09.10.2026 Regulation #USA #Import #Duties

CIT certifies importer class for IEEPA duty refunds, no opt-in needed

The US Court of International Trade (CIT) certified a class action in Freestyle World, Inc. on October 8, 2026, covering refunds of duties imposed under IEEPA. Judge Richard K. Eaton issued the ruling (Court No. 26-01088, Slip Op. 26-123; court's slip opinions list). The class covers importers that have not sued on their own.

Who is in the class and on what basis

The court certified a class of all importers of record that paid duties under the challenged orders between February 1, 2025 and February 19, 2026, excluding any entity that has separately filed an action to recover IEEPA duties (opinion). Under footnote 1 of the opinion, the plaintiff defines the challenged orders as those the Federal Circuit held unlawful: the Trafficking and Reciprocal Tariffs orders that exceeded the President's authority under IEEPA. Certification is under USCIT Rule 23(b)(2), which allows neither opt-out nor opt-in, so membership is, in the court's words, "mandatory and fixed." Freestyle World is the class representative; class counsel are Barnes, Richardson & Colburn and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein.

The relief sought is an injunction directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate or reliquidate entries without regard to IEEPA duties. The court held that refunds would be the "automatic consequence" of such an order.

Why the court saw a class as necessary

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The opinion cites an estimate, as of March 4, 2026, of $166 billion in unlawfully collected duties on 53 million entries, involving roughly 330,000 importers of record.

As of October 2, CBP's CAPE program had accepted about $136.6 billion for processing and refunded about $126 billion including interest. The court says importers that have not used CAPE are believed to be "overwhelmingly small importers," and that CAPE does not accept certain entries, including finally liquidated entries of importers that have not sued. Had CAPE stopped working on the day of the ruling, about $30 billion would have remained in the Treasury.

CBP launched CAPE Phase 3 on October 6 for plaintiffs in more than 4,000 individual cases. Supply Chain Dive reports that as of October 6, CBP had accepted 477 CAPE finally liquidated entry declarations covering 425,517 entries, and that only plaintiffs that submitted an importer of record number by July 30, 2026 can currently receive refunds on such entries. By the court's account, as of October 7 declarations involving 1.1 million entries and $500 million in claimed refunds had been accepted in Phase 3.

The government's objections

The government argued the motion was untimely, that the claims were individualized, and that the relief was essentially monetary. The court rejected each argument. It found the motion timely, held that differing refund amounts do not defeat a common question, and treated the refunds as incidental (opinion). Separately, as the opinion notes, on June 3, 2026 the government appealed to the Federal Circuit the portion of the April 17, 2026 order in V.O.S. Selections that provides for liquidation and reliquidation of all affected entries (appeal No. 26-1895); the parties have filed their briefs.

Conference on October 13 and the case schedule

A ruling on the merits is still to come. In its order the court granted certification, appointed the class representative and class counsel, and set the next procedural steps. A closed conference is set for October 13, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. ET, and the parties must jointly submit a proposed schedule, including the government's response deadline, by October 22, 2026 (opinion). For importers that have not filed their own suits, the opinion's text shows one thing: they are in the class automatically, and the court set no separate step for joining.

Primary sources

• Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 26-01088, Slip Op. 26-123 (opinion and order, 08.10.2026)
• U.S. Court of International Trade: Slip Opinions
• Supply Chain Dive: CBP starts paying out IEEPA tariff refunds for finally liquidated entries

This material is for information only and does not constitute legal advice or customs consulting. Verify changes against the primary sources before acting.