Manuel Flores and Wilshire Insurance Company, Appellants-Cross-Appellees v. United States of America, Appellee-Cross-Appellant

Under 26 U.S.C. § 7426 , Flores instituted a suit to recover $110,000 seized from him by Internal Revenue Service Agents in Calexico, California, on November 6, 1973. The District Court ordered the return of only $10,000 to Flores, and both parties appeal.

FACTS

Flores is a bail bondsman who serves as an independent agent for Wilshire Insurance Co., his surety and underwriter which also joined, pro forma, as a party plaintiff. On November 6, 1973, he was contacted in the federal courthouse in Los Angeles, California, by a person identifying herself as a friend of one Guillermo Beltran. The person requested Flores to post bail on behalf of Beltran, a citizen of Mexico, who had been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, with bail fixed at $100,000. Flores informed the woman that in the circumstances of the case, the surety would require cash security in the full amount of the bond, plus the standard premium of 10%. Flores was informed that the money for the security and, also the premium, would be delivered to him in Mexicali, Mexico. Flores thereupon chartered an airplane and flew to Calexico, California, directly across the border from Mexicali. He was accompanied…