United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee/cross-appellant, v. United States Currency in the Amount of $551,527.00, Defendant.kevin D'emo, Administrator of the Estate of Larry Jamessmith, Deceased, Claimant-appellant/cross-appellee, 99 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 1996)
Annotate this CaseBefore: LEAVY, T.G. NELSON and TASHIMA, Circuit Judges.
ORDER*
The Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Ursery, 116 S. Ct. 2135 (1996), puts to rest any argument that civil forfeiture statute 18 U.S.C. § 1955(d) is punitive for purposes of abatement. The decision of the district court is therefore vacated.
We recognize that the procedural posture of the case led the Estate to understand that it need not oppose the Government's showing of probable cause as the district court had determined prior to trial that the action abated on Smith's death. In the interest of fairness, we vacate and remand to the district court for proceedings permitting the Estate to make its case opposing the Government's prima facie showing of probable cause.
VACATED and REMANDED with instructions.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
