United States Will Not Appeal Tri-State Verdict
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(Washington, D.C.) - The U.S. government has withdrawn its appeal of the Court of International Trade’ s verdict in favor of Tri-State Hospital Supply Corporation.
In October 1999, in only the second customs fraud jury trial in the history of the Court of International Trade, Tri-State successfully obtained a verdict of no liability. The government had sued Tri-State for civil penalties of nearly $6 million, alleging that Tri-State overstated on customs entry forms the value of surgical instruments imported duty free from Pakistan and claiming that the alleged overstatement distorted trade statistics compiled by the government. For the first time in the history of the CIT, the court ruled that the issue of materiality was a question of fact for the jury.
Akin Gump represented Tri-State in the matter.
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