Von Neumann v. United States

660 F.2d 1319 John VON NEUMANN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America; Secretary of the Treasury; Commissioner of Customs; and District Director of Customs for the Port of Seattle, District 30.01, Defendants-Appellees. No. 79-3761. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted June 3, 1981. Decided Nov. 2, 1981. As Corrected Nov. 5, 1981. Richard V. Sandler, Sandler & Rosen, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. Stephen D. Petersen, Howard D. Gest, Asst. U. S. Attys., Los Angeles, Cal., argued, for defendants-appellees; Andrea Sheridan Ordin, U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., on brief. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before TANG and BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judges, and PRICE, * District Judge. BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge. 1 This appeal presents the issue of whether the procedures followed by the United States Bureau of Customs (Customs) in processing an administrative petition for remission or mitigation of the forfeiture of an automobile seized at the border for failure of the owner to make the required declaration, were consistent with due process. John von Neumann's foreign-bought car was…