In re In re
In re In re
Opinion of the Court
¶1 Jose Silva and Ramon Rangel ("claimants") appeal from the trial court's order granting the state's application for forfeiture of property seized from them during a traffic stop. The court found the claimants' answers to the state's forfeiture complaint were untimely. However, because we conclude claimants did not receive constitutionally sufficient notice of the forfeiture complaint, we reverse.
Factual and Procedural Background
¶2 "We accept the court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous." In re $2,390 U.S. Currency ,
¶3 On February 1, 2016, the state filed a complaint against the seized property. On the same day, the state sent two copies of a summons and the complaint in one envelope by certified mail to the address claimants had provided. On February 29, the envelope was returned to the state marked "unclaimed." The following day, the state sent a facsimile to claimants' attorney, stating:
Complaint filed on February 1, 2016. Mailed to you on February 1, 2016. Certified mail returned as "Unclaimed" (see face of envelope, page two of this fax). Pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 13-4311(A) and 13-4307(1)(b) service is effective upon the mailing of the complaint. Time to file an answer has expired. I will be filing an application for forfeiture pursuant to A.R.S. [§] 13-4311(G).
Claimants filed their answers the next day, on March 2. The state filed an application for *1126order of forfeiture on March 3, averring it had served claimants by certified mail.
¶4 Claimants objected to the state's application, arguing it had failed to properly serve claimants with the complaint. Claimants' attorney asserted he only became aware of the complaint when he received the March 1 facsimile from the state. Claimants also moved to dismiss the complaint for insufficient process and service of process pursuant to Rule 12(b)(4), (5), Ariz. R. Civ. P.
¶5 The trial court set the matter for oral argument. Prior to oral argument, claimants obtained new counsel, who submitted a pre-hearing brief arguing the state's service of the complaint failed to satisfy the requirements of due process. In a ruling issued after oral argument, the court entered factual findings and concluded the state's service was complete upon mailing and claimants' answers were untimely, granting the state's application for forfeiture.
¶6 Claimants timely appealed and we have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-2101(A)(1).
Discussion
¶7 "We review the trial court's application of the forfeiture statutes de novo." $2,390 U.S. Currency ,
¶8 Before the state may deprive an individual of life, liberty, or property it must accord due process. U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Essential to due process is notice and an opportunity to be heard. Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co. ,
¶9 Under A.R.S. § 13-4311(A), the state has two options for serving a forfeiture complaint: (1) "in the manner provided by [A.R.S.] § 13-4307," or (2) "by the Arizona rules of civil procedure." If the state elects to serve the complaint according to § 13-4307, and "the owner's ... name and current address are known," then the state may serve the complaint by "[p]ersonal service," or by "[m]ailing a copy of the notice by certified mail to the [known] address." § 13-4307(1).
¶10 Under Rule 5(c), Ariz. R. Civ. P., "personal service is not required when ... the party to be served has already appeared in the case." In re 2000 Peterbilt Tractor & Trailer ,
¶11 "Once a party has appeared in a forfeiture case, service is governed by Rule 5(c) and ... § 13-4307." Id. ¶ 9. "If a party is represented by an attorney, service ... must be made on the attorney," unless otherwise required by the court or by rule. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5(c)(1). "A document is served ... by ... mailing it by U.S. mail to the [attorney's] last known address-in which event service is complete upon mailing." Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5(c)(2)(C) ; see also § 13-4307 ("Whenever notice of pending forfeiture is required under this chapter it ... is effective at ... the mailing of written notice....").
