Man Sues Trump Admin To Keep 70 Million-Year-Old Tyrannosaurus Skull
Robert M. Lavinsky bought the ancient fossil from a Gem & Mineral and Fossil Show dealer in 2005. It is now stored in Texas.
However, he has been under investigation since 2014 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), both of which allege the skull is stolen property.
Lavinsky is suing the agencies, with a complaint filed on Wednesday stating: "The Government's demand for forfeiture of Plaintiff's personal property constitutes a concrete and particularized injury."
DHS and attorneys for Lavinsky have been contacted via email outside business hours for comment.
The Trump administration, particularly DHS, is already being sued by several groups of Attorneys General, citizens, and people who have been detained by ICE as part of the government's hardline immigration agenda. This is another lawsuit to add to its extensive legal schedule.
Unlike other cases against the federal government, however, this suit is not related to specific Trump administration policies, as it relates to DHS activity that was initiated during the Obama era.
According to Lavinsky's court filing, an investigation into the skull began in 2014, two years after the government launched an inquiry into the store owners who sold Lavinsky the bataar skull.
The skull originated from Mongolia, and according to the US government, "under U.S. law, generally, paleontological artifacts of Mongolian origin are considered to be stolen property and vertebrate paleontological artifacts of Chinese origin are considered to be stolen property."
The government then said Lavinsky had broken the law by requesting the skull be imported into the U.S., and said it would "initiate legal action to compel the production of and/or seizure and forfeiture of" the item, says the filing.
Lavinsky and his legal team argue he did not import the skull, but rather bought it when it was already in the United States.
This new suit arose because the government froze Lavinsky's ownership rights over the skull in 2014.
In 2017, James Godwin, the owner of the store that sold Lavinsky the skull, sued the government, saying it had gone beyond its statute of limitations in the case of the skull.
Per Lavinsky's filing: "The Court found that the Government discovered facts showing Dr. Godwin's Bataar skull existed in the United States and was in Dr. Godwin's possession when it received the July 2012 Production [of records exchanged between Godwin and the government regarding the skull.]"
The filing went on to say: "Notably, the Court adopted the 'known or should have known' standard for the running of 5-year statute of limitations under 19 U.S.C. § 1621 for civil forfeiture claims... The Government failed to timely file its request for forfeiture."
Despite this ruling, Lavinsky's ownership rights remain in question. He says he wants to donate the skull to Wyoming Dinosaur Center & Dig Sites in Thermopolis, but is unable to do so because he worries that if he tried to donate the skull the government would seize it.
Robert Lavinsky's Filing states: "Plaintiff Dr. Robert M. Lavinsky requests that the Court declare that the Government is barred by the statute of limitations to pursue any forfeiture claims of Dr. Lavinsky's Bataar Skull and declare that Dr. Lavinsky has unencumbered ownership and clear title of the Bataar Skull, and for all such other and further relief, at law and in equity, to which he must be justly entitled."
Lavinsky has requested a declaratory injunction from the government, for them to state that he is the owner of the skull so that he can donate it to the center in Wyoming.
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