Gadd v. United States

55 Fed. Cl. 438, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 44, 2003 WL 1342401
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 13, 2003
DocketNo. 02-734C
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Fed. Cl. 438 (Gadd v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gadd v. United States, 55 Fed. Cl. 438, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 44, 2003 WL 1342401 (uscfc 2003).

Opinion

ORDER

HORN, Judge.

The plaintiff filed a complaint, pro se, alleging that agents of the United States improperly seized certain bank accounts belonging to plaintiff. The defendant responded by filing a motion to dismiss, to which the plaintiff responded. Plaintiff alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that an illegal exaction occurred.

The plaintiffs complaint alleges the following:

CLAIM ONE TAKING PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW: Agents, employees, officers of the United States Secret [sic], Justice Department, the United States Judiciary to deprive the Petitioner of property and right to property without due property [sic] of law a violation of petitioners [sic] right pursuant to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
CLAIM TWO ILLEGAL EXACTION: the banks [sic] accounts seized without due process of law amount to illegal exaction. The Petitioner owed no money to the government [sic] the funds were taken arbitrarily, wrongfully to ad [sic] funds to cover budget shortfalls of the United States Secret Service. “(1) that money was taken by the Government and (2) that a provision of the Constitution was violated in doing so.” Bowman v. United States, 35 Fed.Cl. 397 (1996).

The plaintiffs complaint seeks the following remedy:

WHEREAS RELIEF REQUESTED
The Petitioner requests the court order a payment to the Petitioner the sum of $2,699,762.00 which includes the principal amount of $342,692.43 plus 3.5% interest per month compounded for the last 5 years.

The plaintiffs complaint also contains a section titled “VERIFICATION” and states that:

Affiant, William Sanford Gadd©, the secured party, as evidenced by the UCC-1 filed in the West Virginia Secretary of State UCC Division, a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood man under the laws of God, being of sound mind, and over the age of twenty-one, reserving all rights, being unschooled in law, and who has no bar attorney, is without an attorney, and having never been represented by an attorney, and not waiving counsel, knowing and willingly Declares and Duly affirms, in accordance with law, in good faith, that any matter relating to this, are of Affiant’s own firsthand knowledge, does solemnly swear, declare, and depose: the Affiant is competent to state matters set forth herein; that Affiant has personal knowledge and belief of the facts stated herein; and all facts stated herein are true, correct, complete, and certain.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

William Sanford Gadd and Eddie Bradford Lee have filed multiple lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, which all arise out of the same set of facts. See Lee v. Mullen, No. 3:99CV180, 1999 WL 907537, at *1 (W.D.N.C. Sept.2, 1999) (unpublished), aff'd, 232 F.3d 888 (4th Cir.2000) (per curiam) (table); Lee v. Mullen, No. 3:99CV180, 1999 [440]*440WL 1529609, at *1 (W.D.N.C. Dec.13, 1999) (unpublished) (sanctions); Gadd v. Rubin, 173 F.3d 850 (4th Cir.1999) (per curiam) (table); Gadd v. Potter, 145 F.3d 1324 (4th Cir.1998) (per curiam) (table); Lee v. McClellan, No. 3:97CV355-P, 1997 WL 882907, at *1 (W.D.N.C. Nov.18, 1997) (unpublished), aff'd, 153 F.3d 720 (4th Cir.1998) (per curiam) (table), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1088, 119 S.Ct. 1498, 143 L.Ed.2d 652 (1999).1

In 1997, a search warrant was executed at the Huntersville, North Carolina branch of Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, N.A. and the assets in fourteen trust accounts totaling $342,692.43 were seized. See also Lee v. Mullen, 1999 WL 1529609, at *1; Lee v. McClellan, 1997 WL 882907, at *1. The search warrant was issued by a United States Magistrate Judge in the Western District of North Carolina based on information from federal agents. See also Lee v. Mullen, 1999 WL 1529609, at *1. The government initiated administrative forfeiture proceedings with regard to the bank accounts. Id. Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee received notice of the forfeiture proceeding, but did not intervene. Id. A declaration of forfeiture, therefore, was issued and the assets in the trust accounts were forfeited to the federal government. Id.

Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee, alleging that their property was unlawfully seized, initiated multiple, separate lawsuits. As noted above, each suit was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s dismissals on appeal.

In their first suit, Lee v. McClellan, in addition to a variety of other claims, Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee alleged that the Magistrate Judge, the federal agents, the Wachovia Bank of North Carolina, and “unnamed others to be named later,” involved in the search and seizure of their property at the Wachovia Bank, had violated their constitutional rights as a result of the seizure of their assets without a proper warrant. Lee v. McClellan, 1997 WL 882907, at *1-2, 4. The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, the return of property, compensatory damages, and punitive damages. Id. at *1. On November 18, 1997, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina found that the plaintiffs had failed to state any claim upon which relief could be granted, and dismissed all of plaintiffs’ claims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Id. at *5. On August 5, 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling. Lee v. McClellan, 153 F.3d at 720.

A second suit, Gadd v. Potter, was filed by Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee, also in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, against United States District Judge Robert D. Potter, the presiding judge in Lee v. McClellan. See Gadd v. Potter, 145 F.3d at 1324; Lee v. McClellan, 1997 WL 882907, at *1. On January 15, 1998, the District Court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed the complaint as frivolous. See Gadd v. Potter, 145 F.3d at 1324. On May 1, 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s finding, and further found that the appeal before it, likewise, was frivolous. Id.

Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee filed a third suit, Gadd v. Rubin, also in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against the Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin, and two others. See Gadd u Rubin, 173 F.3d at 850. In an unpublished opinion, issued on December 9, 1998, the District Court dismissed this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See id. On March 19, 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s dismissals. Id.

[441]*441In May, 1999, Mr. Gadd and Mr. Lee, along with another plaintiff, Ms. Moore, filed a fourth suit, Lee v. Mullen, once again, in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Lee v. Mullen, 1999 WL 907537.

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Bluebook (online)
55 Fed. Cl. 438, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 44, 2003 WL 1342401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gadd-v-united-states-uscfc-2003.