United States v. 323 "Quintales" of Green Coffee Beans

21 F. Supp. 3d 122, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187955, 2013 WL 8538639
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedDecember 30, 2013
DocketCivil No. 10-1519 (MEL)
StatusPublished

This text of 21 F. Supp. 3d 122 (United States v. 323 "Quintales" of Green Coffee Beans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. 323 "Quintales" of Green Coffee Beans, 21 F. Supp. 3d 122, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187955, 2013 WL 8538639 (prd 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MARCOS E. LÓPEZ, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Procedural History

On June 9, 2010 the United States of America (the “government” or “plaintiff’) filed a complaint along with a statement made under penalty of perjury in support of the same (the “affidavit”) by José I. Cruz Pillich, a special agent for ICE (“Agent Pillich”), to institute a civil in rem action under 18 U.S.C. § 545 and 19 U.S.C. § 1595a(c)(1)(A) and (2)(C) for the forfeiture of 323 “quintales” (approximately 32,300 pounds) of green coffee beans (the “property”). ECF Nos. 1, ¶¶ 1-2; 265, ¶ 2; 279, ¶ 2. The property had been seized by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agent, pursuant to a search and seizure warrant. ECF No. 265-1. On July 13, 2010, Daniel Omar Torres (“claimant”) filed an answer to the complaint, along with a third party complaint against third party defendant Nelson Colón (“Mr. Colón”), in his personal capacity and official capacity as inspector for the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture, and against third party defendant Javier Aquino (“Mr. Aquino”), in his individual capacity and official capacity as Secretary of Agriculture for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico at the time the property was seized. ECF No. 9. On May 19, 2011, the court granted third party defendant Mr. Aquino’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs third party complaint against him in both capacities, without prejudice. ECF No. 36. On March 30, 2012, the court adopted the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 157) and granted third party defendant Mr. Colon’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs third party complaint against him in both capacities, with prejudice. ECF Nos. 157; 172 (report and recommendation adopted).

On September 13, 2013, six days prior to the commencement of a jury trial in the case of caption, plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 238), which the court denied without prejudice on September 20, 2013. ECF No. 263. After a rescheduling of the trial, plaintiff was granted until September 25, 2013 to re-file the motion. Id. Pending before the court are plaintiffs motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 264), and a response in opposition filed by claimant and interested party International Coffee Vendors, Inc. (ECF No. 275). For the reasons set forth [125]*125below, plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is granted.

II. Uncontested Facts 1

Claimant incorporated International Coffee Vendors, Inc. D/B/A/ Gustos Coffee Co. (“ICV”) as a for-profit corporation under Puerto Rico law on September 17, 2001. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 10; 279, ¶10. Neither claimant nor ICV are involved in growing coffee and neither do they have the processing equipment to process coffee, so that all coffee which was to be roasted once they began the roasting operations had to be purchased from a “benefi-ciado” who had the necessary equipment to be able to process the coffee. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 17; 279, ¶ 17. Claimant acknowledges that when coffee is purchased from a coffee processor or “beneficiado” that sells coffee that has been grown by another grower who is different from the “beneficiado,” it is impossible for him to determine from where the coffee originated. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 18; 279, ¶ 18.

Claimant has a license from the Department of Agriculture to purchase coffee. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 19; 279, ¶ 19. As a condition of being licensed claimant is required to allow inspectors from the Department of Agriculture to come onto the ICV premises for certain purposes, and the inspectors have the right to do an inventory of the coffee and sample it under certain circumstances. Id. At all pertinent times for the purposes of the pending motion, Mr. Colón was an inspector for the Department of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and taking samples of coffee beans was among his functions as an inspector. ECF Nos. 265, ¶¶ 21-22; 279, ¶¶ 21-22. He was part of the chain of custody of the samples of green coffee beans that he took at the premises of ICV. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 25; 279, ¶ 25.

On January 26, 2010, Mr. Colón visited the ICV premises. ECF Nos. 265 ¶ 26; 279 ¶ 26.2 Mr. Colón provided a sample of coffee beans taken from the ICV premises to Senior Special Agent for ICE, Antonio Illas (“Agent Illas”). ECF Nos. 265 ¶ 45; 279 ¶ 45. On or about February 3, 2010, Agent Illas provided the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) Laboratory samples of the property for “country of origin” analysis, which indicated a greater than 99% probability match with the green coffee beans in the CBP Savannah Laboratory database from the Dominican Repub-[126]*126lie. Id. Mr. Colón had to return to the ICV premises because the coffee beans samples that he initially took from the premises tested positive for not being coffee from Puerto Rico, and he placed a hold on the property there. ECF Nos. 265, ¶¶ 30, 88, 29; 279, ¶¶ 30, 38, 39. Pursuant to the search and seizure warrant issued on February 11, 2010, the property ICE agents seized the property on or around February 16, 2010. ECF Nos. 265, ¶¶ 3-4; 279, ¶¶ 3-4. The ICE agents seized the property from a warehouse of ICV, where the property had been stored. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 5; 279, ¶ 5. Once the property had been seized, CBP conducted subsequent sampling and laboratory tests under the laboratory report number SV20100184. ECF Nos. 265, ¶ 46; 279, ¶46. A total of thirty-three additional coffee samples were taken at random, thirty-two of which yielded a positive result for coffee beans with originating from the Dominican Republic, and the CBP chemist deemed the result for one sample as inconclusive. Id. The samples taken for CBP testing and the 323 Quintales of coffee beans seized by federal law enforcement agents were composed of exclusively unroasted coffee beans.3

III. Legal Standaed

The purpose of summary judgment “is to pierce the boilerplate of the pleadings and assay the parties’ proof in order to determine whether trial is actually required.” Wynne v. Tufts Univ. Sch. of Med., 976 F.2d 791, 794 (1st Cir.1992). Summary judgment is granted when the record shows that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). “ ‘A dispute is genuine if the evidence about the fact is such that a reasonable jury could resolve the point in the favor of the non-moving party. A fact is material if it has the potential of determining the outcome of the litigation.’ ” Farmers Ins. Exch. v. RNK, Inc., 632 F.3d 777, 782 (1st Cir.2011) (quoting Rodríguez-Rivera v. Federico Trilla Reg’l Hosp., 532 F.3d 28, 30 (1st Cir.2008)).

The party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

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Bluebook (online)
21 F. Supp. 3d 122, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187955, 2013 WL 8538639, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-323-quintales-of-green-coffee-beans-prd-2013.