United States v. Habibollah Elahinejad

693 F. App'x 715

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: July 17, 2017
• Docket: 16-55559
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Habibollah Elahinejad appeals pro se from the district court’s summary judgment in a civil forfeiture action under 21 U.S.C. §§ 1595a(c)(l)(A) and 1595a(c)(2)(B) for goods seized from a shipment from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo. United States v. $133, 420.00 in U.S. Currency, 672 F.3d 629, 637 (9th Cir. 2012). We affirm.

. The district court properly granted summary judgment because Elahinejad failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether he had a colorable interest in the property. See id. at 638 (“[I]n a civil forfeiture action, a claimant’s bare assertion of an ownership or possessory interest, in the absence of some other evidence, is not enough to survive a motion for summary judgment.”).

We reject as unsupported by the record Elahinejad’s contention that the district court did not consider his evidence submitted in opposition to summary judgment.

Because we affirm summary judgment, we do not réach Elahinejad’s other conten tions on appeal. See United States v. $15,500 in U.S. Currency, 558 F.2d 1359, 1361 (9th Cir. 1977) (when a claimant fails to establish the threshold requirement of standing, the claimant’s challenges to the merits of the forfeiture action cannot be reached).

AFFIRMED.

** This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.