The government appears to argue that the lack of a statutory provision for "reliquidation" in cases of erroneous Commerce instructions, indeed in any case outside the confines of section 1514(a), is an implied prohibition of the requested relief. According to the government, the inapplicability of section 1514(a) to the case at bar renders the case moot. Because "[l]iquidation is the `final computation or ascertainment of the duties or drawback accruing on an entry,'" Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1345-46 (Fed. Cir. 1995), "reliquidation" is the re-calculation of the duties or drawback accruing on an entry. Section 1514(a) reads:

In the event of late-filed submissions, equitable tolling is available only when the lateness is attributable, at least in part, to misleading governmental action. See Bailey, 160 F.3d at 1365 (noting that if the government misled the claimant into missing the filing deadline, such inducement by a government adversary may allow equitable tolling of the limitations period even absent trickery or governmental misconduct); see also Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (noting that equitable tolling would be allowed if the government tricked the plaintiff into missing the filing deadline). The requirements for equitable estoppel are even more stringent; equitable estoppel requires affirmative governmental misconduct.

Irwin and other cases explain that equitable tolling is available in suits between private litigants where, "the claimant has actively pursued his judicial remedies by filing a defective pleading during the statutory period, or where the complainant has been induced or tricked by his adversary's misconduct into allowing the filing deadline to pass." Irwin at 96 (footnotes omitted); see also Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 1995) ("Irwin would allow equitable tolling only if the Government tricked Juice Farms into missing the deadline. Irwin also weighs Juice Farms' diligence in determining whether to toll a limitations period.") (internal citations to Irwin omitted).

We have held that the Court of International Trade's authority to hear a claim under section 1581(a) depends upon the importer raising the claim in a valid protest filed with Customs within the prescribed 90-day period, or alternatively, in a protest coming within an exception that excuses a failure to meet the deadline. See Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1345-46 (Fed. Cir. 1995). Section 1581(i) provides in pertinent part as follows:

Misfiling cases within the veterans' system are unlike the typical late-filing cases where the limitations period expires before the would-be claimants perform any action to preserve their legal rights. See, e.g., Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (refusing to toll limitations period of 19 U.S.C. § 1514 because claimant's "own lack of diligence caused its untimely filing"). The filing of the misdirected paper itself satisfies the diligence requirement as a matter of law.

The grant or denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction is a question of law which we review de novo. See Friedman v. Daley, 156 F.3d 1358, 1360 (Fed. Cir. 1998); Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1345 (Fed. Cir. 1995). "The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies . . . provides `that no one is entitled to judicial relief for a supposed or threatened injury until the prescribed administrative remedy has been exhausted.'"

The court expressly rejected the argument that "voidable" liquidations must be protested, but "void" liquidations do not. The decision in Deringer was followed by this court in Omni U.S.A., Inc. v. United States, 840 F.2d 912 (Fed. Cir. 1988), and Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344 (Fed. Cir. 1995), both of which confirmed that this court does not recognize a distinction between "void" and "voidable" liquidations for purposes of determining the applicability of the protest requirement of section 1514. In the Omni case, Customs was supposed to hold the liquidation of the entries in suspense, but instead liquidated the entries prematurely.

We review decisions of the Court of International Trade dismissing for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Friedman v. Daley, 156 F.3d 1358, 1360 (Fed.Cir.1998); Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1345 (Fed.Cir.1995). This case calls upon us to distinguish between those issues which arise in the administration of antidumping duty orders which require a scope inquiry by Commerce, and those which are protestable to Customs.

Liquidation of a party's entries is the final computation or ascertainment of duties accruing on those entries. See Juice Farms v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1345 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (citing 19 C.F.R. § 159.1). Once liquidation occurs, it permanently deprives a party of the opportunity to contest Commerce's results for the administrative review by rendering the party's cause of action moot.See Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States, 710 F.2d 806, 809-10 (Fed. Cir. 1983). The Court of International Trade possesses "all the powers in law and equity of, or as conferred by statute upon, a district court of the United States."

Equitable tolling is available in suits only where notice is insufficient or "where the claimant has actively pursued his judicial remedies by filing a defective pleading [during the statutory period] or where he has been induced or tricked by his adversary's misconduct into allowing the filing deadline to pass." Irwin v. Dep't of Veteran Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 90 (1990); See also Juice Farms, Inc. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1344, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 1995). In the present case, petitioners did not argue before the district court that a defective pleading was filed or that the IRS somehow tricked or induced petitioners into missing the filing deadline.