US v. ONE 1974 CESSNA MODEL 310R AIRCRAFT, ETC., Civ. A. No. 76-956.
| Decision Date | 13 April 1977 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 76-956. |
| Citation | 432 F. Supp. 364 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. ONE 1974 CESSNA MODEL 310R AIRCRAFT, SERIAL NO. 310R0203, FAA REGISTRATION NO. N5083J, Defendant. |
Joel W. Collins, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Columbia, S. C., for plaintiff.
Wilburn Brewer, Jr., Nexsen, Pruet, Jacobs & Pollard, Columbia, S. C., for defendant.
The government brings this action pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881 seeking the forfeiture of the defendant Cessna aircraft for allegedly having been used for the transportation of marijuana in violation of federal law. Defendant Yingling Aircraft, Inc., a corporation with its principal place of business in Kansas, intervened in this matter and moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, and/or transfer the cause to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The motion forges issues for this court.
The pertinent facts are that on September 29, 1975, Yingling filed an action in the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, wherein it sought to recover money damages from Trans-Island Survey & Photo Co., Ltd. (hereinafter Trans-Island). On the same day, Yingling obtained and served an Order of Attachment attaching the Cessna aircraft defendant in this action, which was in possession of Yingling at the time. On May 20, 1976, a default judgment was entered by the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, awarding Yingling damages in the amount of $47,427.97, plus interest and costs, and ordering that the Cessna 310 be sold in satisfaction thereof.
On or about March 19, 1976, defendant aircraft, which had earlier been attached by Yingling, was seized in Wichita, Kansas, by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice for allegedly having been used by Trans-Island for the transportation of marijuana in violation of federal law. On May 28, 1976, the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina filed the present action seeking judgment of forfeiture against the Cessna.
On June 7, 1976, Yingling filed its complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, in Wichita, whereby Yingling sought to enjoin the United States, the Attorney General, and the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice from removing the Cessna aircraft from the State of Kansas, or otherwise interfering with the lawful sale of same pursuant to the order of judgment of the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas. In the alternative, Yingling sought a declaratory judgment affirming its interest in the Cessna 310 and declaring that Yingling has a first and prior lien in said aircraft by reason of the state court judgment, and ordering that any sale or other disposition of same by the United States is subject to Yingling's interest thereon. By agreement of the parties as reflected in the order of the Honorable Frank G. Theis, United States District Judge for the District of Kansas, the Cessna aircraft was removed from the custody of Yingling and moved to a neutral location at United Beechcraft, Inc., at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, Wichita, Kansas, where it is being held until further order of the court.
On June 18, 1976, a trial was held in Wichita, Kansas, before the Honorable Frank G. Theis, United States District Judge, on the issues raised by Yingling's complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. Following the trial, Judge Theis took the matter under advisement, indicating that he would reserve judgment on the question of whether the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina has jurisdiction over the Cessna aircraft in order to permit the South Carolina court to decide the question of its own jurisdiction. The parties thereupon agreed that the subject aircraft would remain within the District of Kansas pending this court's determination of the jurisdictional question.
It is undisputed that the Cessna aircraft has not been in South Carolina at any time since the forfeiture action was commenced by the government. It is also undisputed that the seizure of the aircraft took place in Kansas.
The government contends that the District Court for the District of South Carolina has jurisdiction in this matter under 28 U.S.C. § 1355 and 28 U.S.C. § 1395. Section 1355 reads:
The district court shall have original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the states, of any action or proceeding for the recovery or enforcement of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise, incurred under any act of Congress.
This section represents a general grant of subject matter jurisdiction to federal district courts in forfeiture actions. Section 1395 controls venue in actions for fines, penalties or forfeitures. That section reads, in pertinent part:
The government argues that this court has jurisdiction in that the forfeiture accrued in South Carolina because the aircraft initially landed in South Carolina when and where it was allegedly used in smuggling activities and that the forfeiture relates back to the alleged illegal act. For this reason, the government insists that Section 1395(a) allows the action to be brought in South Carolina as the place of its accrual. Government attorneys further position that under 21 U.S.C. § 881(c)(2)1, the Attorney General, in seizure cases, has the power to "remove the property to a place designated by him". The government contends that this provision coupled with § 1395(c) allows the Attorney General to remove the property from Kansas to South Carolina and thus bestow jurisdiction on the South Carolina District Court. Under this same line of reasoning, the government argues that the Attorney General may remove the aircraft to South Carolina and acquire jurisdiction under § 1395(b) which provides that an action may be brought in the district where the property is found. Defendant-intervenor, Yingling, argues that the property must be within the district before the court has in rem jurisdiction over it. Yingling's position, quite simply stated, is that § 1395 is a venue statute (a proposition with which this court completely agrees) and that jurisdiction is unaffected by such section. Yingling asserts that the district court has no inherent power to exercise traditional in rem jurisdiction beyond the territorial borders of the district.
The question presented here is quite simple: What are the territorial limits of the United States District Courts jurisdiction in in rem proceedings involving forfeitures under 21 U.S.C. § 881? As usual, the answer is not as simple as the question. This section, unlike many other code sections involving forfeitures, relies totally on 28 U.S.C. § 1355 for a general grant of jurisdiction to the district courts. Yingling cites Fettig Canning Co. v. Steckler, 188 F.2d 715 (7th Cir. 1951), for the proposition that, "the court having jurisdiction is the court in whose district the res is found." The Fettig case, however, is totally inapplicable in that it involved a seizure of adulterated or misbranded food pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 334(a) which provides, "any article of food . . that is adulterated or misbranded when introduced into or while in interstate commerce . . . shall be liable to be proceeded against while in interstate commerce, or at any time thereafter, on reliable information and condemned in any district court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which the article is found." It is plain from this language that the statute itself, which created jurisdiction over the action in the district court, limited the territorial jurisdiction of the courts in such actions to the district...
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