United States Ninth Circuit

In a civil forfeiture action instituted by the government after it seized $133,420 found in the car of a person stopped by the police, the district court's grant of the government's motion for summary judgment is affirmed, where: 1) the owner of the car could not show any evidence that he owned or lawfully possessed the money; 2) his ambiguous verified claim was not sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to his Article III standing; and 3) the district court permissibly struck his response to a government interrogatory to prevent him from improperly using the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination as both a sword and shield.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/21/2012
• Published 02/21/2012

Judges

• Ikuta

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David M. Michael, Reid C. Pixler