United States v. Real Property At 2659 Roundhill Drive, Alamo, California

283 F.3d 1146 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. REAL PROPERTY AT 2659 ROUNDHILL DRIVE, ALAMO, CALIFORNIA, Defendant-Appellee, Robert Fitzstephens; Wilson Young; Keith Slipper; Joseph Ippolito; Michael Thaler; Mark Schwab, Claimants-Appellees. No. 00-16772. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted August 16, 2001. * Filed March 18, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Robert S. Mueller, III, U.S. Attorney; Robert D. Ward, Assistant U.S. Attorney; J. Douglas Wilson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, San Francisco, CA, for the appellant. Dena R. Thaler, Law Office of Dena R. Thaler, Oakland, CA, for the appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; D. Lowell Jensen, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-94-3525-DLJ. Before WOOD, Jr., ** KOZINSKI, and O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge O'SCANNLAIN; Dissent by Judge KOZINZKI. O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge: We are asked to decide whether the litigation position of the United States Department of Justice was substantially justified when it continued to advance a forfeiture claim after the Supreme Court clarified the law…