Opinion ID: 758665
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Nature of the Claim

Text: 9 The district court construed Polanco's complaint as a Bivens action. However, Bivens provides a remedy only for intentional deprivations of property without due process of law. See Onwubiko v. United States, 969 F.2d 1392, 1399 (2d Cir.1992). It is unclear whether Polanco complains of an intentional or a negligent deprivation of his property, and he appears to seek equitable relief rather than money damages. Moreover, the only defendant is the DEA, and a Bivens action is brought against individual federal agents rather than against the federal agency. Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471, 484-86, 114 S.Ct. 996, 1005-06, 127 L.Ed.2d 308 (1994). For these reasons, and because a pro se complaint is liberally construed, see Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9-10, 101 S.Ct. 173, 176, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980) (per curiam ); Robles v. Coughlin, 725 F.2d 12, 15 (2d Cir.1983) (per curiam ), the district court erred by conclusorily construing Polanco's complaint as one brought pursuant to Bivens. 10 Polanco's allegation is that the government failed to apprise [him] of the Government's intentions to forfeit the said currency.... .... Thus, [he] was never given a fair opportunity or adequate remedy at law to challenge the seizure of his property. Subject matter jurisdiction over this claim is found in 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the general federal question statute, because the complaint alleges a violation of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. See Willis v. United States, 787 F.2d 1089, 1093 (7th Cir.1986). In Boero v. Drug Enforcement Admin., 111 F.3d 301 (2d Cir.1997), we discussed the judicially-created cause of action to remedy a forfeiture that is procedurally deficient under the Due Process Clause and the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Pub.L. No. 91-513, tit. II, § 511, 84 Stat. 1236, 1276, as amended by Pub.L. No. 95-633, tit. III, § 301(a)(1), 92 Stat. 3768, 3777 (1978). 1 A district court has jurisdiction to consider a claim that one's property has been taken accidentally, fraudulently, or improperly by an agency of the United States. Onwubiko, 969 F.2d at 1398 (citing The Rio Grande, 90 U.S. (23 Wall.) 458, 465, 23 L.Ed. 158 (1874)). A claim that property was seized without proper notice, and therefore improperly, falls within this category. Boero, 111 F.3d at 305; see also Robinson v. Hanrahan, 409 U.S. 38, 40, 93 S.Ct. 30, 31, 34 L.Ed.2d 47 (1972) (per curiam ) (due process requires government to afford notice that is reasonably calculated to be efficacious); Weng v. United States, 137 F.3d 709, 713 (2d Cir.1998) (same). 11 We have held that such a claim is a civil 'claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress, or any regulation of an executive department,'  Onwubiko, 969 F.2d at 1398-99 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2)); that sovereign immunity for such a claim is waived by the Tucker Act; and that the substantive claim is a Bivens action. See id. 12 However, this passage in Onwubiko has become suspect, and may have been implicitly overruled by Meyer, in which the Supreme Court held that an individual cannot bring a constitutional claim for money damages against a federal agency, see Meyer, 510 U.S. at 484-86, 114 S.Ct. at 1005-06. The Supreme Court declined, for several reasons, to expand the category of defendants against whom Bivens-type actions may be brought to include not only federal agents, but federal agencies as well. Id. at 484, 114 S.Ct. at 1005. 2 Thus, we believe that the part of Onwubiko which holds that a claim against the DEA for damages arising from a procedurally inadequate forfeiture may be construed as arising under Bivens is no longer good law. 13 In any event, Onwubiko is not quite on point here, because Onwubiko characterized the claim there as a Bivens action, and therefore (by definition) a claim for money damages, whereas Polanco seeks equitable relief. Although Polanco ultimately seeks to possess himself of a sum of money, the remedy he seeks is to correct a procedural deficiency by vacating the administrative forfeiture and requiring the DEA to either (i) return the property or (ii) commence a new forfeiture proceeding that complies with agency procedure and due process of law. This relief is equitable in nature, notwithstanding the fact that the property at issue is currency. See, e.g., Bowen v. Massachusetts, 487 U.S. 879, 893, 108 S.Ct. 2722, 2732, 101 L.Ed.2d 749 (1988) (defining equitable remedy in part as an action for specific relief which may include an order providing for ... the recovery of specific property or monies ) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Crocker v. United States, 125 F.3d 1475, 1477 (Fed.Cir.1997) (claim seeking the recovery of identified property and monies [is] an action that is equitable in nature and sharply distinguishable from an action at law for damages); Marshall Leasing, Inc. v. United States, 893 F.2d 1096, 1099 (9th Cir.1990) (Return of forfeited property is an equitable remedy.); Montgomery v. Scott, 802 F.Supp. 930, 934 (W.D.N.Y.1992). The Tucker Act does not waive sovereign immunity as to this category of claims, because that statute has long been construed as authorizing only actions for money judgments and not suits for equitable relief against the United States. Richardson v. Morris, 409 U.S. 464, 465, 93 S.Ct. 629, 630-31, 34 L.Ed.2d 647 (1973) (per curiam ). 14 Where, as here, the complaint seeks only equitable relief, sovereign immunity is waived by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 702. See Boero, 111 F.3d at 305 n. 4; Willis, 787 F.2d at 1093. Section 702 waives sovereign immunity in an action seeking equitable relief from wrongful agency action, except where (i) the action also seeks monetary relief; (ii) there is an adequate remedy at law; or (iii) the action is precluded from judicial review by statute or committed by law to agency discretion. See 5 U.S.C. §§ 701 & 702. Here, the wrongful agency action alleged is a departure from the DEA's forfeiture procedures; (i) the action does not seek any monetary relief; (ii) the claimant has no adequate remedy at law, because he cannot sue the DEA for damages; 3 and (iii) this type of claim against the DEA is neither statutorily precluded from judicial review nor committed to agency discretion by law.