¶12 Claimants appeared in this matter by filing claims pursuant to § 13-4311(D), which included the address at which they "w[ould] accept future mailings from the court or attorney for the [s]tate." Accordingly, to effect service on claimants, the state was required to serve the complaint on their attorney of record. See Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.3(a)(1) (once attorney appears as attorney of record, attorney deemed responsible as party's attorney of record). And, by rule and by statute, service was complete upon mailing the complaint to the address provided. See §§ 13-4307(1)(b), 13-4311(A) ; Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5(c)(2)(C). The state filed its complaint on February 1, and mailed copies to claimants' attorney by certified mail. Thus, claimants' answers, filed on March 2, were not timely. See § 13-4311(G) (claimant "shall file and serve the answer to the complaint"
*1127within twenty days of service); Ariz. R. Civ. P. 6(c) ("When a party may or must act within a specified time after service and service is made under Rule 5(c)(2)(C)... 5 calendar days are added after the specified period would otherwise expire."); In re $47,611.31 U.S. Currency ,
¶13 Ordinarily, that would be the end of the matter. See Dusenbery v. United States ,
¶14 In Jones , the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands mailed a certified letter to a property owner notifying him he was delinquent on the payment of taxes on his real property but that he had a right to redeem the property.
¶15 The Supreme Court observed that it had "never addressed whether due process entails further responsibility when the government becomes aware prior to the taking that its attempt at notice has failed."
¶16 Undoubtedly, the due process requirements of Jones apply when no claim has been filed in forfeiture proceedings. See $2,390 U.S. Currency ,
¶17 Although the filing of a claim constitutes an appearance, 2000 Peterbilt Tractor & Trailer ,
*1128See State v. Jackson ,
¶18 Here, that meant "do[ing] more when the attempted notice letter was returned unclaimed, and there was more that reasonably could [have been] done." Jones ,
¶19 Further, although § 13-4307 provides notice is "effective at the time of ... the mailing of written notice," Jones requires "the government [must] consider unique information about an intended recipient regardless of whether a statutory scheme is reasonably calculated to provide notice in the ordinary case."
¶20 The state argues sending a facsimile informing claimants the complaints had been returned "[u]nclaimed," the "[t]ime to file an answer ha[d] expired," and the state would "be filing an application for forfeiture," satisfied the requirements of Jones . We disagree. An after-the-fact facsimile informing claimants that their failure to respond to ineffective notice has resulted in the forfeiture of their property does not constitute due process. See Mullane ,
¶21 Further, as the state conceded during oral argument, nothing in the forfeiture statutes divests the state of discretion to permit a claimant to file an answer after the twenty-day deadline, particularly when, as here, it knows its original attempt at providing notice failed and it has yet to apply to the court for an order of forfeiture. Although § 13-4311(G) states that if an answer is not "timely filed, the attorney for the state shall proceed as provided in §§ 13-4314 and 13-4315 with ten days' notice to any person who has timely filed a claim that has not been stricken by the court," this provision could only reasonably be read to mean that the state shall proceed in accordance with the procedures set forth in §§ 13-4314 and 13-4315, not that it must proceed immediately. Reading "shall" to require the state to proceed immediately and without discretion would lead to absurd results. For example, even if the state learned it lacked a good-faith basis to continue an action against property, it could not refuse to do so if an untimely answer was filed. See *1129Bilke v. State ,
¶22 Our dissenting colleague, however, asserts "there was nothing that the state could do after it learned that the complaints were unclaimed that would have ... made a difference," and that "claimants were already in default" at that time. Infra ¶ 37. He also asserts, "The only way the state could correct the matter of service to forestall the statutory deadline would have been to reverse the laws of time and space to go back to before February 27, 2016, when the claimants would not have been in default." Infra ¶ 37. The dissent ignores, however, that nothing in the statutes automatically declares a claimant is in default upon failure to file a timely answer. See § 13-4314(A) (requiring "the state's written application" before court "shall order the property forfeited"); cf. Ariz. R. Civ. P. 55(a)(2) (party seeking entry of default "must file a written application"); Estate of Lewis v. Lewis ,
¶23 Our dissenting colleague also believes Dusenbery controls and that Jones only "expanded on Dusenbery and Mullane ... under the particular facts of the case." Infra ¶ 34. The facts of Dusenbery , however, distinguish it from the situation at hand. There, the government attempted to serve Dusenbery notice by certified mail to the address where Dusenbery was incarcerated, his former residence, and his mother's residence.
