United States Ninth Circuit
Mesle v. Signed Personal Check No. 730, 09-55353
In claimant's appeal from the district court’s denial of his motion to set aside an entry of default in a forfeiture proceeding against checks drawn on claimant's accounts and funds in those accounts, the order is reversed where the district court erred by holding the movant to a standard inappropriate for determining whether an unrepresented lay party's conduct demonstrated culpability; and made merits decisions as to the movant’s defenses that were premature at this stage of the proceedings, and, moreover, were incorrect.
Appellate Information
- Decided 08/04/2010
- Published 08/04/2010
Judges
- Stephen Reinhardt
Court
- United States Ninth Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Karen P. Hewitt, Richard M. Barnett