Adeleke v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 20 January 2004
• Docket Number: Docket No. 03-6051.
• Citation: 355 F.3d 144
• Parties: Hammed ADELEKE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 144

355 F.3d 144

Hammed ADELEKE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 03-6051.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Submitted: October 31, 2003.

Decided: January 20, 2004.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, David G. Trager, J.

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Hammed Adeleke, pro se, Fort Dix, New Jersey, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Richard T. Lunger, Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York (Roslynn R. Mauskopf, United States Attorney; Deborah B. Zwany, Sarah J. Lum, Assistant United States Attorneys, on the brief), Central Islip, New York, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before: FEINBERG, KEARSE, and RAGGI, Circuit Judges.

RAGGI, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Hammed Adeleke is presently incarcerated for smuggling heroin into the United States on May 15, 2001. See United States v. Adeleke, 01-CR-573 (ILG) (E.D.N.Y.2001). Subsequent to conviction, Adeleke moved pro se in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York pursuant to Fed. R.Crim.P. 41(e) — now Rule 41(g)¹ — for Defendant-Appellee United States of America either to return money and property seized incident to his arrest or to compensate him in money damages for the destruction of that property resulting from terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, where the property was stored. Because no criminal proceedings were then pending against Adeleke, the district court construed the Rule 41(g) motion as a civil action in equity. See, e.g., Mora v. United States, 955 F.2d 156, 158 (2d Cir.1992).

Adeleke now appeals the district court's award of summary judgment in favor of the United States on his claim for money damages. He asserts that the district court erred in concluding that, because his property had been destroyed not by any act or omission of the United States but by the unforeseen actions of third parties, equity did not warrant an award of damages. He further appeals the district court's rejection of his due process claim that the government's property release notice obligated the United States to insure his property against loss or damage during the retrieval period. Finally, Adeleke insists that he is entitled to pursue damages under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, Pub.L. No. 10742, 115 Stat. 230 (2001) ("Air Stabilization Act"), or the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq.

We affirm the judgment of dismissal, albeit on somewhat different grounds than the district court. See, e.g., Millares Guiraldes de Tineo v. United States, 137 F.3d 715, 719 (2d Cir.1998) (noting that appellate court can affirm a judgment on any ground that finds support in the record). Specifically, we conclude that Adeleke's equitable claim for money damages should have been dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because sovereign immunity bars a federal court from ordering the United States to compensate for property that cannot be returned pursuant to Rule 41(g).² Sovereign immunity similarly deprived the district court of jurisdiction over Adeleke's due process claim. To the extent jurisdiction over this claim may lie in the Court of Claims under the Tucker Act, see 28 U.S.C. § 1491, no transfer is warranted here because Adeleke plainly had no due process right to have the United States insure his seized property. As for Adeleke's statutory claims, we conclude that the district court lacks jurisdiction under the Air Stabilization Act to order an award from the Victims Compensation Fund and, further, that Adeleke is not eligible for such compensation. Similarly, his damages claim fails to come within the limited waiver of sovereign immunity in the Federal Tort Claims Act.

I. Factual Background

On May 15, 2001, Hammed Adeleke traveled from Lagos, Nigeria, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. There, he was arrested by United States Customs officials when a baggage inspection revealed approximately two kilograms of heroin concealed in the sides of Adeleke's briefcase. On June 18, 2001, Adeleke pleaded guilty to one count of importing heroin into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 960(a)(1), 960(b)(3), and on October 17, 2001, he was sentenced to forty-six months' incarceration.

Incident to Adeleke's arrest, Customs officials seized $1,000 in cash and various items of personal property, which, according to Adeleke, included a Swiss watch, two gold rings decorated with diamonds, one gold chain, and one gold pendant, having a total value of $63,350, an impressive collection of jewelry for a man who, at sentencing, reported his monthly income for the previous ten years at $35.78.³ Pending resolution of Adeleke's criminal case, his seized personal property was stored at the United States Customshouse located at 6 World Trade Center in Manhattan.

