The events at issue span twenty years, resulted in congressional hearings, and involve litigation in three circuits. We are not sure if the appropriate literary metaphor belongs to Tolstoy or to Kafka, but we are going to set forth the history of this case in some detail.
United States v. Park Place Assocs., Ltd., No. 05-56235 (9th Cir. Apr. 22, 2009) (per Bybee, J.).
Judge Bybee’s mention of Tolstoy refers to the length of the proceedings and of Kafka to the result. Park Place Associates won $93,612,892 in an arbitration award against the federal government in 2004. The award granted the damages for mismanagement of — get this — “a legal card-playing club”. The feds seized the club through forfeiture proceedings against drug traffickers who owned a majority interest in it.
Blawgletter will leave it there except to note that the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision not to vacate the award but reversed its confirmation of the award. The district court had jurisdiction to do the former but not the latter. Wow.
