United States v. Tenacious Holdings, Inc.

The government (plaintiff) sued Tenacious Holdings, Inc. (Tenacious) (defendant) for negligently misclassifying imported work gloves, seeking $50,000 in penalties. On the very day its discovery responses were due, Tenacious moved for referral to court-annexed mediation, arguing litigation costs would exceed the penalty at stake and that the tariff classification involved had already expired, so any ruling would have no future precedential value. The government opposed early referral, arguing Tenacious should first respond to its outstanding discovery requests.