United States v. ONE 1950 FORD HALF-TON PICKUP AUTO. TR., 11411.

• Decision Date: 28 March 1952
• Docket Number: No. 11411.,11411.
• Citation: 195 F.2d 857
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. ONE 1950 FORD HALF-TON PICKUP AUTOMOBILE TRUCK, MOTOR NO. 9-8RC-289459.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

195 F.2d 857 (1952)

UNITED STATES v. ONE 1950 FORD HALF-TON PICKUP AUTOMOBILE TRUCK, MOTOR NO. 9-8RC-289459.

No. 11411.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

March 28, 1952.

Charles F. Wood, Louisville, Ky. (David C. Walls, Charles F. Wood, Norris W. Reigler, all of Louisville, Ky., on the brief), for appellant.

No attorney for appellee.

Before HICKS, Chief Judge, and ALLEN and MARTIN, Circuit Judges.

MARTIN, Circuit Judge.

The government has appealed from the dismissal by the District Court of a libel filed against a 1950 Ford half-ton pickup truck for forfeiture, because of violation by the owner of the motor vehicle of section 3116 of Title 26, U.S.C.A. The District Court, after receiving evidence, filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law on the same date that it entered an order dismissing the libel and directing that the seized automobile be restored to possession of the respondent, Archie E. Davis.

As found by the District Court, the respondent, Davis, was apprehended on July 27, 1950, at a distillery which was being operated in the woods in violation of four sections of the Internal Revenue Code, namely: Sections 2810, 2833, 2834, and 2803, 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 2803, 2810, 2833, 2834; and, at the time of his apprehension at the still site, he was the lawful owner of the pickup truck against which the libel was directed and had in his possession the key to the vehicle. On the date of his arrest, Davis, as specifically found by the District Court, "used the truck which is the subject of this libel for the purpose of going to the illicit still in order to operate same." When the officers arrested him, they located the libelled truck some four hundred or more yards from the still site, within 75 yards of the closest distance to the still to which an automobile could possibly be driven.

The District Court found further that there was no evidence of signs or markings on the truck indicative of supplies or materials having been hauled in it to or from the still site, but there was evidence that Davis, on the date upon which he was arrested, stated to an officer of the Kentucky State Police and an Alcohol Tax Unit Investigator that he had used the truck, subject of the libel, to haul supplies to the still site. Davis denied that he made any such statement to the officers. It was found that the libelled truck "was seen at a point some four hundred or more yards from the still site on only one occasion", on July 27, 1950; and that, prior to that date, Respondent Davis owned a 1935 Ford automobile which had been used by him to haul materials and supplies to and from the still.

The Court made this important finding: "Archie E. Davis admitted that he used the Ford truck, which is the subject of this libel, on July 27, 1950, for the purpose of going to the still in order that he could operate the still on said day, and that he intended to use the said truck for the purpose of returning home after he had operated the still on July 27, 1950."

The conclusions of law of the District Court were thus succinctly stated: "From the evidence introduced before this Court, the Court is of the opinion that the said evidence is insufficient to sustain the libel filed herein. Forfeitures are harsh actions and are frowned upon by equity. The respondent and owner of the truck, which is the subject of this libel, was sentenced by this Court for violations of the Internal Revenue Laws and has paid the penalty owed by him to society for violation of the law. Counsel for respondent will submit to the Court an order dismissing the libel."

In our judgment, the District Court committed reversible error in dismissing the libel. Its view of the applicable law was based upon the erroneous conception that equitable principles control decision in forfeiture proceedings filed pursuant to section 3116 of Title 26, U.S.C.A., the pertinent portion of which reads, as follows: "It shall be unlawful to have or possess any liquor or property intended for use in violating the provisions of this part, or the internal-revenue laws, or regulations prescribed under such part or laws, or which has been so used and no...