The Langbord family filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court on Nov. 4, asking the nation's highest court to overturn a District and Appellate court who each held that the family's 10 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagles were stolen government property.

The filing repeatedly warns that the issues at hand are bigger than the 10 coins that were allegedly found by Joan Langbord in her family's safe deposit box in 2003 and directs the Supreme Court to two key questions.

First, the petition asks whether the government can avoid the rules set forth in the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA) when it seizes property from private citizens and intends to keep it by asserting that it was stolen government property and declaring that it has no intention of seeking forfeiture. The second question is whether the government can avoid CAFRA's protections by waiting for years and then filing a declaratory judgment claim that seeks the same relief.

In asking these two questions, the filing states that the court would give clear guidance to the government, property owners and lower courts in determining when CAFRA's timelines and protections are triggered. Assessing a broader interest beyond a specific pattern is crucial in making a persuasive request to the Supreme Court, who only hears a small fraction of the cases presented to it.

Parties who disagree with a lower court's decision are allowed to petition the Supreme Court to review a case. The petition for a writ of certiorari was submitted on behalf of Joan Langbord and her sons, Roy and David, by the family's longtime attorneys Barry Berke and Eric Tirschwell.

At the core of the petition is CAFRA, which Congress passed in 2000 to provide added protections to individuals by shifting the burden of proof to the government to prove when property can be subject to forfeiture.

CAFRA established procedures, deadlines and penalties to ensure that disputes over seized property were fairly and promptly resolved through legal channels. The filing warns that as it was applied in the Langbord case, "the purposes and principles of this groundbreaking law are thus turned upside down, granting the government virtually unfettered powers to delay, harass and burden the rare citizens who attempt to fight back against government overreaching."

Joan Langbord allegedly found the disputed coins in 2003 when looking through property that had belonged to her father, Israel "Izzy" Switt.

To read the complete article, see:
Langbord family petitions U.S. Supreme Court for return of 1933 double eagles(www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/11/family-seeks-highest-court-rule-on-coin-ownership.html)

To read the complete article, see:
DID THE LANGBORDS FILE AN APPEAL ABOUT THE 1933 DOUBLE EAGLES?(https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/971223/did-the-langbords-file-an-appeal-about-the-1933-double-eagles#latest)

To read the Langbord Petition for Writ of Certiorari, see:
PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI(www.dropbox.com/s/41uwwspfixf1kui/Langbord%20Cert%20Petition.pdf?dl=0)

Harvey writes: