Originally from Asset Forfeiture Law in the United States, Third Edition
§ 9-1 Overview
Once the Government has filed a civil forfeiture complaint and the claimant has filed a claim and answer in response, the parties may attempt to dispose of the case by filing pre-trial motions. The motion most commonly filed by the claimant – a motion to dismiss the complaint under Rule G(8)(b) – was discussed in Chapter 7. This chapter discusses one other motion that the claimant may file: a motion to dismiss the complaint or for summary judgment based on the expiration of the statute of limitations.
But the majority of this chapter deals with motions commonly filed by the Government: motions to strike the claim and answer under Rule G(8)(c) for lack of standing, and motions filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2466 to strike the claim because the claimant is a fugitive barred from contesting the forfeiture action by what is known as the fugitive disentitlement doctrine.
We begin with the Government’s challenges to the claimant’s standing. The fugitive disentitlement doctrine and the statute of limitations are discussed in the latter part of the chapter.
Stefan D. Cassella, as a federal prosecutor, was one of the federal government's leading experts on asset forfeiture law for over thirty years, and now serves as an expert witness and consultant to law enforcement agencies and the financial sector as the CEO of AssetForfeitureLaw, LLC.
