Guy describes the living nightmare of the US government trying to seize his family’s motel
US senators held a hearing this week to talk about reforming a bizarre law that lets authorities seize your property even if you’ve never been charged with a crime.
They heard from a man who knows about this “living nightmare” firsthand.
Russ Caswell, a former motel owner who is in his 70s, told the US Senate about how his local police department in Massachusetts, which was working with the US attorney’s office, tried to seize his family’s motel, all because of a law known as civil-asset forfeiture.
Caswell described the experience as “a living nightmare — brought to us courtesy of the United States government.”
Civil forfeiture lets the government seize cash or property that’s tied to criminal activity, even if the owner of that property was never charged with a crime.
In Caswell’s case, he said, federal agents came knocking on his door in September 2009 because 15 people had been arrested for drug crimes at his hotel during a 20-year period. They said they were going to seize his property.
“I have never been charged with or convicted of a crime my entire life. No one in my family, or any of our employees, has ever been involved in a crime at the motel concerning drugs,” Caswell said in prepared testimony for the Senate on Wednesday. “To us, the forfeiture case seemed ludicrous.”
Under civil forfeiture law, the government has to file a lawsuit “against” property or cash it wants to seize. This leads to funny-sounding lawsuits, like “US v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins.”
Caswell spent three years and borrowed $60,000 to fight the government’s lawsuit against his property. A judge ultimately dismissed the action against Caswell’s hotel in 2013, and he got to keep his property.
The experience took a toll on him, though.
“Immediately, the lawsuit began to drive customers away from our motel,” Caswell said, “and our long-term tenants were worried about their future.”
One problem with civil forfeiture, as Caswell mentioned, is that states and localities that team up with the federal government to seize cash or property often get 80% of the proceeds through a program known as equitable sharing.
“This incentivizes police to seize particular property to obtain a direct financial reward,” US Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), said at the hearing Wednesday. “When this occurs without pursuing a criminal conviction, or even an arrest, the chances rise that the rights of innocent people will be violated.”
Additional Reading:
Sustainability & ESG: New Legal Obligations for Data Centers | Open Compute Project & Open Hardware in Data Centers: Innovation and Legal Considerations | As Civil Forfeiture Faces Statewide Reform, Some Departments Are Making Changes Now | Resilience and Security: Protecting Data Centers as Critical Infrastructure | Legislation on the move in California to protect innocent property owners from abuse of civil asset forfeiture | Cash Seizures by Police Prompt Court Fights | Civil Asset Forfeiture in 60 Seconds | NPR Articles on Dirty Money Asset Seizures and Forfeitures | Police Stole My Life Savings! Civil Asset Forfeiture | Microgrids & On-Site Power Generation: Regulatory Hurdles for Data Centers | Civil Asset Forfeiture Corruption | District Attorneys and Civil Asset Forfeiture | AYS Civil Forfeiture | Rand Paul – Civil Asset Forfeiture | Supreme Court says states can’t impose excessive fines, and delivers a win to former heroin addict in pivotal ruling | Data Center Digital Twins: Contractual Obligations & IP Ownership | When Government Can Seize Your Property | What Is Civil Forfeiture? | Greenwashing vs. True Sustainability: Legal Pitfalls for Data Centers | After the Cops Seized Her Car, the Government Waited Five Years Before Giving Her a Chance To Get It Back | Civil Asset Forfeiture and Structuring | Divestitures & Carve-outs in Data Centers: Legal Strategies for Asset Separation | NM End of Civil Asset Forfeiture Didn’t Increase Crime: Study | Preparing for Quantum Networking in Data Centers | From pirates to kingpins, the strange legal history of civil forfeiture
Related:
The Civil Asset Forfeiture Problem – Show-Me Cannabis Podcast | The Bronx Defenders – Civil Forfeiture | Scathing Report Reveals ICE Directive Encouraging Agents to Seize Property for Financial Gain | Policing for Profit Visualized: How Big Is Civil Forfeiture? (Institute for Justice) | Civil Asset Forfeiture: Unfair, Unjust, Un-American | Federal Forfeiture Case – Rucci Law | Trump Talked Into Supporting Asset Forfeiture, AKA Robbery By Cops | Property Seizure Attorney California – Rucci Law | Ritchie Torres on Civil Forfeiture Reform | Ban on Purchasing Certain Equipment with Equitable Sharing Funds | Deputy AG Rosenstein on Civil Forfeiture, Mandatory Minimums | Lessons from Landmark Civil Rights Cases | Professional Federal vs State Forfeiture Laws Legal Services | Administrative Forfeiture Defense Strategies | Should the Supreme Court Take Action to Limit Civil Asset Forfeiture? | Cash Seizures at Airports: Protecting Your Rights | A Comparison of Federal Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedures: Which Provides More Protections for Property Owners? | Legislation Introduced to Curb Federal Forfeiture | Civil Forfeiture Attorney Los Angeles – Rucci Law | Police agencies forfeit millions after new law chokes off funds from asset seizures | Asset Forfeiture Defense Strategies | Legal Trends for Small Businesses in 2026 | Pressley: Civil Asset Forfeiture Disproportionately Targeted Against Black And Brown Communities | How A Quiet Police Lobbying Campaign Killed Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform In Missouri