¶24 Jones makes clear that the due process calculus is changed by a party's knowledge of failed notice. See
¶25 We have previously concluded that Jones "creat[ed] a bright-line rule that where a party is entitled to notice and the notice provided is known to be defective, due process requires that additional reasonable steps must be taken to provide notice." Estate of Snure ,
Attorney Fees
¶26 Claimants have requested attorney fees pursuant to Rule 21(a), Ariz. R. Civ. App. P., but have "failed to separately articulate an appropriate statutory basis for that request." Grubb v. Do It Best Corp. ,
Disposition
¶27 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial court's ruling and remand this matter to that court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
At oral argument in this case, the state conceded that forfeiture can be an extraordinarily significant remedy in certain cases.
Compare § 13-4311(G) (if answer not filed within twenty days, state proceeds with default with ten days' notice to claimants) with Ariz. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1)(A) (answer must be filed within twenty days of service) and 55(a)(1), (3), (4) (party may obtain entry of default where opposing party has failed to answer; must provide notice of default; default effective ten days after entry).
Although an attorney of record is "responsible for keeping advised of the status of, and the deadlines in, pending actions in which that attorney has appeared," Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.3(b), that does not excuse the government's "constitutional obligation of notice before taking private property" when notice is due, Jones ,
The state does not argue it would be prejudiced in any meaningful way if it were required to provide additional notice or grant claimants an extension of time to file an answer in circumstances such as these. Claimants would merely obtain the opportunity to have the matter resolved on its merits. See Addison v. Cienega, Ltd. ,
In Jones , had Arkansas not been made aware of its failed attempts at notice, there might not have been a due process violation.
Dissenting Opinion
¶28 The majority's opinion correctly states that each claimant was properly served with a complaint in forfeiture by certified mail and that each claimant failed timely to file an answer. The opinion also correctly states that "[o]rdinarily[ ] that would be the end of the matter." Supra ¶ 13. But because the opinion does not end the matter there, I respectfully dissent.
¶29 Given the facts here, this case is controlled by Dusenbery v. United States ,
¶30 In Dusenbery , the Court addressed the adequacy of service of notice of forfeiture on a federal prisoner.
¶31 Affirming the circuit court's decision, the Supreme Court stated the principle that, under the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, those whose property interests are at stake are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard before the taking.
¶32 Here, as expressly required and allowed by statute, the state made similar efforts reasonably calculated to give the claimants notice of the pendency of this action, though it did not achieve actual notice. The state filed the forfeiture complaints on February 1, 2016, and served copies of them on the claimants the same day by certified mail as required by A.R.S. § 13-4307, and as allowed by A.R.S. § 13-4311(A) and Dusenbery . The complaints were sent by certified mail to the address the claimants themselves provided-that of the office of their attorney of record. Under § 13-4307, service of copies of a complaint is effective upon mailing; thus, the claimants here are deemed to have received-and thus to have been served with-the complaints on February 1, 2016. Because that is so, under § 13-4311(G), the claimants' respective answers to the complaint were due on February 26, 2016.
¶33 Rather than respecting and stopping at the statute and Dusenbery , under which the claims here would be barred as untimely, the majority concludes that the answers were not untimely because the Supreme Court's decision in Jones required the state to do more. In Jones , a real property foreclosure case, the State of Arkansas attempted to notify the property owner of a tax-lien foreclosure by certified mail, but this notice was returned as unclaimed, and, two years later, the state foreclosed on the property.
¶34 To the extent the Court in Jones expanded on Dusenbery and Mullane , it did so under the particular facts of the case. In Jones , the state had sufficient time after it learned of the non-delivery to give the second notice and still allow the claimant to act to forestall foreclosure.
