Source: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/874/298/382543/
Timestamp: 2017-09-24 19:25:57
Document Index: 566756827

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 881', '§ 545', '§ 881', '§ 881', '§ 881', '§ 881']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. $321,470.00, United States Currency, Defendant.appeal of Michael Cambeletta, Movant-appellant, 874 F.2d 298 (5th Cir. 1989) :: Justia
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United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. $321,470.00, United States Currency, Defendant.appeal of Michael Cambeletta, Movant-appellant, 874 F.2d 298 (5th Cir. 1989)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 874 F.2d 298 (5th Cir. 1989)
The United States brings this in rem civil forfeiture action against $321,470 under 21 U.S.C. § 881(a) (6). Section 881(a) (6) authorizes forfeiture of goods, money, and real property which the United States has probable cause to believe may be substantially connected with illegal drug transactions.1
The district court rendered a written decision on June 17, 1987, denying the intervenor's motion for summary judgment, for lack of standing to contest the forfeiture, and granting the government's motion for a summary judgment. The court rejected the argument that the government must demonstrate probable cause for forfeiture before a claimant is required to prove standing. The court also held that the intervenor's lack of standing mooted the motion to suppress. Cambeletta appeals this decision of June 17, 1987.2 We agree with the decision and with the opinion except that portion of it which might be construed as limiting standing to contest a forfeiture only to those persons having "the requisite ownership interest" in the seized property. A lawful possessory interest in the seized property will confer standing to attack a forfeiture proceeding. Cambeletta failed to show that he had such an interest. After due notice, the Clerk of Court entered an order of default.
Robertson found most of the money in a boot-box heavily taped with duct tape. He then called Sergeant King to "come up here now". When King arrived both searched and found more currency in a T-shirt and in a paper bag in a gym-bag. At that point Robertson called for an investigator. Shortly, Trooper Lisa Graves, a drug investigator for the State Highway Patrol and another trooper arrived at the scene. The total currency, $321,470, was in such small denominations that, later, the officers--in Cambeletta's presence--took five hours to count it.
At first, Cambeletta was not arrested, even after the money was found. Nevertheless, acting according to his understanding of proper police action, Robertson read and explained Cambeletta's Miranda rights and told him that he was free to leave although the car and contents would be seized.3 Cambeletta was arrested about an hour after the stop when Sergeant King discovered a small cellophane bag containing two grams of cocaine, worth about $250, on the ground between the truck and Robertson's patrol car, where Robertson and Cambeletta had been talking. King testified that the "package appeared to be fresh ... had no moisture, no dirt or anything else on the package as if it had been there for a long time." Cambeletta denied all knowledge of the cocaine. Robertson then re-read to him a card containing Miranda warnings.
"Standing ... is literally a threshold question for entry into a federal court", because of the constitutional limitation of federal court jurisdiction to cases and controversies.4 "This Circuit has held that the burden of establishing standing to contest a forfeiture is on the claimant seeking to come before the court. A claimant need not prove the merit of his underlying claim, but he must be able to show at least a facially colorable interest in the proceedings sufficient to satisfy the case-or-controversy requirement and 'prudential considerations defining and limiting the role of the court' ".5 This principle applies to all forfeitures.
The district court relied on the holding in Monstrance that a "claimant who asserts standing to contest forfeiture of property used or imported in violation of federal law must establish that he has an ownership interest in the property subject to forfeiture".6 That case, however, involved 18 U.S.C. § 545, as Judge Alvin Rubin, author of the opinion, carefully pointed out in distinguishing cases decided under 21 U.S.C. § 881(a) (6). In 1978, Congress amended 21 U.S.C. § 881(a) (6) to expand the government's right of forfeiture in drug cases, but under the innocent-owner exception directed that the "term 'owner' should be broadly interpreted to include any person with a recognizable legal or equitable interest in the property seized".7 Section 545 of Title 18, U.S.Code, was not amended.
It is unclear how far Congress intended to go in its 1978 amendment to Sec. 881(a) (6). In a recent treatise on forfeiture, the author suggests that Congress may not have been aware of cases holding that an equitable interest is not sufficient to confer standing to contest a forfeiture.8 "The language in the Joint Explanatory Statement with regard to this statutory requirement of standing may merely indicate that, by using the term 'owner', Congress did not mean to deny standing to other interested persons such as bailees and lienholders who would normally be able to file a claim or intervene in a civil forfeiture proceeding".9
In this circuit we have stated that "a party seeking to challenge the government's forfeiture of money or property used in violation of federal law must first demonstrate an interest sufficient to satisfy the court of its standing to contest the forfeiture".10 This principle may be carried to the point that "property may be forfeited without any showing by the government that it is subject to forfeiture if the only claimant is unable or unwilling to provide evidence supporting his assertion of an interest in the property".11 That, of course, is the situation in this case. Cambeletta is either unable or is unwilling to provide any evidence supporting his assertion that he has a lawful possessory interest in the money seized. Unlike many cases where possession has conferred standing, the owner in this case did not come forward to identify himself.
We recognize that in a proceeding under Sec. 881(a) (6) it is not necessary for an intervenor or claimant to show ownership of seized property. "It is clear that anyone with an ownership or possessory interest in at least a portion of the property may file a claim and answer."12 We accept this statement as correct, but we qualify it by requiring that the possessory interest be a colorably lawful interest in the property.
