Homeowners ask for suspension of city's civil-forfeiture program

THE LAWYERS WHO filed a class-action lawsuit last month on behalf of homeowners challenging the city's civil-forfeiture program filed a motion yesterday seeking a preliminary injunction.

They are asking U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno to order the city to suspend its practice of seizing people's homes without giving them any notice or an opportunity to have a hearing before a judge.

Lawyers at the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, and the Center City-based law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg had filed the suit on behalf of three Philadelphia homeowners against the city, Mayor Nutter, the District Attorney's Office, D.A. Seth Williams and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

The lawsuit contends that under the program, the city's law enforcement has been confiscating property from residents in cases in which the property owners have "no involvement or even knowledge of the alleged crime."

This was the case with the three named plaintiffs in the suit - Christos Sourovelis, Doila Welch and Norys Hernandez, the lawsuit says.

Sourovelis and his family were kicked out of their Somerton home in May, about a month after police confiscated a small amount of drugs from his son. (The family has since been able to move back in.)

In their motion yesterday, the plaintiffs' lawyers asked the judge to "protect the sanctity of the home and the rule of law" by prohibiting the city's "unconstitutional 'seize and seal' policy." They cited a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said due process requires notice and an opportunity for a hearing before property is seized. A seizure without notice or a hearing causes "irreparable harm," the motion says.

Tasha Jamerson, the D.A.'s spokeswoman, has said the program targets drug dealers and users. The revenue from the seizures - including cash and vehicles - is split among the Police Department and D.A.'s Office.

"In all these efforts, we follow applicable law to protect the rights of all those involved - not only drug dealers and those associated with them, but the law-abiding citizens who are negatively affected by them," Jamerson had said in a statement.

Mark McDonald, the mayor's spokesman, said by email yesterday: "We don't comment on pending litigation. Our attorneys will respond in due course in the court."