and the company is eligible, using the definitions announced in [SKF USA], to be placed on the list prepared by the [ITC] under the Byrd Amendment for the order covering ball bearings from Japan." ITC Remand Determination at 2. As such, the ITC "revised the Byrd Amendment list for the antidumping duty order on ball bearings from Japan to include" SKF. Id. at 2.

In its remand, Customs stated:

In its July 13, 2005, certification, SKF sought a disbursement in the amount of its total qualifying expenditures $115,033,000.00. Including SKF's certification, the total qualifying expenditures submitted by affected domestic producers for Commerce Case No. 588-8044 a would have been $3,873,340,322.67. A total of $47,810,802.17 was available for distribution to affected domestic producers in this Commerce Case. In accordance with 19 U.S.C. 1675c(d)(3) and 19 C.F.R. 159.64(c)(2), affected domestic producers would only be entitled to receive a pro rata share of the available funds because the total qualifying expenditures certified exceeds the amount available for distribution. SKF's certified qualifying expenditures represent 2.9699% of the total qualifying expenditures for this Commerce Case No. A-588-804.

If, after all opportunities for rehearing and/or appeal have been exhausted, [SKF USA] is the final court decision upon this action, SKF would receive a distribution for up to $1,419,933.01 in CDSOA funds for fiscal year 2005, to the extent these funds are either recoverable from the affected domestic producers who initially received them or are available. ...

Custom's Remand Determination at 1-2.

On January 10, 2007, SKF filed comments to both the ITC Remand Determination and Customs' Reconsideration with this Court. See SKF Comm. at 10. Comments were also submitted by Timken on the same day. See Timken Comm. at 4. Rebuttal comments were submitted by the ITC, Customs and Timken on January 30, 2007. See Def. U.S. International Trade Commission's Response to Pl.'s Comments on the Commission's Remand Determination ("ITC's Reb.") at 1-9; Response to Comments Upon Remand Results ("Customs' Reb.") at 16; Rebuttal Comments of Timken U.S. Corporation to SKF USA's Comments on the Remand Results ("Timken's Reb.") at 15.

IV. Discussion
A. Contentions of the Parties
1. SKF's Contentions

SKF agreed with the final results of both Customs' Reconsideration and the ITC Remand Determination (collectively, the "Remand Determinations") to the extent that both Customs and the ITC (collectively, the "Defendants") now find that SKF is eligible to be placed on the list of "affected domestic producers" and is as such eligible to receive distributions under 19 U.S.C. 1675c. See Pl.'s Comm. at 2. SKF, however, objects to the ITC having "only revised the CDSOA `affected domestic producer' list to include [SKF] for the antidumping duty order on ball bearings from Japan." Id. at 3.

SKF stresses that "the investigation in which the [ITC] noted that [SKF] participated was not limited to Japan, but covered ball bearings from nine countries." Id. at 3. SKF further contends that this Court's decision in SKF "with regard to the ITC was limited only as to fiscal year 2005. It was not limited as to country." Id. at 4. Furthermore, SKF contends that a determination that SKF is eligible for disbursements under all outstanding ball bearing orders would be consistent with SKF's last request for relief, which requested that this Court:

issue an order severing from the antidumping law, those provisions of 19 U.S.C. 1675c ... that limit eligibility for disbursements to only those domestic producers that support antidumping petitions and declaring those provisions unconstitutional, null and void, and issue an order declaring that [SKF] is entitled to be considered for distribution of a proportionate share of CDSOA disbursements for fiscal year 2005.

Id. at 5 (citing to Am. Complaint at 17, ¶ 4).

SKF further argues that as Customs relied solely on. SKF's July 13, 2005 certification, Customs thereby failed to consider the amended certification for Japan, as well as other certifications. See id. at 6. SKF specifically raises Customs' refusal to consider an amended certification for disbursements under the antidumping order against ball bearings from Japan, as well as certifications for seven other countries, which SKF filed with Customs on September 28, 2006. Id. at 6. SKF contends that this "refusal to use the amended certification to calculate [SKF's] proportional share of disbursements is unsupportable." Id. at 6.

2. ITC's Contentions

The ITC contends that when "SKF filed its appeal in October 2005, [SKF] made clear that it was challenging only the two agency's actions relating to its requests for Byrd Amendment distributions for the Japanese order." ITC Reb. at 2; (citing to Complaint, ¶¶ 17, 15). The ITC stresses that SKF's claim "reflects a not particularly subtle attempt to broaden the scope of [SKF's] appeal and the nature of the Court's decision on this matter." Id. at 4.

The ITC stresses that the scope of the Court's review in the case at bar "`is confined to the record developed before the agency[.]'" Id. at 5 (citing to Ammex, Inc. v. United States, ___ CIT ___, 341 F.Supp.2d 1308, 1311 (2004)). Thus, the ITC argues, "the decisions subject to this appeal are only the [ITC's] and Customs' denial of [SKF's] requests to be declared eligible for Byrd distributions relating to the Japanese ball bearings order for fiscal year 2005." Id. at 5. The ITC further stresses that "at no point in [the] administrative process did [SKF] even suggest that the [ITC] or Customs had been mistaken in interpreting their requests as relating only to the Japanese ball bearings order." Id. at 6. Additionally, the ITC argues that SKF had previously made it clear that it was its intent to challenge the actions of Customs and the ITC in denying its request under the Japanese ball bearing order, and that SKF only challenged the actions of the Defendants in connection with the disbursement of funds collected under an antidumping order on ball bearings from Japan. See id. at 6 (citing to Complaint at ¶ 7). The ITC concludes by contending that this Court's opinion in SKF USA did not indicate that the ITC or Customs "should go beyond the scope of their underlying determinations and this appeal by making a new set of decisions as to whether [SKF] was entitled to receive Byrd distributions under any order than the order covering Japan." Id. at 7.

3. Timken's Contentions

Timken initially disagreed with the decision in SKF USA, in which this Court declared that...

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