Heartland By-Products, Inc. v. United States

In 1995, Heartland By-Products, Inc. (Heartland) (plaintiff) obtained an advance ruling from the United States Customs Service (customs) (defendant) classifying prospective syrup imports under subheading 1702.90.40 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Four years later, customs revoked the ruling and classified the syrup imports under a different subheading subject to higher tariffs. Heartland filed a complaint in the Court of International Trade seeking pre-importation review of the revocation under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(h) and to enjoin customs from enforcing the revocation. Although the court ruled in favor of Heartland (Heartland I), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the judgment on appeal. Further, although the appellate court’s decision did not specify on which date the new subheading would apply to Heartland’s imports, customs began liquidating Heartland’s entries under the new classification. Heartland filed a motion for entry of judgment before the Court of International Trade (Heartland III), once again invoking jurisdiction under § 1581(h), asking that the court issue an order stating the date upon which the new classification would apply to Heartland’s imports. Customs argued that the court lacked jurisdiction under § 1581(h) because that provision covered only prospective entries and not actual entries. Although the court disagreed with customs, it nonetheless declined to exercise its jurisdiction under § 1581(h). Years later, Heartland filed another complaint under § 1581(h) challenging customs’ retroactive imposition of the higher duty classification (Heartland IV). The court dismissed the case due to lack of jurisdiction, stating that it had lost jurisdiction under § 1581(h) when it denied Heartland’s first motion for entry of judgment. Heartland appealed.