United States v. One (1) Caribou Aircraft Reg., Civ. No. 82-0576CC.

• Decision Date: 15 February 1983
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 82-0576CC.
• Citation: 557 F. Supp. 379
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. ONE (1) CARIBOU AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION NO. N-1017-H, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

557 F. Supp. 379

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. ONE (1) CARIBOU AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION NO. N-1017-H, Defendant.

Civ. No. 82-0576CC.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

February 15, 1983.

Raymond L. Acosta, U.S. Atty. by Everett M. de Jesús, Asst. U.S. Atty., Hato Rey, P.R., for plaintiff.

Carlos López-de-Azúa, Hato Rey, P.R., for defendant.

ORDER

CEREZO, District Judge.

Defendant One (1) Caribou Aircraft Registration No. N-1017-H has opposed the Magistrate's Report and Recommendation that its motion for summary judgment be denied. Specifically, defendant objects to the Magistrate's finding that the government complied fully with the requirements of the rules and statutes applicable to this case "that the property must be subject to the jurisdiction at the time the libel is filed."¹

This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1345 and 1355 and 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841 and 881. On March 29, 1982 a warrant for the arrest of the defendant aircraft was issued by the Clerk of this Court, pursuant to an order issued on March 17, 1982. According to the libel filed defendant had become forfeited to the United States since March 4, 1982 when it was used or intended to be used to transport or facilitate the transportation, sale, receipt, possession or concealment of a controlled substance. At the moment of the issuance of the warrant for its arrest, the aircraft was not within this Court's jurisdiction, it being located in St. Marteen, Netherlands Antilles. There it was retained by local governmental authorities until April 3, 1982 when it was flown to Puerto Rico by U.S. agents with the permission of the St. Marteen authorities. The arrest warrant was then executed at the Isla Grande airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Defendant's contention is that for the arrest to be valid the property to be arrested, in this case an aircraft, had to be within the court's jurisdiction at the time the complaint for forfeiture was filed and that its allegedly illegal transfer to this jurisdiction could not cure this defect. Defendant's argument that the property must have been within the jurisdiction of this court when the libel was filed is defeated by the plain language of the applicable rule which provides in part that "in actions in rem the complaint ... shall describe with reasonable particularity the property that is the subject of the action and state that it is within the district or will be during the pendency of the action." Rule C(2) of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims (emphasis ours). Clearly, all that is required is that it be asserted, under oath, that the property will be located within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. The complaint filed in this case so asserts. The case of American Bank of Wage Claims v. Registry of the District Court of Guam, 431 F.2d 1215 (9th Cir.1979) which defendant cites as "controlling as to this case" does not stand for the proposition that the property must be within the jurisdiction of the court at the time the libel is filed. This case merely states the general principle that "in rem jurisdiction exists in an action only where the subject matter of the action, or an appropriate substitute thereof, is within the jurisdiction of the court in which the action lies." Id., at p. 1218. This proposition does not imply that a defendant may not be brought to the jurisdiction of the court where the proceedings are pending. Rule C(2) merely applies this principle recognizing the mobile characteristic of things such as vessels or aircrafts. Furthermore, the facts of the cited case are completely different from those present in this case. There the arrested vessel had been sold and released from the jurisdiction of the court; no stay of the court's order was requested and no bond was filed. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that under those circumstances it lacked "in rem" jurisdiction to consider an appeal of the order.

Section 1395(c) of Title 28 of the United States Code which "properly applies to procedures made outside the territorial limits of the United States" provides that "a civil...