United States v. Univar USA Inc.

355 F.Supp.3d 1225

UNITED STATES, Plaintiff,

v.UNIVAR USA INC., Defendant.

Slip Op. 18-157

Court No. 15-00215

United States Court of International Trade.

Dated: November 13, 2018

Reta E. Bezak, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for Plaintiff. With her on the brief were Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne E. Davidson, Director, Patricia M. McCarthy, Assistant Director, Stephen C. Tosini, Senior Trial Counsel, and William G. Kanellis, Trial Attorney.

Lucius B. Lau, White & Case LLP, of Washington, DC, argued for Defendant. With him on the brief were Gregory J. Spak, Sadie L. Gardner, and Jessica E. Lynd.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Barnett, Judge:

In this action, the United States of America ("Plaintiff" or the "Government") seeks to recover unpaid duties and a monetary penalty pursuant to Section 592 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1592 (2012),¹ plus interest, costs, and attorney fees, stemming from 36 entries of saccharin, allegedly transshipped from the People's Republic of China ("China") through the Republic of China ("Taiwan"), which Univar entered into the commerce of the United States between 2007 and 2012. See generally Compl., ECF. No. 2. Before the court is Defendant, Univar USA Inc.'s ("Univar" or "Defendant") motion for summary judgment. Confidential Univar's Mot. For Summ. J., ECF No. 143, and Confidential Univar USA Inc.'s Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of its Mot. for Summ. J. ("Def.'s Mem."), ECF No. 143-2. Defendant seeks summary judgment with respect to all entries. See Def.'s Mem. at 1-2. Alternatively, Defendant seeks dismissal of Plaintiff's penalty claims, asserting that U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("Customs" or "CBP") failed to comply with the statutory obligations of Section 592(b)(2), thereby depriving this court of subject matter jurisdiction. Def.'s Mem. at 42-44; Confidential Univar USA Inc.'s Reply in Supp. of its Mot. for Summ. J. ("Def.'s Reply") at 19-21, ECF No. 161. The motion is fully briefed,² and the court held oral argument on May 23, 2018. See Docket Entry, ECF No. 192; Oral Arg. Tr., ECF No. 196. For the reasons discussed below, Defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.

BACKGROUND

I. Evidentiary Objections

Pursuant to United States Court of International Trade ("USCIT") Rule 56.3(a), a motion for summary judgment must include a separate document that contains a "short and concise statement, in numbered paragraphs, of the material facts as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue to be tried." The movant must follow each statement with citation to evidence that would be admissible. USCIT Rule 56.3(c). Citations may be to "particular parts of materials in the record," such as "depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials." USCIT Rule 56(c)(1)(A). Pursuant to USCIT Rule 56(c)(2), "[a] party may object that the material cited to support or dispute a fact cannot be presented in a form that would be admissible in evidence."

In compliance with USCIT Rule 56.3, the parties have filed their proposed statements of facts and supported those statements with citations to evidence. See generally Confidential Univar's Rule 56.3 Statement in Supp. of its Mot. For Summ. J. ("DSOF"), ECF No. 143-3; Confidential Pl.'s Rule 56.3 Counterstatement of Fact ("PCSOF"), ECF No. 154-1; Confidential Univar USA Inc.'s Rebuttal to Pl.'s Rule 56.3 Counterstatement ("Def.'s Resp. to PCSOF"), ECF No. 161-1; Confidential Univar USA Inc.'s Suppl. Rule 56.3 Statement ("Suppl. DSOF"), ECF No. 184-1; Confidential Pl.'s Conditional Suppl. Rule 56.3 Counterstatement of Fact ("Suppl. PCSOF"), ECF No. 188-1.³ Plaintiff has cited numerous exhibits to support its statements of fact. See generally PCSOF.⁴ Univar objects to the admission of nearly all of Plaintiff's exhibits on the grounds of hearsay or relevance. The disputed evidence can be grouped in four general categories.

The first category of evidence to which Univar objects includes emails sent by Univar employees to Univar agents or third parties. For convenience, the exhibits, the relevant corresponding source where Univar makes the objection, and a brief description of the exhibit are set forth in the following table:

                                            Table 1
   Item    Plaintiff's Exhibit                   Brief Description      Univar's Objection
   No
   1       Pl.'s Attach. 1 at Univar_011207,     Email from Hungyao     Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-3 at p. 4                 Chin ("Mr.             Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Chin")5 to        ¶ 206
                                                 Thomas Biggs
                                                 ("Mr. Biggs")6
   2       Pl.'s Attach. 1 at Univar_014737,     Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-3 at p. 9                 Biggs to third         Resp. to
                                                 party                  PCSOF ¶ 246
   3       Pl.'s Attach. 1 at Univar_066462,     Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-3 at p. 13                Biggs to Mr. Chin      Resp. to PCSOF
                                                                        ¶ 205
   4       Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 162),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 367               Univar General         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Manager to Mr.         ¶ 227
                                                 Biggs and others
   5       Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 163),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 371               Univar General         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Manager to Mr.         ¶¶ 225-226, 260
                                                 Biggs
   6       Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 288),       Emails from Mr.        Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at pp. 144-147          Biggs and Mr.          Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Chin                   ¶¶ 191-193
   7       Pl.'s Suppl. A7 (Dep. Ex. 215),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 191 at p. 9                   Univar employee        Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 to third party         ¶ 198
   8       Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 311),       Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 268               Biggs to Mr. Chin      Resp. to PCSOF
                                                                        ¶ 210
   9       Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 316),       Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 285               Biggs to third         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 party                  ¶¶ 200, 244
   10      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 312),       Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 269               Chin to Mr. Biggs      Resp. to PCSOF
                                                                        ¶ 207
   11      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 314),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at pp. 275-282          Univar employee        Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 attaching an           ¶¶ 203, 213, 237
                                                 Application for
                                                 Kosher
                                                 Certification
   12      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 318),       Email from Mr.         Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 292               Biggs to third         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 party                  ¶ 212
   13      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 323),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 337               Univar employee        Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 to at least one        ¶ 217
                                                 other Univar
                                                 employee
   14      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 327),       Email thread           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 345               between Univar         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 employees              ¶ 224
   15      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 328),       Univar internal        Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at pp. 350-351          email                  Resp. to PCSOF
                                                                        ¶ 242
   16      Pl.'s Attach. 2 (Dep. Ex. 329),       Email from a           Hearsay. Def.'s
           ECF No. 154-4 at p. 353               Univar General         Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Manager to at          ¶ 228
                                                 least one other
                                                 Univar employee

Editor's Note: The preceding image contains the reference for footnotes^{5 ,6} The second category of evidence includes emails or other written communications sent to Univar employees or agents by third parties:

                                            Table 2
   Item    Exhibit                               Brief Description      Objection
   No
   1       Pl.'s Attach. 1 at UNIVAR_USCIT-      Email from             Hearsay. Def.'s
           0531, ECF No. 154-3 at pp. 87-88      William Huang to       Resp. to PCSOF
                                                 Mr. Chin               ¶ 186
   2       Pl.'s Attach. 1 at Univar

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