There is no time limit for motions to suppress in a forfeiture case under the forfeiture rules, so they must be governed by local rule. Here, the motion should have been filed far earlier after discovery started than it did, and there is no excuse not to because the essential facts were known. United States v. $33,330.00 in United States Currency & Ten Pieces of Jewelry Valued at $27,750.00, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159081 (N.D. Ga. September 4, 2012)*:<\/p>\n
Rule G(8) of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions provides, in pertinent part, the following:<\/p>\n
Motion to Suppress Use of the Property as Evidence. If the defendant property was seized, a party with standing to contest the lawfulness of the seizure may move to suppress use of the property as evidence. Suppression does not affect forfeiture of the property based on independently derived evidence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Rule G(8)(a). As such, a motion to suppress is a specific motion allowed in civil forfeiture matters.<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
Assuming, without accepting, that practical considerations would have made it difficult for Claimant to depose the law enforcement officers he had identified at the beginning of the discovery period, there are still other actions Claimant could have taken to preserve the Fourth Amendment issue for review by the Court. As is often done in criminal proceedings, Claimant could have filed in a timely manner a preliminary motion to suppress and sought leave to perfect the motion upon Claimant’s receipt of all of the evidence supporting the motion. At the very least, Claimant could have stated in the Joint Preliminary Report that he intended to file a motion to suppress after conducting sufficient discovery and could have sought permission from the Court to do the same. Claimant took none of these actions. Instead, Claimant agreed to the deadlines adopted in the Court ‘s Scheduling Order and then made no mention of the Fourth Amendment issue until he filed his Motion to Suppress on November 2, 2009.<\/p>\n
In addition to neglecting the deadline for filing the Motion to Suppress, Claimant still did not act diligently in raising the Fourth Amendment issue once he learned the information that he maintains forms the basis for the Motion to Suppress. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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