United States v. Barraza

LaOstriches, Laura Avila-Barraza, and Avila-Barraza’s three children filed claims to property the United States was seeking civil forfeiture to based on the ground that the funds were money-laundered drug trafficking proceeds. The district court dismissed LaOstriches’s claim due to repeated failures to comply with orders that its corporate treasurer and secretary appear for discovery depositions. The district court granted summary judgment, dismissing Avila-Barraza’s claim because she failed to establish a sufficient interest in the seized property. In this case, that Avila-Barraza, the remaining claimant, was ultimately unsuccessful in defeating the government’s forfeiture claim did not convert the order dismissing LaOstriches’s claim into punishment that was subject to the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause; the district court erred in dismissing Avila-Barraza’s claim on the ground that she lacks Article III standing; in the alternative, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment rejecting Avila-Barraza’s claim that she is an innocent owner of the funds sought to be forfeited; and Avila-Barraza did have standing, and in particular, standing to contest the government’s claim that the funds are drug trafficking proceeds subject to civil forfeiture. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Barraza" on Justia Law