United States v. Two Hundred Ninety-Five Ivory Carvings and Marvin Segal

On September 11, 1977, Marvin Segal returned from the Orient with 295 ivory carvings, entering the United States at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He listed only 12 of the 295 carvings in his Customs declaration and he undervalued the 12 he declared. Upon discovering the carvings and the related sales invoices, the United States Customs Service seized all of the carvings. Eighteen months later, on March 26, 1979, Customs referred the case to the United States Attorney for the institution of judicial forfeiture proceedings. On April 20, 1979, the United States filed a complaint in the United States Western District Court for the District of Washington, seeking forfeiture of the carvings, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §§ 1497 and 1592, and a civil penalty equal to the value of the carvings not declared pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1497.

The government filed a motion for summary judgment. Segal filed a cross-motion for summary judgment and opposition to the government’s motion, asserting that the government’s delay in instituting the forfeiture action violated due process as well as the statutory duty, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1603 , to refer cases involving customs seizures to the…