On June 22, 2001, within days of his guilty plea, United States Customs sent Adeleke a standard "Baggage Release Notice" advising him of three options to retrieve his personal property: (1) Adeleke or his designee could pick up his property at 6 World Trade Center; (2) Customs would ship the property to any designated address, provided Adeleke prepaid the shipping costs; or (3) Adeleke could hire private shippers to retrieve the property. The Notice provided that baggage not picked up within one year of seizure would be considered abandoned and sold at public auction or destroyed. Adeleke did not follow any of the procedures outlined in the release notice. Thus, when terrorists attacked lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, Adeleke's unclaimed personal property, still inside 6 World Trade Center, was destroyed.

Four months later, on January 22, 2002, Adeleke filed a motion in the district court for the return of his property pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(g). Soon thereafter, the United States voluntarily returned the $1,000 in cash seized from Adeleke, thereby rendering that part of his claim moot.⁴ As for Adeleke's personal property, the United States moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the destruction was not attributable to any unreasonable conduct on its part so as to warrant an equitable award of money damages. Adeleke opposed the motion, maintaining that government negligence was not a prerequisite to an equitable damages award and that the release notice created a due process obligation on the United States to insure his property for the one-year retrieval period. He further argued that the Air Stabilization Act provided for compensation of his loss as a victim of the September 11th attacks.

The magistrate judge to whom the matter was referred agreed with Adeleke that circuit precedent did not require a showing of actual negligence by the United States to support an equitable award of damages on a post-conviction claim for Rule 41(g) relief. Nevertheless, she recommended summary judgment in favor of the United States because Adeleke had adduced no evidence that any government conduct had contributed to the loss, destruction, or disposal of his property. The magistrate explained: "The government merely held plaintiff's property at the time it was destroyed. Plaintiff's loss was caused by the [third-party] attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, which led to many great losses." Adeleke v. United States, 02-CV-0665, Magistrate Report and Recommendation at 8 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 2, 2003). She further recommended dismissal of Adeleke's constitutional and statutory claims for failure to establish enforceable rights. Id. at 8-9.

By order dated February 12, 2003, the district court adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety and awarded summary judgment in favor of the United States on Adeleke's request for money damages.

II. Discussion

A. Sovereign Immunity Bars Adeleke's Equitable Claim for Money Damages

The district court concluded that Adeleke's equitable claim for damages failed because Adeleke could not show that the United States' conduct contributed to the destruction of his property, a causation requirement inferred from language in Mora v. United States, 955 F.2d at 160 (the government can be liable for damages "when [it] gives away, loses or destroys a prisoner's property") and Soviero v. United States, 967 F.2d at 791 (a plaintiff "should be permitted to seek damages if the district court determines the government's conduct renders it liable for such"). We identify a more fundamental obstacle to Adeleke's effort to seek compensation from the public treasury: the sovereign immunity of the United States. Before discussing sovereign immunity, however, we briefly review our prior cases discussing equitable damages awards for lost or destroyed seized property.

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) permits a person aggrieved by the government's unlawful seizure or deprivation of property to move for specific relief: the property's return. Over a decade ago, in Mora v. United States, 955 F.2d at 160, this court held that, even after the conclusion of criminal proceedings, federal courts may exercise equitable jurisdiction to hear Rule 41(g) motions. Further, if demanded property is no longer available for return, Mora instructs district courts to consider "whether the government's conduct renders it liable for damages ... as an equitable remedy." Id. at 161. Later that same year, this court more emphatically recognized the availability of an equitable award of damages when the government cannot return seized property: "Simply because the government destroys or otherwise disposes of property sought by the movant, the motion for its return is not thereby rendered moot. When a court possessing equitable powers has jurisdiction over a complaint that seeks equitable relief, it has authority to award whatever damages are incident to the complaint." Soviero v. United States, 967 F.2d at 793 (citation omitted). The point was reiterated...