DEA, TSA Illegal Cash Seizure Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A Boston-area woman is suing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after they took $82,000 in cash from her at the airport.
- Why: The plaintiff says the DEA’s seizure is unconstitutional and that the TSA exceeded its legal authority.
- Where: The seizure was made at a Pittsburgh airport.
A woman who had her father’s life savings seized at Logan International Airport has a class action lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) advancing through the courts to stop what she says is an illegal practice.
Plaintiff Rebecca Brown, from Boston, said she had been entrusted with her father’s $82,000 in life savings after visiting him in Pittsburgh in 2019.
Her father, who lived through the Depression, didn’t trust banks and had kept his savings tucked in his walls and other nooks, she said. He had finally given it to her to bank with the purpose of taking care of him into his old age.
However, when she was traveling home through Pittsburgh airport with the cash Aug. 26, 2019, she was stopped by the TSA.
TSA personnel alerted local law enforcement about the large quantity of cash. Brown said she was soon questioned by Pennsylvania State Troopers, and the money was seized by a DEA agent they knew only as “Steve.”
It took six months for them to get their money back, their attorney told the Boston Herald. Brown filed a class action lawsuit, which was taken up pro bono by the Institute for Justice (IJ).
Cash Seizure VIolates 4th Amendment, Class Action Claims
According to the lawsuit, the DEA’s seizure is unconstitutional, violating the 4th Amendment, and the TSA exceeded its legal authority. The class action has already survived a government motion to dismiss in March 2021.
“Flying with any amount of cash is completely legal,” senior IJ attorney Dan Alban said. “You don’t forfeit your constitutional rights when you try to board an airplane.”
The law firm said that between 2000 and 2016, federal agencies seized more than $2 billion dollars in cases like Brown’s.
The lawsuit seeks to put an end to the seizures. There are four plaintiffs in the lawsuit so far, one of them is a woman who was stopped last week at Logan International Airport with about $10,000 cash in a slow cooker.
In 2019, the TSA was hit with another class action lawsuit alleging airline travelers are owed $85 refunds as part of the terms of signing up for an expedited screening service.
What do you think about the DEA and TSA policies of seizing money at airports? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Dan Alban, Jaba Tsitsuashvili and Richard Hoover of the Institute for Justice.
The TSA DEA Money Seizure Class Action Lawsuit is Brown, et al. v. Transportation Security Administration, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-00064, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
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4 thoughts onTSA Class Action Advances After Dad’s Life Savings Seized at Airport
very good to see this is being brought to the attention of the people.
End Civil Asset Forfeitures! Return America to the rule of law.
If they found a bunch of drugs, fine. But they did not. Therefore, the DEA has no business even getting involved. Period. The victim’s story could have been verified quickly and that could have been that. Fighting on court for six months to get money taken with no proof of any crime happens far too often, and the hoops to get money or other assets back even when no crime has been charged is insane. The TSA is nothing more than security theatre, and the DEA needs to just stick with busting meth labs and cartels or whatever. So moronic.
Ok