Motion to Dismiss in T-Rex Bataar Forfeiture Action

Here is a link to a motion to dismiss my firm, Bailey & Ehrenberg PLLC, filed in conjunction with Michael McCullough LLC.  The motion seeks to gain the return of a fossilized T-Rex Bataar skeleton to its rightful owner, a Florida small businessman who spent considerable time, effort, money and expertise in preparing and mounting the composite specimen for sale: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9sH3ETMwSWiNWVNTkxCakp0bnM/edit

One needs a Google account to review it.

As we observe,

It may or may not be time to regulate fossil collecting like antiquities collecting, but surely any such regulatory effort should only be accomplished prospectively through the legislative or administrative process rather than retroactively through a forfeiture action prompted by a media frenzy and foreign politics. The Government should not be allowed to seize property based upon obscure foreign laws or unwritten interpretations of “country of origin” or valuation rules for fossils. Moreover, the Government has not alleged sufficient facts to establish a reasonable basis to believe that it could meet its burden to prove that the Display Piece was “stolen.” For all these reasons, the Complaint should be dismissed.