State v. Property at 2018 Rainbow DriveState v. Property at 2018 Rainbow Drive
The dispositive issue in this case is whether a complaint filed by the City of Gadsden, seeking, pursuant to
The substantive facts out of which this confiscation action arose are relatively simple. Gary Stedham owned real estate on which contraband was discovered by police officers. A criminal drug-possession charge against Stedham was presented to a grand jury, but ultimately the grand jury “no billed” the charge. For all that appears of record, Stedham will never be prosecuted for possession of the drugs seized on this occasion—the alleged offense that forms the basis of the City‘s complaint.
On April 23, 1996, the City of Gadsden commenced this action in the Etowah Circuit Court, seeking the “condemnation and forfeiture” of the subject property, “in accordance with
However, on December 30, 1997, the trial court dismissed this action, stating: “The City of Gadsden, a Municipality, has no authority to file a condemnation and forfeiture action as such authority is granted only to the State pursuant to
The appellants begin their argument by conceding that the City ”does not have statutory authority to initiate a drug related condemnation action under
§ 20-2-93 :“(a) The following are subject to forfeiture:
“. . . .
“(8) All real property or fixtures used or intended to be used for the manufacture, cultivation, growth, receipt, storage, handling, distribution, or sale of any controlled substance in violation of any law of this state.
“. . . .
“(h) ... Except as specifically provided to the contrary in this section, the procedures for the condemnation and forfeiture of proрerty seized under this section shall be governed by and shall conform to the procedures set out in
Sections 28-4-286 through 28-4-290 ....”
§ 28-4-286 :“It shall be the duty of [the district attorney] in the county or the Attorney General of the state to institute at once or cause to be instituted condemnation proceedings in the circuit court by filing a complaint in the name of the state against the property seized....”
The City and the State, however, contend that the аmended complaint filed on July 30, 1997, added the State as the “real party in interest,” within the meaning of
There are fundamental differences between the principles of “real party in interest” and “standing.” “`[T]he real party in interest principle is a means to identify the person who possesses the right sought to be enforced. Therefore, the term directs attention to whether [the] plaintiff has a significant interest in the particular action he has instituted.\‘” Dennis v. Magic City Dodge, Inc., 524 So.2d 616, 618 (Ala.1988) (quoting 6 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1542 (1971)).
Standing, on the other hand, turns on “whether the party has been injured in fact and whether the injury is to a legally protected right.” Romer v. Board of County Comm‘rs of the County of Pueblo, 956 P.2d 566, 581 (Colo.1998) (Kourlis, J., dissenting) (emphasis added). See also
The City suffered no injury to a “legally protected right,” because, given the provisions of
When a party without standing purports to commence an action, the trial court acquires no subject-matter jurisdiction. Barshop v. Medina County Underground Water Conservation District, 925 S.W.2d 618, 626 (Tex.1996) (“Standing is a necessary component of subject matter jurisdiction“). See also Raines v. Byrd, 521 U.S. 811, 117 S.Ct. 2312, 138 L.Ed.2d 849 (1997); Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 116 S.Ct. 2174, 135 L.Ed.2d 606 (1996); United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 742, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995) (“`standing “is perhaps the most important of [the jurisdictional] doctrines“\‘“); National Organization for Women, Inc., v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249, 255, 114 S.Ct. 798, 127 L.Ed.2d 99 (1994) (“Standing represents a jurisdictiоnal requirement which remains open to review at all stages of the litigation.“); Romer v. Board of County Comm‘rs of the County of Pueblo, supra, 956 P.2d at 585 (“standing is a jurisdictional prerequisite to every case and may be raised at any stage of the proceedings“) (Martinez, J., dissenting); Cotton v. Steele, 255 Neb. 892, 587 N.W.2d 693 (1999). But see Hertzberg v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment of the City of Pittsburgh, 554 Pa. 249, 721 A.2d 43 (1998) (standing is not jurisdictional).
