Payne v. City of Decatur

141 So. 3d 500, 2013 WL 1694465, 2013 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 92
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 19, 2013
Docket2110919
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 141 So. 3d 500 (Payne v. City of Decatur) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Payne v. City of Decatur, 141 So. 3d 500, 2013 WL 1694465, 2013 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 92 (Ala. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

PITTMAN, Judge.

Tobias Anjuan Payne appeals from a summary judgment in favor of the City of Decatur (“the City”) in his quasi in rem action seeking the return of $36,030 seized from him by an officer of the Decatur Police Department (“the DPD”). We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

On September 1, 2006, officer Archie Letson, a member of the DPD, participated in a raid organized by the Morgan County Drug Task Force at a residence in Decatur. Upon entering the residence, the members of the task force encountered Payne and other individuals. During a pat-down search of Payne, Morgan County sheriff’s deputies seized $3,605 from Payne’s pockets. Payne was detained in police custody while Officer Letson obtained a warrant from the Decatur Municipal Court to search Payne’s residence. Upon execution of that warrant, officers discovered evidence indicating cocaine trafficking and crack-cocaine production and $36,030 in cash. Officer Letson seized the cash and, several days later, transferred it to a United States marshal at the request of Special Agent Fred Gasbarro of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“the DEA”), who had also been investigating Payne for illegal drug activities.

On February 28, 2007, civil-forfeiture in rem proceedings were commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against the $36,030 in cash discovered at Payne’s residence (“the property”). Payne was served with the forfeiture complaint on April 3, 2007. On September 16, 2009, Payne, acting through counsel, withdrew his claim to the property and consented to its forfeiture. On September 23, 2009, the federal district court entered a default judgment [502]*502of forfeiture. On April 26, 2010, the United States marshal’s office made payments totaling $15,727.42 to the DPD, pursuant to “equitable sharing” programs of the DEA.1

On November 9, 2011, Payne filed in the Morgan Circuit Court (“the trial court”) a complaint against the City, seeking the return of the property. Payne asserted that the property had been seized pursuant to § 20-2-93, Ala.Code 1975, and that he was entitled to the return of the property because no state forfeiture proceeding had been promptly initiated as required by § 20-2-93(c). The City moved to dismiss the complaint and attached to its motion documents relating to the in rem forfeiture proceeding in the federal district court.

Payne filed a response to the City’s motion, asserting that the federal court could not validly have assumed in rem jurisdiction over the property because, he insisted, the property was subject to the preexisting in rem jurisdiction of the state court by virtue of the warrant issued to search his residence. Payne attached to his response the search warrant, the affidavit for the warrant, and the return on the execution of the warrant.

The trial court notified the parties that, because they had presented, and it had considered, matters outside the pleadings, it would treat the City’s motion to dismiss as one for a summary judgment. Payne filed a cross-motion for a summary judgment. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the City’s motion for a summary judgment, denied Payne’s motion, and dismissed Payne’s complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, stating the following:

“[T]he court has reviewed the pleadings, the evidentiary materials, and the legal authorities submitted by the parties and also has considered the arguments of counsel. There are no genuine issues of material disputed fact. [Payne] filed this action for return of seized property (money) after a United States District Court had already acquired and exercised in rem jurisdiction and had entered an order that condemned and forfeited the property in question. As a matter of law, this court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action.”
Standard of Review
“An order granting or denying a summary judgment is reviewed de novo, applying the same standard as the trial court applied. American Gen. Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Underwood, 886 So.2d 807, 811 (Ala.2004). In addition, ‘[t]his court reviews de novo a trial court’s interpretation of a statute, because only a question of law is presented.’ Scott Bridge Co. v. Wright, 883 So.2d 1221, 1223 (Ala.2003). Where, as here, the facts of a case are essentially undisputed, this Court must determine whether the trial court misapplied the [503]*503law to the undisputed facts, applying a de novo standard of review. Carter v. City of Haleyville, 669 So.2d 812, 815 (Ala.1995).”

Continental Nat’l Indem. Co. v. Fields, 926 So.2d 1083, 1084-35 (Ala.2005).

Discussion

In all material respects, this case is identical to Ervin v. City of Birmingham, 137 So.3d 901 (Ala.2013). Ervin’s cash was seized pursuant to a search warrant issued by a state court; the municipal police department transferred the cash to the DEA; the United States filed a complaint in federal district court seeking forfeiture of the cash; Ervin was served with notice of the federal forfeiture proceeding; Ervin moved to withdraw his claim for the cash and consented to its forfeiture; the federal district court entered a final judgment forfeiting the cash to the United States; the municipality ultimately received a share of the cash pursuant to DEA’s “equitable sharing” program; and Ervin subsequently filed a complaint in an Alabama circuit court seeking the return of the cash and advancing the same arguments that Payne has advanced here.

In Ervin, the circuit court entered a summary judgment in favor of the municipality, concluding “that the federal district court had ‘properly exercised jurisdiction’ over the cash because § 20-2-93 did not prohibit the City from transferring the cash to the United States in order to institute forfeiture proceedings.” 137 So.3d at 904. The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed, stating that “Ervin’s action [seeking the return of the cash] amounts to a collateral attack in state court on a final judgment entered by a federal court.... As the successor in title to the forfeited property, the [municipality] is entitled to the res judicata benefit of that final judgment.” 137 So.3d at 905.

In rejecting Ervin’s arguments that the cash had been seized pursuant to a state search warrant and that municipal law-enforcement officials had improperly transferred the cash to federal officials, our supreme court stated:

“Even if all these contentions were correct, they amount only to an attack on the authority of the federal district court to exercise jurisdiction over the res in an in rem action, not an attack on the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal court over a forfeiture action brought under federal law. As such, they come too late and are being advanced in the wrong court. See Porsche Cars North America, Inc. v. Porsche.net, 302 F.3d 248, 256 (4th Cir.2002) (distinguishing between objections to subject-matter jurisdiction and objections to a court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the res in an in rem action, and explaining that, as with in personam jurisdiction, ‘in ... civil forfeiture cases, for years courts have held that objections to in rem jurisdiction may be waived’ and citing cases in support); United States v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 So. 3d 500, 2013 WL 1694465, 2013 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/payne-v-city-of-decatur-alacivapp-2013.