The Legal Aid Society filed this amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the right to preliminary retention hearings to recover property seized by law enforcement while people await the outcome of their civil forfeiture cases. Culley v. Marshall involved car owners who argued their due process rights were violated when their cars were seized, as they were not present at the seizure and were never charged with a crime. In 2002, Legal Aid’s Special Litigation Unit obtained a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Krimstock v. Kelly that cemented a person’s right to appear before a judge if their vehicle had been seized by the police to challenge the necessity of its continued impoundment while they awaited the case’s outcome.

The Supreme Court ruled against Petitioner Culley and all individuals who are required to wait years for their civil forfeiture hearings in order to recover their property, despite the fact that many are never charged or convicted of a crime. Justice Sonia Sotomayor relied on our amicus in her dissent to explain the benefits of retention hearings and called on states and localities to proactively adopt measures to safeguard against the abuses rampant in civil forfeiture systems.