Court Opinion

ID: 9486797
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:00:26.965266+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:56.102137
License: Public Domain

MAHONEY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment:
I agree with my colleagues that because (1) the government neither asserted any *114rights regarding, nor made any efforts to remove Counihan from possession of, the property following the July 2, 1990 judgment of forfeiture, and (2) Counihan made mortgage, tax, insurance premium, and utility payments, and collected rents from the various tenants who occupied the property, from the time of that judgment until the November 1, 1990 fire that destroyed the property, she had an insurable interest in the property when the fire occurred. I therefore join in the judgment reversing the decision of the district court to the contrary.
I write separately, however, to address further the interplay of 21 U.S.C. § 881(h) with United States v. 92 Buena Vista Ave., - U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1126, 122 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), and United States v. Daccarett, 6 F.3d 37 (2d Cir.1993), cert. denied, - U.S. -, -, -, 114 S.Ct. 1294, 1295, 1538, 127 L.Ed.2d 648, 128 L.Ed.2d 190 (1994). These cases establish only that an “innocent owner” or comparable defense may be asserted at trial despite the “relation back” provision of § 881(h), which comes into play only when the judgment of forfeiture is entered. These cases explicitly recognize, however, that once a judgment of forfeiture is entered, it relates back to the event giving rise to forfeiture in accordance with § 881(h). See Buena Vista, - U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 1137 (plurality opinion) (“Our decision denies the Government no benefit of the relation back doctrine.”); Daccarett, 6 F.3d at 53 (“The relation back doctrine is one of ‘retroactive vesting of title that operates only upon entry of the judicial order of forfeiture or condemnation.’ ”) (quoting Buena Vista, - U.S. at -, 113 S.Ct. at 1138 (Scalia, J., concurring in the judgment)) (emphasis in Buena Vista).
Thus, the majority’s assertion “that [§ 881(h) ] cannot serve to transfer ownership of the property until there is a final judgment of forfeiture” is accurate as far as it goes, but incomplete. The transfer does not occur until the judgment of forfeiture is entered, but upon entry the judgment relates back to the “commission of the act giving rise to the forfeiture”, § 881(h), in this case to July 22, 1988, well before the fire that occurred on November 1, 1990.
All of this is a discussion about dictum, of course, because the panel is agreed that whatever the juridicial status of the property on November 1, 1990, Counihan had an insurable interest in the property on that date because (as the majority puts it) “she continued to exercise virtually all the incidents of ownership right up until the time of the fire,” and did so with at least the implicit consent of the government. It is nonetheless important to clarify that while our ruling benefits Counihan vis-a-vis Allstate Insurance Company, it does not impair the government’s rights against the property pursuant to § 881(h), including any rights that it may choose to assert with respect to the insurance proceeds.