United States v. Von Neumann

• Decision Date: 14 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-1144,84-1144
• Citation: 88 L.Ed.2d 587,106 S.Ct. 610,474 U.S. 242
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. John VON NEUMANN, Respondent
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

474 U.S. 242

106 S.Ct. 610

88 L.Ed.2d 587

UNITED STATES, Petitioner

v John VON NEUMANN, Respondent.

No. 84-1144.

Argued Nov. 4, 1985.

Decided Jan. 14, 1986.

Syllabus

Respondent purchased a car in Switzerland and had it shipped to Vancouver, Canada. After he had picked up the car in Vancouver, he drove to the United States border but failed to declare the car when asked by a United States customs officer whether he had anything to declare. Customs then seized the car pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1497, which provides that any article not declared upon entry into the United States that by law must be declared is subject to forfeiture or to a penalty equaling the value of the article. Respondent, rather than waiting to challenge the seizure in a judicial forfeiture action that might be initiated by the Government, immediately chose the other statutory option of filing a petition for administrative remission of the forfeiture. Two weeks later he posted a bond for $24,500, the car's value, and Customs released the car. The Customs Service did not respond to the remission petition until 36 days after it was filed, at which time the penalty for failure to declare the car was reduced to $3,600, and this penalty was upheld on administrative review. Respondent then filed a complaint in Federal District Court, seeking cancellation of the penalty on the ground that he had not violated § 1497, and a declaration that the seizure and penalty were unlawful. The District Court disagreed and entered judgment for the Government. The Court of Appeals held that the 36-day delay in acting on respondent's remission petition denied him due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Subsequently on remand from this Court for reconsideration in light of United States v. $8,850, 461 U.S. 555, 103 S.Ct. 2005, 76 L.Ed.2d 143, the Court of Appeals held that the four-factor balancing test of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101—the length of the delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right, and prejudice suffered by the defendant—applied in $8,850 in determining whether a delay in bringing a forfeiture proceeding violated due process should also be applied to determine whether the 36-day delay in this case violated due process, and accordingly remanded to the District Court to determine that question under the above test.

Held: On the record, the 36-day delay did not deprive respondent of property without due process of law. Pp. 249-251.

(a) Respondent's right to a forfeiture proceeding meeting the Barker test provides the postseizure hearing required by due process to protect respondent's property interest in the car. The remission statute simply grants the Secretary of the Treasury the discretion not to pursue a complete forfeiture despite the Government's entitlement to one. Remission proceedings are not necessary to a forfeiture determination, and therefore are not constitutionally required. Thus, there is no constitutional basis for a claim that respondent's interest in the car, or in the money put up to secure the bond, entitled him to a speedy answer to his remission petition. Pp. 249-250.

(b) Even if respondent had a property right under the remission statute that cannot be taken away without due process that includes a speedy answer to the remission petition, any due process requirement of timely disposition was more than adequately provided for here. It is not shown that he suffered any prejudice from the 36-day delay. Pp. 250-251.

729 F.2d 657 (CA 9, 1984), reversed.

BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, POWELL, REHNQUIST, and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined, and in Parts I and II of which BURGER, C.J., joined. BURGER, C.J., filed an opinion concurring in part, post, p. ---. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.

Alan I. Horowitz, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

Charles L. Birke, Los Angeles, Cal., for respondent.

Justice BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

We must decide in this case whether a 36-day delay by the United States Customs Service in responding to a remission petition filed by respondent in response to the seizure of his car by customs agents deprived respondent of property without due process of law.

