Opinion ID: 755606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Certificate of Reasonable Cause

Text: 23 The defendants also claim that the certificate of reasonable cause issued by the district judge in the civil forfeiture action brought against Hammond's farm insulates them from suit with respect to Count II of the complaint. A district court is authorized to issue a certificate of reasonable cause pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2465, which states: 24 Upon the entry of judgment for the claimant in any proceeding to condemn or forfeit property seized under any Act of Congress, such property shall be returned forthwith to the claimant or his agent; but if it appears that there was reasonable cause for the seizure, the court shall cause a proper certificate thereof to be entered and the claimant shall not, in such case, be entitled to costs, nor shall the person who made the seizure, nor the prosecutor, be liable to suit or judgment on account of such suit or prosecution. 25 While this issue was raised below, neither the magistrate nor the district court discussed it in their respective orders. 26 Keeping in mind the limited scope of jurisdiction we have over this appeal, we decline to address the issue of whether the certificate of reasonable cause issued in this case requires that Count II of the complaint be dismissed. While the issues of qualified and absolute immunity are properly before us on appeal, the appellants have not made a showing that the denial of a motion to dismiss based on a certificate of reasonable cause can properly be the basis for appeal. While the existence of such a certificate bars the commencement of a suit against certain officials involved in a civil forfeiture action, no argument has been presented to show that it is analogous to immunity from suit and susceptible to interlocutory review by this court. Therefore, we decline to reach the issue here. 5