*1132¶35 This court had its turn to apply the Jones principles in Estate of Snure,
¶36 Both Jones and Estate of Snure are factually distinguishable from this case. In each, the sending party learned that the notice was unclaimed, and thus not actually received, in time for additional notice to be sent and have an effect. In Jones , the State of Arkansas learned that the notice of tax sale was unclaimed well before the two-year period passed for the owner to take action to save his property.
¶37 Jones requires that the state take reasonable and practicable steps in giving the follow-up notice if available. Here, unlike in Jones and Estate of Snure , there was nothing that the state could do after it learned that the complaints were unclaimed that would have provided any notice to the claimants that would have made a difference.
¶38 The forfeiture statute here has far shorter deadlines than those in Jones or the Estate of Snure . An answer to a forfeiture complaint is due twenty days after service of the complaint, service of the complaint may be made by certified mail, and there is a legal effect to missing the statutory deadline. See §§ 13-4311(G), 13-4307.
¶39 No case of which this court is aware does what the majority's opinion does here-retroactively extend a deadline that had passed by the time the sender learned of the failure of actual notice. One of our sister court's decisions, however, suggests that a statutory deadline should not be extended where actual notice is received after the deadline has passed. Session v. Director of Revenue ,
¶40 Among Session's other arguments, he contended that because the letter was returned as unclaimed, the state was required to take additional steps, which it did, but that he should have been given thirty days from the date he received actual notice in which to file his appeal.
¶41 After considering Jones , the Missouri Court of Appeals stated that it could not "conclude that Session was denied due process because the thirty-day appeal period ... was not suspended, or tolled, until he received notice via regular mail after his certified mail was returned unclaimed" and "[w]e cannot conclude that Session was denied due process because he received actual notice of the ... final decision after the thirty-day time for appeal expired." Id . at 905-06. "[T]he [sender] made efforts reasonably calculated to apprise Session of its final decision and afford him an opportunity to contest." Id . at 906. The court found "no evidence in the record that the State unreasonably delayed delivery or acted with 'malfeasance' in its manner of providing notice." Id . at 904. Here, the claimants are similarly asking that the time for filing their answers be tolled from the date their answers were due until, at least, the date they received actual notice. Jones did not compel such tolling in Session and neither Jones nor Estate of Snure compels such tolling here.
¶42 Two principles from Jones , one from the majority and one from the dissent, do fit here: "if there were no reasonable additional steps the government could have taken upon return of the unclaimed notice letter, it cannot be faulted for doing nothing,"
¶43 This court in Estate of Snure did not extend Jones . Today's decision now does so, discounts Dusenbery , and goes beyond what the Constitution commands. I respectfully disagree and would affirm.
This date assumes that the claimants should be granted an additional five calendar days to answer due to service by mail. See Ariz. R. Civ. P. 6(c) ; Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5(c)(2)(C).
The majority's opinion conflates what the state could do as a matter of grace or courtesy, by granting an extension or delaying its forfeiture proceeding, with what it must do as a constitutional requirement.
Contrary to the majority's point that a non-answering party is not "automatically" in default because the state must apply for forfeiture, how the forfeiture proceeds is solely dependent upon whether or not the claimant has timely filed an answer. It is effectively an "automatic default." If a potential claimant fails to file an answer to a forfeiture complaint, the state is required to proceed as if the complaint were uncontested, in accordance with A.R.S. §§ 13-4311(G) ("If no proper answer is timely filed, the attorney for the state shall proceed as provided in §§ 13-4314 and 13-4315...."), 13-4314(A) ("If no ... claims are timely filed ..., the attorney for the state shall apply to the court for an order of forfeiture and allocation of forfeited property pursuant to § 13-4315."), and 13-4315(A) ("Any property ... forfeited to the state ... shall be transferred as requested by the attorney for the state....").
See Jones ,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.