Timken Co. v. U.S., Slip Op. 98-20.

• Decision Date: 04 March 1998
• Docket Number: Court No. 96-12-2686.,Slip Op. 98-20.
• Citation: 1 F.Supp.2d 1390
• Parties: THE TIMKEN COMPANY, Plaintiff and Defendant-Intervenor, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant, NTN Bearing Corporation of America, American NTN Bearing Manufacturing Corporation and NTN Corporation; NSK Ltd. and NSK Corporation, Defendant-Intervenors and Plaintiffs, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda of America Mfg.,Inc. and Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Defendant-Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. Court of International Trade

1 F.Supp.2d 1390

THE TIMKEN COMPANY, Plaintiff and Defendant-Intervenor, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant, NTN Bearing Corporation of America, American NTN Bearing Manufacturing Corporation and NTN Corporation; NSK Ltd. and NSK Corporation, Defendant-Intervenors and Plaintiffs, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda of America Mfg.,Inc. and Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Defendant-Intervenor.

Slip Op. 98-20.

Court No. 96-12-2686.

United States Court of International Trade.

March 4, 1998.

Stewart and Stewart (Terence P. Stewart and William A. Fennell), Washington, DC, for Plaintiff and Defendant-Intervenor, Timken.

Frank W. Hunger, Assistant Attorney General; David M. Cohen, Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice (Velta A. Melnbrencis); of counsel: Carlos A. Garcia, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the Chief Counsel for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP (Donald Harrison), Washington, DC, for Defendant-Intervenor Honda.

OPINION

TSOUCALAS, Senior Judge.

In the underlying case, The Timken Company ("Timken") challenged certain aspects of the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration's ("Commerce") final results of the administrative review, entitled Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan and Tapered Roller Bearings, Four Inches or Less in Outside Diameter, and Components Thereof, From Japan; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews and Revocation in Part of an Antidumping Finding ("Final Results"), 61 Fed.Reg. 57,629 (Nov. 7, 1996). Timken claimed Commerce erred in, inter alia, revoking the dumping finding at issue with respect to American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda of America Mfg., Inc. and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (collectively "Honda").

The Court remanded this case to Commerce to investigate possible dumping of relevant Honda tapered roller bearing ("TRB") sales during the period April 1, 1993, through March 31, 1997, and, a determination that Honda's dumping margin has been zero or de minimis for this period and pursuant to a request for revocation by Honda, to revoke the dumping finding with respect to Honda. See Timken Co. v. United States, 21 CIT ___, 989 F.Supp. 234 (1997). Commerce and Honda moved for rehearing and reconsideration of the Honda issue. Rehearing was held on February 27, 1998.

Discussion

A motion for reconsideration under Rule 59(a) of the Rules of this Court is within the sound discretion of the Court. See, e.g., Mita Copystar Am., Inc. v. United States, 22 CIT ___, ___, 994 F.Supp. 393, 394 (1998). The purpose of a rehearing is not to relitigate a case but, rather, to rectify a fundamental or significant flaw in the original proceeding. See Arthur J. Humphreys, Inc. v. United States, 15 CIT 427, 427, 771 F.Supp. 1239, 1241 (1991). Pursuant to rehearing in this case, the Court remains disturbed by Commerce's and Honda's conduct, but refuses to expend limited and valuable administrative resources to perform reviews where there is no indication of dumping.

According to Commerce's regulations, it may revoke a dumping finding upon determining that a producer or reseller has not sold the merchandise at issue at less than fair market value for three consecutive review periods, including the instant review period, and concludes that the producer or reseller would not do so in the future. See 19 C.F.R. § 353.25(a) (1994).

In this case, Commerce determined that Honda did not dump the merchandise at issue during the three year period of January 1977 through July 1980 and, subsequently, from August 1, 1980, through September 1, 1981, known as the "gap period." Final Results, 61 Fed.Reg. at 57,650. However, under transition provisions surrounding a 1984 change in the law requiring Commerce to conduct administrative reviews upon request, if preliminary results were completed but a request for review was not received, Commerce would not issue final results and the preliminary results would have no force or effect. Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan, and Tapered Roller Bearings, Four Inches or Less in Outside Diameter, and Components Thereof, From Japan; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, Termination in Part, and Intent to Revoke in Part ("Preliminary Results"), 60 Fed.Reg. at 22,353. Because Commerce did not receive a request to review Honda for the 1980-81 period, Commerce did not issue final results finalizing Honda's revocation and the preliminary results for the 1980-81 period and the intent to revoke had no official standing. Id.

Finally, in November 1992, Honda requested final revocation from the TRB dumping finding at issue. Id. In accordance with Commerce's policy in similar situations where revocation proceedings were begun but never finalized and a significant backlog existed, Commerce performed an "update" review of Honda covering the most recent one-year period, the 1992-93 review period. See Final Results, 61 Fed.Reg. at 57,650. During this period, Commerce again found no dumping for Honda sales. Id. Hence, Commerce revoked the outstanding dumping finding on Honda exports of TRBs and certain TRB components, four inches or less in outside diameter, from Japan (the A-588-054 finding). The revocation applied to relevant Honda merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after September 1, 1981, the date of the original tentative revocation, and for which liquidation remains suspended. Id. at 57,652.

As the Court stated in its previous opinion, Commerce's decision to revoke the Honda dumping finding is a unique and problematic situation that has not been previously addressed. In the unusual circumstances at issue, in accordance with its regulations, Commerce investigated Honda's relevant TRB sales and concluded that Honda had a dumping margin of zero for the three...