Kelley Drye & Warren LLP Files Lawsuit 1 billion in favo

 

Wednesday, Apr 08,2009, 1:49:04 PM   Click:

Copyright: Business Wire
Source: Business Wire
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WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Today, producers of fresh garlic, beef and lobster tail, canned mushrooms and honey represented by the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, filed an appeal lawsuit against the major insurance companies to recover nearly $ 1 billion in damages. The Washington, DC firm Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, LLP is co-counsel with Kelly Drye for many producers of meat from the lobster tail. The complaint states that the negligence insurersâ € ™ bonding customs, and the refusal to pay under these obligations, allowed the sale of large quantities to compete with food imports from China at a lower level at cost or œdumpedâ â € €? prices. This has caused serious financial damage to domestic producers. The complaint, filed with the Federal Court of International Trade, also argues that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Commerce did not enforce the four-year anti-dumping orders issued to protect domestic producers of dumping of Chinese imports .

The bail of the accused companies Hartford, Lincoln General, Washington International, American Home Assurance, Great American Insurance Companies and Fidelity International.

The complaint states that during eight years, insurers negligently published hundreds of customs bonds that guaranteed payment of all duties, the Government may determine are payable by U.S. importers for these Chinese products.

â € œWithout these bonds customs, importers and could not have sold the Chinese products in the U.S. market high-price dumping. Dumping of imports has forced producers to reduce significantly the prices of their products, causing farmers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, â €? said Michael Coursey, a partner of Kelley Drye € ™ s international trade practice group.

John Heintz, president of Kelley Drye € ™ s insurance recovery litigation and DC groups explained, â € œBecause these importers are new, little capital, and had little or no credit history or experience in the import, insurers knew or should have known that importers placed an extremely high risk of default on the assessment of antidumping duties. Insurers, but for years, bonds issued continuously on behalf of importers, and made millions of dollars in premiums.â €?

Now, the importers have failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in anti-dumping duties, the government charged for these imports. Similarly, insurers refused to pay the fees as required by their obligations, and Customs has failed to pursue collections lawsuits against insurers. The government is legally required to distribute to competition from domestic producers and ultimately anti-dumping duties paid by importers or insurers. Thus, the Government € ™ s non-payment of those rights, either importers or insurers has led to huge losses for domestic producers.

This preliminary trial, the insurance companies for unfair practices of international trade to customs bonds, and for not honoring the promised payments, upon issuance of such bonds.

John Kelley Drye partners Heintz (301) 466.3161 and Michael Coursey (202) 487.5226 available for interviews regarding the lawsuit.

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP is a multidisciplinary firm with five offices in the United States, an office in Brussels and a subsidiary in Mumbai. It is well known for representing clients in major international trade and customs and the recovery of insurance issues. For more information, log on www.kelleydrye.com.



Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

Michael J. Coursey, Esq., 202-342-8456

Cell: 202-487-5226

mcoursey@kelleydrye.com

or

John E. Heintz, Esq., 202-342-8412

Cell: 301-466-3161

jheintz@kelleydrye.com

or

Betsy Kim, 212-808-5193

Media Relations

Source: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP