The IEEPA refund class asks for everyone’s money
Tracker US tariff rates by country · 7.1 %
Roughly $40bn of tariff refunds now waits on one judge and one appeal
On Tuesday 10 November, lawyers for a class of about 330,000 US importers asked the Court of International Trade (CIT) to order refunds of IEEPA tariffs, with interest, to all of them. That includes the great majority who never filed a lawsuit. Fortune puts the total IEEPA tariff bill at $166bn. The case is Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States. The Justice Department must answer the original complaint by 13 November and respond to the new motion by 9 December.
Our view: this motion matters most to the smallest importers, the ones with no customs lawyer and no spare cash for a suit. It is the right fight and probably a winning one at the trade court. But it runs straight into a government appeal that has not been decided. That means the class route is slow. Anyone with a large claim, or anyone acting as importer of record for clients, should not treat it as a reason to sit still.
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What the motion asks for
Some background first. IEEPA is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1977 law the administration used to impose broad tariffs from early 2025. The Supreme Court ruled on 20 February 2026 that the law did not authorise those tariffs, according to Startup Fortune. Refunds have been moving since then, but unevenly.
The class was certified on 8 October by Judge Richard Eaton, who, Fortune reports, is the only judge hearing tariff refund cases. Davis Wright Tremaine quotes the definition: “All importers of record who paid duties imposed by the Challenged Tariff Orders” between 1 February 2025 and 19 February 2026. An importer of record (IOR) is the party legally responsible for paying duty on an entry. Any entity that has “separately filed an action seeking to recover IEEPA duties payments” is excluded.
Certification on its own paid nobody. Cherry Bekaert wrote on 28 October that, for importers without a court reliquidation order, the ruling “does not create refunding eligibility at this time.” The new motion is the next step. It asks Eaton for a relief order that would tell US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to refund every class member.
Class co-leads Lawrence Friedman, of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, and Elizabeth Cabraser and Nicholas Diamand, of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, told Fortune that “The proposed order would give the agency the authority it says it needs to provide full refunds with interest”. They said that includes “the tens of thousands of small businesses who lack the resources to bring their own cases”.
That phrase, “the authority it says it needs”, is the heart of the strategy. The Justice Department has argued in court that “CBP has no authority to reliquidate or refund money without a court order”. Reliquidation means CBP reopens the final duty calculation on an entry and recalculates what is owed. The class is offering the government exactly the court order it says it lacks, for all 330,000 importers at once.
Where the money stands
Most of the money has already gone back. Cherry Bekaert reports that, as of 2 October, about $126bn in tariffs and refunds had been sent to the US Treasury for payment. Another $1.1bn was stuck because ACH payment details, the bank details for electronic transfer, had not been provided or checked. Startup Fortune says the government reported more than 75% of the roughly $166bn repaid with interest by 2 October.
Subtract $126bn from $166bn and roughly $40bn is left, by our arithmetic. Startup Fortune puts the figure at about $42bn or less. Either way, that is a lot of money, and it is spread across many small accounts.
The gap is about who sued. Cherry Bekaert says more than 4,000 importers have won relief through their own refund actions. Set that against roughly 330,000 importers who paid IEEPA duties, and only about 1% have won relief in their own case. Fortune lists why the rest have not been repaid: technical errors in CAPE submissions, limited legal resources, missing paperwork, or using a third party as importer of record.
That last one lands on forwarders and customs brokers. When you acted as IOR for a client, the refund right sits with you, not the client. So does the paperwork.
CAPE is CBP’s refund portal. Phase III opened on 6 October. It covers finally liquidated entries, meaning entries where the duty calculation is closed. Cherry Bekaert is blunt: “CAPE Phase III is only available to importers that filed a refund action before the U.S. Court of International Trade”. If you never sued, Phase III is shut to you until the class wins.
Why it will be slow
The trade court is not the obstacle. Eaton ruled in March that every importer who paid IEEPA tariffs was entitled to a refund. In April he issued a universal refund order covering all of them, Fortune reports. He has argued that the Supreme Court’s 2025 limits on universal injunctions do not apply to his court.
The obstacle is the appeal. The administration appealed that April order in June. It argues Eaton went beyond his powers and that refunds require a lawsuit. Startup Fortune reports that the Justice Department filed its last brief at the Federal Circuit, the appeals court above the CIT, on 9 November. No ruling has come yet.
Troutman Pepper Locke spelled out what is at stake in August. If the government wins, non-litigant importers “may be permanently foreclosed from obtaining refunds on finally liquidated entries” unless they belong to a certified class. That is why the class matters. It is also why the government will fight it. A class relief order would give back much of what the government is trying to win on appeal.
Timing points the same way. Davis Wright Tremaine wrote in October that Eaton was unlikely to issue classwide relief before the government answers the complaint. That answer is due 13 November, and the response to the motion is not due until 9 December. Davis Wright Tremaine also expected the government to appeal the certification itself.
So the sequence looks like this. The government opposes in December. Eaton rules. The government appeals or asks for a stay, meaning a pause on the order while the appeal runs. Meanwhile the Federal Circuit decides the April order. Each step takes weeks, not days.
What forwarders should do now
First, list your own entries. If you or your brokerage acted as IOR, pull every entry where IEEPA duty was paid between 1 February 2025 and 19 February 2026. Mark which are refunded, which are pending, and which are finally liquidated without a reliquidation order. That last group is what the class motion is about.
Second, check what falls outside the class. Davis Wright Tremaine notes that IEEPA duties on Brazilian and Indian goods are not part of the challenged orders in this case. Those importers would need to file on their own. A separate class motion in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump may cover them.
Third, weigh suing yourself against waiting. A Rule 23(b)(2) class, the kind certified here, has no opt-out. Davis Wright Tremaine says you leave it only by filing your own case. It also says filing yourself has been faster. Eaton has issued individual refund orders within four business days of filing, and CBP has granted CAPE access within one business day of receiving importer details. Staying in the class saves legal and filing fees. That may suit small claims or importers in no hurry.
Fourth, watch the clock. Davis Wright Tremaine says the limitations period, the legal time limit to file, “runs through February 4, 2027,” at the earliest. Troutman’s advice was to file protective protests where the 180-day window is still open, noting “A protest is inexpensive, nonprejudicial to a CIT case”. Its broader warning still applies: “Importers should not assume that administrative solutions will materialize.”
Fifth, talk to clients. Many shippers who used you as IOR may assume the refund comes to them automatically. It does not. Decide who files, who carries the cost, and how any refund is passed on, before money starts to move.
Our call
Here is our prediction. We expect the Justice Department to oppose the relief motion in full on 9 December. We think Eaton will grant some form of classwide relief order early in 2027. But we expect the government to seek a stay or appeal it, and the Federal Circuit ruling on the April order to come first.
Our call: importers who rely only on the Freestyle class will not receive IEEPA refunds before 31 March 2027. Forwarders and brokers acting as IOR with large finally liquidated exposure should file their own action well before the 4 February 2027 date, rather than wait for a class win that may arrive after it.
Sources
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