Opinion ID: 3065084
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A judicial officer may disallow a person from

Text: using the resources of the courts of the United States in furtherance of a claim in any related civil forfeiture action or a claim in third party proceedings in any related criminal forfeiture action upon a finding that such person—
that a warrant or process has been issued for his apprehension, in order to avoid criminal prosecution— (A) purposely leaves the jurisdiction of the United States; UNITED STATES v. LAM 12687 (B) declines to enter or reenter the United States to submit to its jurisdic- tion; or (C) otherwise evades the jurisdiction of the court in which a criminal case is pending against the person; and
other jurisdiction for commission of crimi- nal conduct in that jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 2466(a). [5] Only the Second and D.C. Circuits have published opinions reviewing a district court’s application of § 2466.2 See United States v. $6,976,934.65, Plus Interest Deposited into Royal Bank of Scotland Int’l, Account Number 202956141070, Held in the Name of Soulbury Ltd. (“$6,976,934.65“), 554 F.3d 123 (D.C. Cir. 2009); Collazos, 368 F.3d 190. Both circuits have adopted the following fiveelement test for determining whether a fugitive may be disentitled: (1) a warrant or similar process must have been issued in a criminal case for the claimant’s apprehension; (2) the claimant must have had notice or knowledge of the warrant or process; (3) the criminal case must be related to the forfeiture action; (4) the claimant must not be confined or otherwise held in custody in another jurisdiction; and (5) the claimant must have deliberately avoided criminal prosecution by leaving the United States, declining to enter or reenter the country, or otherwise evading the criminal court’s jurisdiction. $6,976,934.65, 554 F.3d at 128; Collazos, 368 F.3d at 198. 2 The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a fugitive’s claim in a civil forfeiture proceeding under § 2466 in an unpublished disposition. See U.S. v. $343,726.60 in U.S. Currency seized from Scottrade Account No. 81733422, 271 F. App’x. 972 (11th Cir. 2008) (unpublished disposition). 12688 UNITED STATES v. LAM Following the lead of our sister circuits, we now adopt this five-element test. Section 2466 does not mandate disentitlement once these five elements have been satisfied. Rather, it provides that “[a] judicial officer may disallow a person from using the resources of the courts of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2466 (emphasis added). We agree with the Second Circuit that “the ultimate decision whether to order disentitlement in a particular case rests in the sound discretion of the district court.” Collazos, 368 F.3d at 198. 2. Application of § 2466 to Fugitives from State Proceedings Lam argues that § 2466 applies only to claimants who are fugitives from federal criminal proceedings. Since he is a fugitive from a state criminal proceeding, he argues, his claim to his assets in the civil forfeiture proceeding does not satisfy the fifth element of the test. Therefore, he argues, his claim should not have been struck pursuant to § 2466. Lam does not dispute the district court’s determination that he met § 2466’s remaining requirements. Nor does Lam assert that, if § 2466 covers fugitives from state criminal proceedings, the district court abused its discretion by striking Lam’s claim. Therefore, the only issue before us is whether § 2466 applies to fugitives from state proceedings. We hold that it does. [6] The text of § 2466 is clear. The introductory paragraph of § 2466(a) disallows certain persons from using the resources of “the courts of the United States” in furtherance of a claim in a civil forfeiture action. Section 2466(a) then goes on to describe those persons. They include a person who “purposely leaves the jurisdiction of the United States,” § 2466(a)(1)(A); a person who “declines to enter or reenter the United States to submit to its jurisdiction,” UNITED STATES v. LAM 12689 § 2466(a)(1)(B); and a person who “otherwise evades the jurisdiction of the court in which a criminal case is pending against the person,” § 2466(a)(1)(C) (emphasis added). The question before us is whether the word “court” in § 2466(a)(1)(C) refers only to a federal court, or whether it refers to both state and federal courts. [7] We first note that in the introductory paragraph to § 2466(a), the statute describes the courts in which the civil forfeiture proceeding is brought as “the courts of the United States,” thus making clear that § 2466 concerns only forfeiture suits brought in federal court. Then, in § 2466(a)(1)(C), Congress, seemingly ex industria, drops the qualifier “of the United States” in referring to the court from which the claimant is a fugitive. The omission of the qualifier strongly suggests that “court” in § 2466(a)(1)(C) has a broader meaning than “courts of the United States” in § 2466(a). [8] We next note that in § 2466(a)(1)(B) and (C) the phrase “United States” is also used, referring to the “jurisdiction” of the United States. Here, it is obvious that the phrase “jurisdiction of the United States” does not refer to the subject matter jurisdiction of the United States courts, but rather to the jurisdiction of the United States as a political entity. We therefore regard the use of the phrase “United States” as not having great bearing on the omission of that same phrase in § 2466(a)(1)(C), except as it might suggest that the scope of the fugitive disentitlement statute extends generically to anyone who flees or refuses to enter the United States in order to evade criminal prosecution. Finally, we note that if Congress had intended to limit the operation of § 2466(a)(1)(C) to fugitives from federal court criminal proceedings, it could easily have done so. For example, it could have written § 2466(a)(1)(C) to refer to a person who “evades the jurisdiction of the United States court,” or to a person who “evades the jurisdiction of the court in which a federal criminal case is pending.” (Emphasis indicates words 12690 UNITED STATES v. LAM not in the text.) But Congress did not do so. Instead, the statute reads simply “the court in which a criminal case is pending,” strongly suggesting that the court to which it refers is any court in the United States, whether federal or state. Lam argues that because Congress failed to use the word “any” in § 2466(a)(1)(C), it did not intend the word “court” to include a state court. Lam is correct that the word “any” has been interpreted to include federal, state, and even local institutions. See United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S. 1, 5 (1997) (“any other term of imprisonment” means state or federal imprisonment); United States v. Averz-Sanchez, 511 U.S. 350, 358 (1994) (“any law-enforcement officer” means a federal, state, or local officer); Collector v. Hubbard, 79 U.S. 1, 10 (1870) (“any court” means state or federal court). However, the foregoing shows only that the use of the term “any” can indicate an intention to include state as well as federal institutions. It does not show that the use of the word “any” is necessary to indicate that both federal and state institutions, including courts, are intended where the meaning is otherwise clear.