United States v. $84,740.00 U.S. Currency, Appeal of Doris Potter, Administrator of Estate of Edwin Potter, Deceased

This is an appeal from the district court’s denial of motion to set aside default judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(5) and (6). The district court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to set aside a default judgment because the government had transferred the money to the United States Treasury.

I.BACKGROUND

The government indicted Edwin Potter for a violation of the Drug Abuse Control Act, 21 U.S.C. § 801 et seq. (1982). When the government arrested him, it also seized $84,740 in cash.

On November 3, 1983, the government filed a civil action seeking the forfeiture of the money pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881 (a)(6) (1982). Attached to the complaint is a verification form captioned “Verification of Interrogatories.” The relevant portion of the verification states:

The verification is signed by the same person who signed the complaint and is dated the same day as the complaint. No other verification has been filed.

The government served Edwin Potter by certified letter at the Federal Correctional Institution in San Pedro, California. The government also served the forfeiture complaint on Edwin and Doris Potter by sending two certified letters to a post office box. Doris…