FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                    CONTACT: WUEBKER/FALLON

3/25/08                                                                                 202-224-3324

                                                                                             RILEY/CHAMBERLAIN

                                                                                             202-224-2841    

GREGG, SUNUNU URGE SECRETARY OF STATE TO SUPPORT GOSS TRADE DISPUTE CASE AT SUPREME COURT

WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu (R-NH) recently wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to support Goss International Corporation’s legal position in its anti-dumping trade dispute case with a Japanese competitor.  The case, Goss International Corp. v. Tokyo Kikai Seiskusho (TKS), is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.  

In their letter, the Senators called on Secretary Rice to ask the Solicitor General of the United States to support a grant of certiorari, a reversal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit’s decision, and a reinstatement of a federal district court ruling in Goss’s favor.  Last month, the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General’s views on the case, and the Solicitor General then requested the State Department’s position.

            “It is time for the federal government to stand up for Goss and its 1,000 employees in New Hampshire,” said Senators Gregg and Sununu.  “Goss International has been involved in a trade dispute with TKS since 2003, and it is clear that the Japanese company engaged in illegal dumping practices and fraudulent representations.  After U.S. courts ruled that TKS had engaged in predatory dumping, the Japanese government attempted to nullify the judgment.  We are asking the State Department and the Solicitor General to support court enforcement of our trade laws by acting on Goss’s behalf.”

            In October, Goss International, which designs and manufactures newspaper and commercial printing presses, filed a petition requesting the Supreme Court’s review of an unfavorable ruling by the Eight Circuit Court.  That decision reversed a lower court’s injunction against TKS which would have prevented the Japanese company from recouping a $31.6 million judgment in Goss’s successful antidumping lawsuit. 

            The text of the Senators’ letter to Secretary Rice reads:

Dear Secretary Rice,

We write to request the State Department support Goss International Corporation's petition for writ of certiorari currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. On February 19,2008, the Supreme Court asked for the United States' views concerning the certiorari petition in Goss International Corp. v. Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, Ltd., et al. (No. 07-618). We understand the Solicitor General requested the State Department's position on this matter. We urge the State Department to thoroughly consider the petition and to ask the Solicitor General to support a grant of certiorari, reversal of the Eighth Circuit decision, and reinstatement of the District Court decision.

Goss International is a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced technology web offset press systems for the newspaper and commercial printing industries. As the last US. large newspaper press manufacturer, Goss International employs many workers in our state.

The case at issue involves a Japanese company, TKS, found by U.S. courts to have intentionally and illegally used predatory dumping with the express intent of harming the U.S. industry. After Goss International won a final judgment, Japan passed a "clawback" statute with the stated goal of nullifying the final U.S. judgment. This statute allows TKS to recover in Japan the full amount of the U.S. judgment from Goss and its wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary. Although the trial court ordered the foreign company not to file a clawback suit in Japan, the appellate court reversed, finding that federal courts do not have jurisdiction to prevent the clawback of monetary judgments and that comity weighed against the grant of an injunction. The appellate court's decision is now before the Court.

When a foreign company does business in the United States, it must be subject to the same rules as a U.S. company, and it cannot be allowed to avoid the consequences for violations of US. law merely by seeking retaliatory treatment in its home country. In this case, the illegal actions of TKS and the subsequent remedies are being nullified by the Japanese statute, which declares the final federal judgment to be invalid and holds any wholly-owned subsidiaries of the prevailing plaintiff to be jointly liable for return of the US. judgment.

Unless the Supreme Court reverses the appellate court's decision in the Goss case, foreign companies may use clawback statutes with impunity to nullify any US. judgments. Such a situation would have damaging implications for federal policy in the future.

For these reasons, we urge you to ask the Solicitor General to support Goss International's petition for certiorari.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Judd Gregg

U.S. Senator John Sununu