Slip Op. 03 - 11
UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
__________________________________________
:
PRINCESS CRUISES, INC., :
:
Plaintiff, :
:
v. : Before: MUSGRAVE, JUDGE
:
THE UNITED STATES, : Consol. Court No. 94-06-00352
: (98-03-00463)
Defendant. :
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[As instructed by the Court in Princess Cruises, Inc. v. United States, 26 CIT __, __, 217 F. Supp.
2d 1361, 1369 (2002), the parties submitted a Joint Status Report on November 12, 2002, stipulating
the amount of the refund Plaintiff was entitled to receive pursuant to the Court’s August 29, 2002,
Opinion. Defendant subsequently moved to withdraw from the stipulation after discovering that the
stipulation allegedly overstated Plaintiff’s recovery by $73,501.00. Plaintiff opposed Defendant’s
motion on the ground that Defendant allegedly conceded in an earlier brief that Plaintiff was entitled
to recover this amount. Held: Defendant’s motion to withdraw is granted and amount of the refund
Princess is entitled to under subpart (a) of the stipulation is reduced from $389,595.00 to
$316,094.00 plus interest accruing from June 17, 1994.]
Decided: January 28, 2003
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Judith A. Lee and Brian J. Rohal) for Plaintiff.
Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, David M. Cohen, Director,
Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice (Todd Hughes), and
Richard McManus, Office of Chief Counsel, United States Customs Service, of counsel, for
Defendant.
OPINION
In the Court’s August 29, 2002, Opinion the parties were instructed to confer and attempt to
reach a stipulation on the amount of a final judgment in this action. See Princess Cruises, Inc. v.
Consol. Court No. 94-06-00352 Page 2
United States, 26 CIT __, __, 217 F. Supp. 2d 1361, 1369 (2002). On November 12, 2002, the
parties submitted a Joint Status Report stipulating that Plaintiff Princess Cruise Lines, Inc.
(“Princess”) was entitled to “the total of (a) $389,595.00 plus interest accruing from June 17, 1994;
and (b) $356,375.00 plus interest accruing from February 26, 1998.” On November 21, 2002,
Defendant the United States Customs Service (“Customs”) filed a motion to withdraw its stipulation
to the amount contained in subpart (a), i.e. $389,595.00 plus interest accruing from June 17, 1994,
on the ground that it “fails to reflect certain reductions . . . already taken by Princess and is, therefore,
overstated by $73,501.00.”1 Defendant’s Motion to Withdraw Stipulation at 2.
Discussion
Customs alleges that this error resulted from a chart that Princess presented to Customs along
with its proposed stipulation. The chart indicates that in March 1994 Princess paid HMT principal
in the amount of $259,560.00 for years 1991 and prior, $111,253.00 for 1992, and $18,782.00 for
January 1993. See id. at Ex. 1, p.1 (“Refund Chart”). The chart also indicates that the source for
these figures was “Attachment A to Princess Cruises Letter and Payment of 3/4/94.” Id. The letter
that Princess sent to Customs on March 8, 1994, and Attachment A to that letter are also included
as exhibits to Customs’ motion to withdraw from the stipulation.2
1
Customs would now stipulate that Princess is entitled to receive “the total of (a)
$316,094.00 plus interest accruing from June 17, 1994; and (b) $356,375.00 plus interest accruing
from February 26, 1998.” Defendant’s Motion to Withdraw Stipulation at 5.
2
The Court notes the discrepancy between the reference on the Refund Chart to a “Letter
and Payment of 3/4/94” and the “8 March, 1994” date on the actual letter and assumes that reference
on the Refund Chart is inaccurate.
Consol. Court No. 94-06-00352 Page 3
Review of Attachment A reveals that Customs is correct in its belated discovery that the
HMT principal remitted by Princess in March 1994 was reduced by $73,501.00 for the periods at
issue in the present litigation. Nevertheless, Princess opposes Customs’ motion to withdraw on the
basis that Customs “previously conceded over a year ago [in its October 30, 2001, reply brief] that
these same charges should be refunded to Princess Cruises . . . . citing to the same line of the same
letter as evidence of the amount it conceded it owed to Princess Cruises.” Plaintiff’s Opposition to
Defendant’s Motion to Withdraw at 3 (emphasis in the original).
Princess misunderstands Customs’ concession.3 Princess deducted amounts attributable to
travel agent commissions for land-based services from its March 1994 payment to Customs.
Customs subsequently billed Princess for some or all of these deductions on October 8, 1997.
Princess paid these amounts and challenged the bills in its motion for summary judgment and
Customs conceded in its October 31, 2001, reply brief that the travel agent commissions for land-
based services should not have been included in the October 8, 1997, bills. Therefore, the refund
of these amounts should be included, and the Court assumes that it was included, in the calculation
3
In its October 30, 2001, reply brief Customs addressed allegations that were made on page
seven of Princess’s August 31, 2001, Response to Defendant’s Cross-Motion for Summary
Judgment and Reply to Defendant’s Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s
Reply Brief”). These allegations, and Customs’ subsequent concession, concerned errors in three
bills from Customs all dated October 8, 1997, for interest and underpaid principal HMT amounts.
See Pl.’s Reply Br. at 7 (referencing Letter from Princess Cruises to Customs of Dec. 2, 1997, Pl.’s
Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute, Ex. 14, at 1). Princess’s December 2, 1997, letter states
that “in tendering the HMF principal amounts to the Customs Service in March 1994, Princess
Cruises deducted amounts for the appropriate portions of travel agent commissions,” but complains
that Customs’ September 4, 1997, letter, which included an attachment showing its calculations for
the amounts billed on October 8, 1997, “did not include any deductions from harbor maintenance
fee liability for 1992 and 1993” and made “an unexplained adjustment to th[e] offset” for the period
1991 and prior. Letter from Princess Cruises to Customs of Dec. 2, 1997, at 3-4.
Consol. Court No. 94-06-00352 Page 4
of subpart (b) of the parties’ stipulation, i.e. the $356,375.00 plus interest accruing from February
26, 1998, and the amount refunded under subpart (a) should be reduced by $73,501.00.
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, Customs’ motion to withdraw from its stipulation in the November
12, 2002, Joint Status Report is granted and the amount of the refund Princess is entitled to under
subpart (a) is reduced from $389,595.00 to $316,094.00 plus interest accruing from June 17, 1994.
__________________________________________
R. KENTON MUSGRAVE, JUDGE
Dated: January 28, 2003
New York, New York