Has the federal government tried to take your property using civil forfeiture without telling you what you did wrong?
The Institute for Justice is a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to upholding Americans’ constitutional rights. The Institute represents all its clients for free.
One of our most important constitutional rights is the right to know what the government is accusing us of when it tries to take our property. But across the United States, the FBI and other federal agencies send out vague, contentless civil forfeiture notices to thousands of property owners. Although these notices say where the property was seized from and incorporate hundreds of federal laws, they tell property owners nothing about what the government thinks they did wrong or why it should get to keep their property forever.
To stop the government’s “take now, explain never” behavior, join the Institute for Justice’s nationwide class-action lawsuit against the FBI over its unconstitutional forfeiture notices.
We are interested in speaking with anyone who has:
- Received a forfeiture notice—often entitled a “Notice of Seizure and Initiation of Administrative Forfeiture Proceedings”—from the FBI or another federal agency during the past six years;
- Has not had their property returned to them; and
- Has not had a federal forfeiture complaint filed against their property in a United States District Court.
If you think you may meet these requirements, we are interested in speaking with you to determine whether there is anything we can do to help. Please fill out the form below to open the conversation.