Because “[t]he lack of standing [is] a jurisdictional defect,” the defect “cannot be cured nunc pro tunc back to the date when the original complaint was filed.” Tyler House Apartments, Ltd., v. United States, 38 Fed. Cl. 1, 7 (Fed.Cl. 1997). In other words, a pleading purporting to amend a complaint, which complaint was filed by a party without standing, cannot relate back to the filing of the original complaint, because there is nothing “back” to which to relate. See GAIA Techs., Inc. v. Reconversion Techs., Inc., 93 F.3d 774, 779 (Fed.Cir.1996) (assignment to Gaia Technologies, Inc., of patent and trademark rights purporting to operate nunc pro tunc to a date “prior to Gaia‘s filing of the ... suit” was ineffective to cure the jurisdictional defect created by Gaia‘s lack of standing on the date of commencement of the action), amended on rehearing on other grounds, 104 F.3d 1298 (Fed.Cir.1996); Reynolds v. United States, 748 F.2d 291, 292 (5th Cir.1984) (a complaint filed pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTC“) before the “final denial” of the plaintiffs claim by the “appropriate Federal agency” as required by the FTC was due to be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and an amended complaint filed after the “final denial” was also due to be dismissed because it could relate back only to a date on which the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction).
Because the City had no standing to commence or prosecute this action, the complaint it filed on April 23, 1996, failed to invest the trial court with subject-matter jurisdiction. Therefore, the purported amendment filed on July 30, 1997, could relate back only to a time when the trial court had no jurisdiction. The trial court‘s order of December 30, 1997, dismissing this action was correсt.1
On the basis of
The differences between this present case and Ogle are fundamental and statutory. Whereas Anthony Ogle was statutorily designated as the proper person to commence the action in his office of personal representative, to which he was statutorily entitled, in this case the City is statutorily excluded as a litigant. By statute, the City could never commence this action. The result is the same as if a private citizen—rather than the City—had attempted to initiate the action.
Because the City had no standing, the trial court had no subject-mattеr jurisdiction, and, consequently, no alternative but to dismiss the action. See Beach v. Director of Revenue, 934 S.W.2d 315, 318 (Mo.Ct.App.1996) (“Lacking subject matter jurisdiction [a court] may take no action other than to exercise its power to dismiss the action..... Any other action taken by a court lacking subject matter jurisdiction is null and void.“). The judgment of the trial court is, therefore, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
HOOPER, C.J., and HOUSTON, KENNEDY, SEE, and JOHNSTONE, JJ., concur.
LYONS, J., concurs in the result.
MADDOX and BROWN, JJ., dissent.
LYONS, Justice (concurring in the result).
I concur in the result, because I would affirm the trial court‘s judgment on the basis that the forfeiture action cannot proceed because the contraband property was seized pursuant to an improperly executed search warrant.
Section 15-5-7 provides:
“A search warrant may be executed by any one of the officers to whom it is directed, but by no other person except in aid of such officer at his request, he being present and acting in its execution.”
This statute has been strictly construed, and compliance with its formality has been required. See Yeager v. State, 500 So.2d 1260 (Ala.Crim.App.1986); Rivers v. State, 406 So.2d 1021 (Ala.Crim.App.1981), cert. denied, 406 So.2d 1023 (Ala.1981); see, also, United States v. Martin, 600 F.2d 1175 (5th Cir.1979) (recognizing that strict compliance with
In the present case, members of the Gadsden Police Department and an officer of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board executed a search warrant authorizing a search of the subject property for illegal controlled substances. That search warrant, however, was addressed to “The Sheriff of [Etowah C]ounty.” It is undisputed that the members of the Gadsden Police Department and the ABC officer who searched the subject property were not deputized members of the Etowah County Sheriffs Department. It is also undisputed that no member of the Etowah County Sheriffs Department was present and acting in the execution of the warrant. Thus, the warrant was neither executed by “any one of the officers to whom it [was] directed” nor executed by a person “in aid of such officer at his request, he being present and acting in its execution,” as
The City and the State, however, argue that
Whether a violation of
“The search warrant shall be directed to and served by a law enforcement officer, as defined by Rule 1.4(p). It shall command such officer to search, within a specified periоd of time not to exceed ten (10) days, the person or place named for the property specified and to bring an inventory of said property before the court issuing the warrant.... The judge or magistrate shall endorse the warrant, showing the hour, date, and the name of the law enforcement officer to whom the warrant was delivered for execution, and a copy of such warrant and the endorsеment thereon shall be admissible in evidence in the courts.”
