Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Briefing on Test Case Available

The ACCG has posted the legal briefing on the Government's Motion to Dismiss in the ACCG Customs Test case here:
http://www.accg.us/News/Item/Briefing_Completed_on_Government_s_Motion_to_Dismiss_Test_Case.aspx

It's worth noting that during the seventeen (17) months or so that the Government has tarried in filing a mandated forfeiture action against Plaintiff's coins, the Defendant U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has nonetheless found the time to fast track two important MOU's -- a renewal of a current MOU with Italy and an entirely new one with Greece.

If anything, all this makes judicial review of Defendants' decision making all the more important.

3 comments:

Alfredo De La Fe said...

Interesting read... Does this mean that ACCG must now respond concerning the defects in the response? (i.e.: Coins of Cypriot type can be found outside of Cypress and there is no way of knowing WHEN the coins left the country of origin and eventually made it to Spink?)

Cultural Property Observer said...

The briefing confirms that the Government conflates country of origin (manufacture in Customs terms) with find spot, apparently under the theory that coins made in Cyprus and China must have been found there too. We've already alleged that is not the case and that will be an issue in the lawsuit.

Bill Donovan said...

interesting, keep up the good work! I read the briefs, and the points raised seem really well made to me, although I'm not a lawyer - I still like the idea of transparent government. Let's hope everything's on the up and up, and the DoS is acting in good faith, and not trying to stonewall and manipulate. The idea of a bureaucrat, under the pretense of "Knowing what's good for us," can have so much power, and operate in secret seems antithetical to our system of government, where the social contract involves everyone equally, and not like Orwell's pigs in "Animal Farm," where some are "more equal" then others!