If there is a dignified name in the law for Cambeletta's role, it is probably "bailee" or "agent" or "attorney-in-fact". Here, however, no bailor or principal has appeared to claim the cash or to support Cambeletta's explanation. In oral argument, counsel for the appellant argued that Cambeletta was an assignee. The record contains no document purporting to be an assignment, and we are not impressed with the argument that Cambeletta was an assignee. To prove an assignment, Cambeletta must show: (1) that his assignment was valid; and (2) that the assignor had a valid interest in the seized property. He can meet neither prong of this test because he has not identified the owner of the property. Of course, the assignment argument is inconsistent with his frequent denials that he owned or had control of the money.13
The cash hoard seized in this case was large but, by no means a record for unclaimed cash hoards. In United States v. Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, a forfeiture action resulted in a default judgment because no one came forward to claim what later turned out to be $900,000.14 "Well-advised traffickers, weighing the potential risks against the likelihood of defeating the forfeiture, frequently opt not to claim the seized money. Thus, the government often obtains a default judgment when it has a weak case. To the trafficking organization, the occasional loss of such money is simply a part of the cost of doing business; it is not worth jeopardizing the organization to try to get the money back."15
There are many facts buttressing the inference that Cambeletta's cash hoard was derived from or would facilitate the distribution of controlled substances. (1) The amount of cocaine found, two grams, indicates that Cambeletta as a consumer had access to drug dealers--a small thing but one not without relevance. (2) The unknown owner of the cash directed Cambeletta to buy a camper and, no doubt, also directed him to take his time and take a circuitous route back to Miami. The D.E.A. investigation showed that it was common practice among drug couriers to use campers to create the impression that the courier was traveling for recreation. (3) The truck was purchased for cash at a car auction under the name "Jerry Freeman" by two men who could not be identified. (4) Investigators for the D.E.A. could not verify the existence of Jerry Freeman. (5) Two days after the car was purchased in Jackson, Tennessee, Cambeletta had it in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (6) If, as he said, Cambeletta's first destination was either Georgia or Tennessee, and his ultimate destination Miami, he chose an unusual route to wind his way home. (7) Cambeletta's demeanor at the scene of his arrest indicates that he knew that he was in trouble and he knew that he had to insulate his superiors from detection. (8) The packaging in old bundles of cash in small denominations is characteristic of large drug deals.
We hold that a colorably lawful possessory interest in seized property provides standing to attack a forfeiture under 21 U.S.C. § 881(a) (6).16
We hold that a claimant's or intervenor's standing is the threshold issue in a forfeiture case. On the facts of this case, the claimant/intervenor, as a naked courier, carrying an unexplained cash hoard from an unknown owner to an unknown recipient in suspicious circumstances, did not have the kind of possessory interest Congress intended to protect as an innocent, legal or equitable "owner" under 21 U.S.C. § 881(a) (6). Cambeletta failed to carry his burden of proof that he had standing to claim the seized property or to intervene.
* * *The judgment appealed from is AFFIRMED.
662 F. Supp. 904 (M.D. La. 1987)
This did not mean that Cambeletta would have been abandoned at night on an isolated section of a highway. The state troopers' practice in the situation this case presents was to take the driver to the sheriff's office in Baton Rouge. (Graves's testimony.) Here the troopers planned to drive all the cars to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office in Hammond, which was closer than Baton Rouge
4 U.S. v. One 18th Century Columbian Monstrance, 797 F.2d 1370, 1373 (1986), reh'g denied with opinion, 802 F.2d 837 (5th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom, Newton v. U.S., 481 U.S. 1014, 107 S. Ct. 1889, 95 L. Ed. 2d 496 (1988).
Id. On the burden of proof, see also U.S. v. $364,960.00 in U.S. Currency, 661 F.2d 319, 320 (5th Cir. 1981); U.S. v. $48,318.08, 609 F.2d 210 (5th Cir. 1980)
Joint Explanatory Statement of Titles II and III, P.L. No. 95-633, 95th Cong. 2nd Sess., reprinted in 1978 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 9496, 9518, 9522-23
Smith, Prosecution and Defense of Forfeiture Cases, para 4.03(1), at 4-17 (1988) [Smith]
Id. U.S. v. Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, 730 F.2d 1437 (11th Cir. 1984); U.S. v. Four Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-Five Thousand, 762 F.2d 895, 907 n. 6 (11th Cir. 1985). But cf. U.S. v. $47,875 in United States Currency, 746 F.2d 291, 293 (5th Cir. 1984)
10 U.S. v. $364,960.00 in U.S. Currency, 661 F.2d 319, 326 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981) (emphasis added). A bailee has a possessory interest in the bailed currency. See U.S. v. $38,000 in U.S. Currency, 816 F.2d 1538, 1544 (11th Cir. 1987), and the pertinent cases cited in opinion in that case.
Smith, para. 9.04(2) (a), at 4-55
Smith, para 9.04(2) (a), at 4-54
730 F.2d 1437 (11th Cir. 1984)
Smith, para. 4.03(1), at 4-21 (1988)
We have considered the contention that, under Louisiana law, Cambeletta had precarious possession or, perhaps, some possession entitling him to standing to contest the forfeiture. There is no merit to the contention