I

Title 19 U.S.C. § 1497 ¹ provides that any article not declared upon entry into the United States which by law must be declared is subject to forfeiture or to a penalty equaling the value of the article. After seizure of an article by the United States Customs Service, a claimant to it has essentially two options. He may pursue an administrative remedy under 19 U.S.C.A. § 1618 (Supp.1985),² which vests in the Secretary of the Treasury the discretionary authority to mitigate or remit the penalty or forfeiture, or he may challenge the seizure in a judicial forfeiture action initiated by the Government.³ 19 U.S.C. §§ 1602-1604.⁴

In 1974 respondent, John Von Neumann shipped to Vancouver, Canada, a 1974 Jaguar Panther automobile he purchased in Switzerland. On January 20, 1975, he and a friend picked up the car in Vancouver, obtained a release from Canadian Customs to take possession of the vehicle and also obtained a form that Von Neumann was to deliver to the Canadian Customs station at the border. Von Neumann failed to deliver the form to Canadian Customs officials. He claimed that he inadvertently drove past the Canadian Customs station because of poor visibility and inadequate directions. Instead, Von Neumann and his friend arrived at the United States border checkpoint at Blaine, Washington, where they were questioned by United States Immigration Officer Harry Perkins, a designated customs officer. Canadian Customs officials had earlier alerted United States Customs that Von Neumann's car would be crossing the border, and Perkins specifically asked Von Neumann whether he had anything to declare. When Von Neumann failed to declare the automobile, Perkins asked him into the checkpoint station and referred the matter to Customs Inspector Donald E. Morrison. Upon being asked why he had not declared the car, Von Neumann explained that he did not think a declaration was required. Morrison then seized the car pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1497.

That same day, January 20, Von Neumann prepared a "Petition for Remission or Mitigation of Forfeitures and Penalties Incurred," pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1618, explaining that he had not intended to violate United States Customs laws when he failed to declare the car. Two weeks later, on February 3, Von Neumann posted a bond for $24,500, the value of his car, and Customs released the vehicle pursuant to its authority under 19 U.S.C. § 1614. On February 12, counsel for Von Neumann filed a supplement to the original remission petition. On February 25—36 days after the petition was filed—the Seattle District Director of the Customs Service, pursuant to delegation of authority from the Secretary of the Treasury,⁵ acted on Von Neumann's remission petition, and informed Von Neumann that the penalty for failure to declare the car was being reduced to $3,600. On administrative review of this determination, the Regional Commissioner of Customs in San Francisco, on April 14, 1975, upheld the $3,600 penalty.

Having exhausted his administrative remedies, Von Neumann filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He sought cancellation of the $3,600 penalty on the ground that he had not violated § 1497. He also requested an injunction prohibiting Customs from placing his name on a computer list of violators, and a declaration that this seizure and penalty were unlawful. The District Court found that Von Neumann had violated 19 U.S.C. § 1497, and that seizure of the car therefore was proper. The court also upheld the validity of the remission and mitigation procedures. Accordingly, it entered judgment for the Government.⁶ Von Neumann appealed this de- cision, challenging both the procedures followed by Customs in imposing the penalty and also the penalty itself.

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the District Court that Von Neumann had violated § 1497. 660 F.2d 1319, 1323 (1981). The court, however, also considered and sustained Von Neumann's claim that the 36-day delay in acting on his remission petition denied Von Neumann due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The court reasoned that speed in the handling of the remission petition, particularly where the seizure is of an automobile, is constitutionally required—that strict guidelines in responding to remission petitions are necessary "to ensure the due process rights of administrative claimants," id., at 1326-1327, and concluded that Customs must "act on a petition for remission or mitigation within 24 hours of receipt," id., at 1327. In addition, the court ruled, a claimant has a right to a personal appearance to present his or her claim. Ibid.

The Government petitioned for certiorari. We granted the petition, vacated, and remanded for reconsideration in light of United States v. $8,850, 461 U.S. 555, 103 S.Ct. 2005, 76 L.Ed.2d 143 (1983). 462 U.S. 1101, 103 S.Ct. 2446, 77 L.Ed.2d 1328 (1983). In $8,850, however, the issue presented did not involve the remission procedure; rather the question was whether the Government's 18-month delay in bringing a forfeiture proceeding violated the claimant's right to due process of law. The Court held that due process requires a postseizure determination within a reasonable time of the seizure. We concluded that the four-factor balancing test of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), provides the relevant framework for determining whether a delay was reasonable. The Barker test involves a weighing of four factors: the length of any delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right, and prejudice suffered by the defendant. Applying this test...