Opinion ID: 622222
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Untimeliness of Ancillary Petition

Text: Although Davenport lacks standing to challenge Muckle's POF, we may still review the district court's dismissal of her own ancillary petition. Davenport contends the district court erred in dismissing her ancillary petition to the forfeited currency as untimely based on the date Dicks received a written notice of forfeiture. She argues that § 853(n)(1) and due process both require that direct written notice be served on a known and accessible party with an interest in forfeited property, and that the written notice of forfeiture sent to her attorney was insufficient because he no longer represented her in the criminal proceeding. Consequently, she maintains that her petition was subject to a later filing deadline based on the notice of forfeiture published on the Government's official website, thereby rendering her petition timely. Davenport also argues that, although Rule 32.2(b) was amended in December 2009 to incorporate the notice provisions of Rule G of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions (Forfeiture Action Rules), retroactive application of Rule G to validate the notice sent to her attorney would violate her procedural due process rights, as Rule G previously applied only to civil forfeiture actions, not criminal forfeiture proceedings. Alternatively, she maintains that, even if the notice mailed to her attorney was legally effective, the district court was required to construe the ambiguous deadline set forth in the notice in her favor, and should have recognized her timely claim in the administrative forfeiture proceeding against the currency as a timely claim in the criminal forfeiture action. Section 853(n) provides that, following the entry of a POF, the Government shall publish notice of the order and of its intent to dispose of the property, and may also, to the extent practicable, provide direct written notice to any person known to have alleged an interest in the property. 21 U.S.C. § 853(n)(1). The criminal forfeiture statute also requires third-party claimants to file a petition within thirty days of the final publication of notice or his receipt of [direct written] notice . . ., whichever is earlier. 21 U.S.C. § 853(n)(2). If a third party fails to file a petition within the prescribed 30-day deadline, her interests in the property are forfeited. Marion, 562 F.3d at 1336-37, 1341. The phrase direct written notice is not defined in the criminal forfeiture statute. See 21 U.S.C. § 853. Likewise, at the time the POF was entered in this case, Rule 32.2 did not explicitly address what type of notice, if any, the Government was required to give to potential third-party claimants. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.2. Effective December 1, 2009, however, Rule 32.2 was amended to provide that the Government must publish notice of the [forfeiture] order and send notice to any person who reasonably appears to be a potential claimant with standing to contest the forfeiture in the ancillary proceeding. Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.2(b)(6)(A) (2010). The amended rule also explicitly incorporated the notice provisions of Rule G(4) of the Forfeiture Action Rules, stating that the direct notice of a POF may be sent in accordance with Supplemental Rules G(4)(b)(iii)-(v). Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.2(b)(6)(D) (2010). Rule G, which has otherwise governed civil forfeiture actions since 2006, provides that direct notice must be sent by means reasonably calculated to reach the potential claimant, including by sending notice to the potential claimant or to the attorney representing the potential claimant with respect to the seizure of the property or in a related investigation, administrative forfeiture proceeding, or criminal case. Forfeiture Action Rule G(4)(b)(iii)(A)-(B), advisory committee's note (2006 Adoption). Nevertheless, even prior to the amendment of Rule 32.2, the Advisory Committee Notes accompanying its initial adoption acknowledged that [t]he notice provisions regarding the ancillary proceeding are equivalent to the notice provisions that govern civil forfeitures. Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.2, advisory committee's note (2000 Adoption). That approach was consistent with the well-established principle that ancillary proceedings to a criminal forfeiture prosecution are considered civil cases. See United States v. Pease, 331 F.3d 809, 816 (11th Cir.2003) (concluding ancillary proceedings under § 853(n) are civil cases). Moreover, the notice provisions of Rule G(4)(b)(iii) simply codify and restate prevailing due process requirements governing adequate notice. The Supreme Court has long held that due process is satisfied where notice is reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action. Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314, 70 S.Ct. 652, 657, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950); see also Dusenbery v. United States, 534 U.S. 161, 170, 122 S.Ct. 694, 701, 151 L.Ed.2d 597 (2002). Due process does not require that an interested party actually receive notice of the proceedings, nor does it demand that the Government employ the best or most reliable means of ensuring notice. Dusenbery, 534 U.S. at 170-72, 122 S.Ct. at 701-02. While it does not appear that we have specifically considered the issue, numerous other courts have held that due process can be satisfied by mailing notice of a forfeiture proceeding to a party's attorney, even where the attorney only represented the party in a pending and related proceeding. See Nunley v. Dep't of Justice, 425 F.3d 1132, 1139 (8th Cir.2005) (holding an inmate was afforded due process when the Government sent a notice of administrative forfeiture to him in care of his attorney); Bye v. United States, 105 F.3d 856, 857 (2d Cir.1997) (concluding the Government gave sufficient notice of an administrative forfeiture by sending notice, which was acknowledged and received, to the attorney representing the defendant in a pending and related criminal proceeding); United States v. 51 Pieces of Real Property, Roswell, N.M., 17 F.3d 1306, 1317 (10th Cir. 1994) (holding sufficient notice of a civil forfeiture proceeding was given when the Government sent notice to an interested party through the attorney representing him in an ongoing criminal prosecution). The district court did not err in finding that, under the applicable statutes, rules, and due process requirements, the written notice of forfeiture sent to Davenport's attorney was adequate, thereby triggering the mandatory 30-day period for filing third-party petitions and rendering Davenport's petition untimely. Since ancillary forfeiture proceedings have long been considered civil in nature, the rules governing civil forfeiture actions, including Rule G, would have been employed even before Rule 32.2 was amended. In any event, regardless of the formal applicability of Rule G, the notice of forfeiture sent to Davenport's attorney satisfied prevailing due process requirements. The record shows that Dicks continued to represent Davenport after the termination of her criminal case. He communicated with the Government after receiving the written notice of forfeiture, filed the third-party petition on Davenport's behalf, and was not formally discharged by her until after he received the Government's notice and had filed the third-party petition. [10] These actions show that he was Davenport's attorney for the purpose of the ancillary petition. Contrary to Davenport's contention, the written notice of forfeiture sent to Dicks was not ambiguous with respect to the governing deadline. The fact that Davenport filed a timely administrative claim regarding the currency did not mean that she was exempt from complying with the unconditional language of the criminal forfeiture statute, which requires the filing of a timely petition in an ancillary criminal forfeiture proceeding. See 21 U.S.C. § 853(n)(2). Accordingly, the district court did not err in dismissing Davenport's petition as untimely.