The case, a civil forfeiture action against stock in a corporation headquartered in California, reached the 9th Circuit by the unusual route of an interlocutory appeal by certification via 28 USC 1292(b). It tests the applicability of International Shoe and Shaffer v. Heitner’s ‘minimum contacts’ test to pure in rem cases. Specifically, may personal jurisdiction be asserted, consistent with due process, when the res and its owner are absent and otherwise lack purposeful contacts with the forum?
The case is USA v. Tarek Obaid. Click here for full calendar.