Erkins

MEMORANDUM *

Gregory Todd Erkins and nine co-Plaintiffs (“the Erkins Appellants”) appeal the district court’s dismissal of their claims. The Erkins Appellants allege that Alfred Bianco, et al. (“Bianco”) engaged in, inter alia, conversion and abuse of process by seizing and selling certain artwork to which the Erkins Appellants claim ownership.

In applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel to dismiss the Erkins Appellants’ lawsuit, the district court determined that the Erkins Appellants were barred from pursuing their claims as a result of the district court’s prior decision in a related case, Bianco, et al. v. Erkins, et al., D. Idaho Case No. 00-5065. This prior decision held: (1) that the artwork had been seized in accordance with applicable Idaho statutes; (2) that no valid claim of exemption was made within the time frame allowed; (3) that the Erkins Appellants’ failure to make a written claim of exemption (as required by Idaho statutes) precluded them from asserting an ownership interest in the artwork; and (4) that Bianco could lawfully execute upon the artwork. However, in our memorandum disposition resolving appeals relating to that case, 1 we determined that the…