Heartland By-Products, Inc. v. United States (341 F. Supp. 2d 1284, 2004)

OPINION

BARZILAY, Judge.

This case involves an ongoing dispute between Heartland By-Products, Inc., a Canadian sugar refiner and importer, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (“Customs” or “the government”). The original substantive issue, which involved Heartland’s challenge to a revocation ruling by Customs, has already been decided and settled. The subject of the instant litigation is the proper disposition of entries imported by Heartland in reliance on this court’s favorable decision in Heartland By-Prods., Inc. v. United States, 23 CIT 754, 74 F.Supp.2d 1324 (1999) (“Heartland I”), during the time between the issuance of that opinion and the issuance of the Federal Circuit’s mandate reversing it, Heartland By-Prods., Inc. v. United States, 264 F.3d 1126 (Fed.Cir.2001) (“Heartland II”). At this stage, however, the sole issue before the court is its jurisdiction over the dispute, raised in the government’s motion to dismiss. For the reasons stated herein, the government’s motion is granted and the case is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

I. Background

In Heartland I, Heartland, seeking to import sugar syrup from Canada, challenged a Customs revocation ruling that imposed a significantly higher duty rate than had originally been established in a previous ruling. 74 F.Supp.2d 1324. In its initial inquiry, Heartland had sought a pre-importation ruling regarding the duty rate applicable to its sugar syrup, and Customs had ruled that a non-Tariff Rate Quota (“TRQ”) rate of 0.35