Forfeiture Endangers American Rights

2nd
Circuit denies fees for
attorneys who recovered money seized from multiple innocent claimants
under USA
PATRIOT Act

According to this opinion
the government may avoid paying attorney fees incurred by an innocent
owner simply by seizing property owned by multiple innocent owners.

On August 10, 2007,
the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that CAFRA (Civil Asset
Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000) exempts the government from liability
for fees
when seized currency is subject to “competing claims” of multiple
innocent claimants
who substantially prevail in a forfeiture case.
The appeals panel also held that CAFRA now provides the
exclusive means of awarding fees to forfeiture
defense attorneys, and therefore fees incurred defending a forfeiture
case can
no longer be awarded under EAJA (Equal Access to Justice Act). While
“mindful” that defense attorneys in U.S.
v. $293,316 in United States
Currency,
05-6522-cv, invested considerable time
in
helping nearly eighty innocent claimants recover their money, the panel
nonetheless ruled that “under
CAFRA those facts cannot justify the imposition of another burden on
the public
fisc.”