Archives: Cases

The Horners fought against civil forfeiture for more than nine months to get their two cars back. They won, and now they are suing to ensure that no one else will ever have to go through the same ordeal.

Randy Sowers, a Maryland dairy farmer, had his bank accounts seized by the IRS under civil forfeiture laws.

Charles Clarke is a 24-year-old college student, who spent over 5 years to save up $11,000—only to have it seized by law enforcement officials before he was scheduled to board a flight at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport.

One year ago, without any warning, agents from the IRS seized Lyndon McLellan’s entire bank account, totalling more than $107,000.

The IRS seized nearly $33,000 from Carole Hinders, even though she did nothing wrong.

The Hirsch brothers run an honest business, and yet the IRS seized their entire bank account and refuses to give it back.  

Philadelphia’s forfeiture machine stacks the deck against property owners and leads city officials to police for profit instead of justice. To end these unconscionable and unconstitutional practices, the Institute for Justice and a group of property owners have brought a major, class-action lawsuit in federal court.

Even though she was an innocent property owner, Carol Thomas was caught in the legal nightmare of civil forfeiture.

Zaher El-Ali lost his car to the government because someone else got a DWI with his Chevrolet Silverado.

Russ Caswell and his family have owned and operated the Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, Mass., for two generations. But by using civil forfeiture, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Tewksbury Police Department teamed up to try to forfeit and cash in on the Motel Caswell.