Dusenbery v. U.S.
Supreme Court of the United States
534 U.S. 161 (2002)
The FBI seized cash and a car from Dusenbery (plaintiff) upon his arrest and pursued administrative forfeiture, sending certified-mail notice to the federal prison where he was housed as well as to his arrest address and his mother's town, and publishing notice in the newspaper for three weeks; when no claim was filed, the FBI declared forfeiture in 1988. Dusenbery later sought return of the property, arguing he never actually received the mailed notice; discovery revealed a prison mailroom officer signed for the certified letter and would have logged and forwarded it to Dusenbery's prison "Unit Team" for delivery, but the Bureau of Prisons only retained logbooks for one year, leaving no way to confirm actual delivery to Dusenbery himself. The lower courts granted summary judgment for the government.
Whether the government must provide actual notice, rather than merely a reasonably calculated effort at notice, of a pending administrative property forfeiture to interested parties.