CIVIL FORFEITURE

Alvarez v. Smith

Issues

When law enforcement officers seize personal property in the course of a drug investigation, how quickly should they be required to provide property owners with an opportunity to contest the validity of the seizure?

 

Civil forfeiture statutes allow law enforcement agencies to seize personal property without a warrant if the property is connected to illegal drug activity. A group of Chicago residents whose vehicles were seized organized a class action challenging the Illinois civil forfeiture statute on constitutional grounds. Specifically, they alleged that civil forfeiture improperly deprived them of due process because of the extensive delay the statute allowed before requiring actual civil forfeiture proceedings. After the trial court dismissed their complaint, the Seventh Circuit held the statute unconstitutional. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and now has an opportunity to clarify exactly what process is due to property owners facing statutory civil forfeiture proceedings.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

In determining whether the Due Process Clause requires a State or local government to provide a post-seizure probable cause hearing prior to a statutory judicial forfeiture proceeding and, if so, when such a hearing must take place, should district courts apply the “speedy trial” test employed in United States v. $8,850, 461 U.S. 555 (1983) and Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972) or the three-part due process analysis set forth in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976)?

Forfeiture Laws

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no citizen can be deprived of property without due process of law. See U.S. Const. amend.

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Additional Resources

·      Wex: Law about Due Process

·      Wex: Law about Forfeiture

·      Rules governing Krimstock hearings in New York City

·      Though civil forfeiture proceedings are necessarily civil in nature, readers may find the LII Wex Overview of Criminal Procedure helpful to understand the basic investigative process, including probable cause and exceptions to the warrant requirement.

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civil forfeiture

Civil forfeiture allows the government (typically the police) to seize — and then keep or sell — any property that is allegedly involved in a crime or illegal activity. Owners need not ever be arrested or convicted of a crime for their cash, cars, or even real estate to be taken away permanently by the government.

Culley v. Marshall

Issues

In post-seizure civil forfeiture proceedings, does due process require an additional “retention hearing” and in analyzing that question, should a district court apply Barker v. Wingo’s speedy-trial test, or the three-part analysis announced by Mathews v. Eldridge?

This case asks the Supreme Court to balance a civil forfeiture claimant’s due process rights against a state’s interests in forfeiture and procedural efficiency. Under Alabama state law, the State is required to file a motion for forfeiture proceedings promptly after the seizure of property. In the interim, the statute allows claimants to request return of property believed to be illegally seized, and to post a bond worth twice the value of the property. Lena Sutton and Halima Culley contend that Alabama violated their due process rights by failing to provide a retention hearing and urge the Court to apply the standard from Mathews v. Eldridge to determine whether Alabama’s civil forfeiture processes are sufficient. Steve T. Marshall, Attorney General of Alabama, counters that due process does not require more than the State’s timely initiation of proceedings and thus urges the Court to apply the speedy-trial test from Barker v. Wingo. The outcome of this case has significant implications for the future of private property rights and state interests in civil asset forfeiture cases.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether district courts, in determining whether the due process clause requires a state or local government to provide a post-seizure probable-cause hearing prior to a statutory judicial-forfeiture proceeding and, if so, when such a hearing must take place, should apply the “speedy trial” test employed in United States v. $8,850 and Barker v. Wingo or the three-part due process analysis set forth in Mathews v. Eldridge.

Petitioners Halima Culley and Lena Sutton both owned vehicles that were seized under Alabama laws which allow the state to hold, subject to civil forfeiture proceedings, property used to facilitate drug crimes. Culley v. Attorney Gen. at 2. On February 17, 2019, Culley’s son was pulled over while driving and arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Additional Resources

  • Lydia Wheeler, Car Seizures Are New Test for Justices on Property Rights, Bloomberg Law (April 17, 2023).
  • Marco Poggio, Justices to Hear Wheether Post-Seizure Hearings Are Required,
    Law360 (April 21, 2023).
  • John Sharp, Alabama Civil Asset Forfeiture Faces Consitutional Challenges as Lawmakers Ponder Reform, AL.com (October 07, 2019).
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