See, e.g., Bentley v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, 414 Fed.Appx. 28, 32 (9th Cir.2011) (holding that a “claim is ‘filed' when it is received by the seizing agency, not when it is mailed”); United States v. $7,696.00 in U.S. Currency, No. 12-CV-116-LRR, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61187 (N.D. Iowa 2013) (finding that the claim was not filed within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 983(a)(3)(A) until the appropriate agency received it); United States v. $36,110.00 in U.S. Currency, No. 4:08-029, 2009 WL 692830, at *3 (D.S.C. 2009) (holding claim filed on receipt, not on mailing); In re Seizure of 2007 GMA Sierra SLE Truck, VIN: 2GTEK13C1715, 32 F.Supp.3d 710, 717 n.10 (D.S.C. 2014) (stating that the mailbox rule does not apply to non-prisoners in asset forfeiture proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 983).
Other courts have found that the word filed means physically received by a specific person. See United States v. One GMC Yukon Denali, No. 03-cv-6890, 2003 WL 27177023, at *4 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 4, 2003) (claim is filed when it reaches a proper official within the forfeiture division, not the remote mailroom delivery site that merely screens all incoming packages for contamination); United States v. $7,696.00 in U.S. Currency, No. 12-cv-116, 2013 WL 1827668, at *4 (N.D. Iowa Apr. 30, 2013) (a claim was filed not when it was received by the agency office in general, but only when it was received by the specific official in question). Outside of the CAFRA context, courts have diverged on interpreting the word filed. For example, federal tax law requires that a given tax shall "be assessed within 3 years after the return was filed."
The Government argues that every court that has addressed this issue has held a claim is filed when it is received by the appropriate governmental agency. The Court's independent research comes to the same conclusion. See, e.g., United States v. Real Prop. Located at 475 Martin Lane, 545 F.3d 1134, 1141 (9th Cir. 2008) (stating that the Government has 90 days to file complaint from the date the claim is received); Bentley v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, 414 Fed. App'x. 28, 32 (9th Cir.2011) (holding that a "claim is 'filed' when it is received by the seizing agency, not when it is mailed") (Stafford, W., concurring); United States v. $7,696.00 in U.S. Currency, No. 12-CV-116-LRR, 2013 WL 1827668 (N.D. Iowa 2013) (finding that the claim was not filed within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 983(a)(3)(A) until the appropriate agency received it); United States v. $36,110.00 in U.S. Currency, No. 4:08-029-TLW, 2009 WL 692830, at *3 (D.S.C. 2009) (holding claim filed on receipt, not on mailing); United States v. $65,930.00 in U.S. Currency, 3:03CV01625(RNC), 2006 WL 923704, at *2 (D. Conn. 2006) (holding if Congress wanted to apply the mailbox rule it would have said so). In the Claimants' Objection to the Report and Recommendation, they argue that none of the cases the Government and Magistrate Judge have cited are binding on this Court because they are not Seventh Circuit cases.