(Emphasis added.) Rule 1.4(p) states:
“`Law Enforcement Officer’ means an officer, employee or agent of the State of Alabama or any political subdivision thereof who is required by law to:
“(i) Maintain public order;
“(ii) Make arrests for offenses, whether that duty extends to all offenses or is limited to specific offenses; and
“(iii) Investigate the commission or suspected commission of offenses.”
Therefore, Rule 3.10 does not specifically authorize the execution of a warrant by a law-enforcement officer other than the officer to whom the warrant is directed. As noted above,
Therefore, I would affirm the trial court‘s judgment on the basis that the forfeiture action cannot proceed because the contraband was seized pursuant to an improperly executed search warrant.
MADDOX, Justice (dissenting).
Although this case is not a model to be followed in filing a forfeiture action, I believe the provisions of Alabama law and this Court‘s rules of procedure permit this forfeiture action to proceed. I believe that the issue presented in this case requires that we construe our statutes governing forfeitures in pari materia with the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.
“(a) The following are subject to forfeiture:
“. . . .
“(8) All real property or fixtures used or intended to be used for the manufacture, cultivation, growth, receipt, storage, handling, distribution, or sale of any controlled substance in violation of any law of this state.”
Although I must admit that
The critical question is whether the provisions of the rules that permit pleadings to be amended are applicable here. I think the amendment should have been permitted, because
Although
“Except as specifically provided to the contrary in this section, the procedures for the condemnation and forfeiture of property seized under this section shall be governed by and shall conform to the procedures set out in
Sections 28-4-286 through 28-4-290 .”3
Neither
The trial court granted the City‘s motion to amend its complaint in order to join the State as a plaintiff. Therefore, the specific issue is not whether the trial court erred by not following the dictates of
As stated above, certain procedures for maintaining a forfeiture action under
“Property subject to forfeiture under this chapter may be seized by state, county or municipal law enforcement agencies upon process issued by any court having jurisdiction over the property.”
(Emphasis added.)
The City does not challenge the fact that it cannot maintain a forfeiture or condemnation action in its name alone under the provisions of
“No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest;
and such ratification, joinder, or substitution shall have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the real party in interest.”
Unquestionably, Alabama‘s Rules of Civil Procedure have been interpreted to provide for liberal amendment to complaints in certain circumstances “when justice so requires,” or “upon a showing of good cause.” Rule 15(a). I think that “justice” requires that the City of Gadsden be allowed to amend to add the State in this сase. See English v. State ex rel. Purvis, 585 So.2d 910 (Ala.1991), where this Court upheld an amendment to a complaint even after a judgment had been entered. In English, this Court held that an amendment to a complaint is proper when a defendant has “notice of the claims against it and the allowance of the amendment in no way” prejudices the defendant. Id. at 912.
There is no dispute that the property owner had notice of possible action against his рroperty. The amendment to the complaint only added the State as a plaintiff. It did not alter the substantive claims against the property. The property owner was never deprived of adequate notice and was never prejudiced by the amendment. Therefore, I would hold that the trial court, by allowing the City to amend the complaint to add the State as a plaintiff, effectively preserved for the State and the City the ability to prosecute the forfeiture action and carry out the intent of the Legislature to confiscate property that is being used for illegal purposes. See Durham v. State, 730 So.2d 235 (Ala.Civ.App. 1999); and City of Gadsden v. Jordan, [Ms. 2970342, July 31, 1998] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Civ.App.1998).
Notes
“The distinction between subject-matter jurisdiction and waivable defenses is not a mere nicety of legal metaphysics. It rests instead on the central principle of a free society that courts have finite bounds of authority, some of constitutional origin, which exist to protect citizens from the very wrong asserted here, the excessive use of judicial power. The courts, no less than the political branches of the government, must respect the limits of their authority.”
United States Catholic Conference v. Abortion Rights Mobilization, Inc., 487 U.S. 72, 77, 108 S.Ct. 2268, 101 L.Ed.2d 69 (1988).