Kramer Levin Represents Family in Suit Against United States for Return of World's Most Valuable Coins

On Tuesday, December 5, 2006, a Kramer Levin team led by litigation partners Barry Berke and Eric Tirschwell filed an action in federal court in Philadelphia for the return of ten specimens of the world’s most valuable coin.  The 1933 “Double Eagle” gold coins were discovered by firm clients Roy, David, and Joan Langbord in 2003 in a safe deposit box containing property of their late father and grandfather, Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt.  The coin’s storied past—it was minted even as President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard and, as a result, never placed into circulation—has made it a unique prize among collectors, with one specimen selling for nearly $7.6 million in a  2002 auction.  (Barry Berke successfully represented the seller in connection with that prior matter, persuading the government to drop all criminal charges and split the proceeds of the sale with Kramer Levin's client.) 

Upon discovering their ten coins, the Langbord Family  promptly contacted the United States Mint and permitted it to take temporary custody of the coins, solely for purposes of authenticating and securing them during talks addressing certain concerns of the Mint.  After authenticating the coins, however, the Mint unilaterally determined that the coins had been stolen more than seven decades ago and would be confiscated.

In the action filed by Kramer Levin last week and naming various United States government agencies and agency heads as defendants, the Langbords state claims under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution, claiming that the coins have been seized unlawfully and that their confiscation has deprived the Langbords of property without due process of law.  They seek the coins’ return and an order barring the government from taking any future action to confiscate their property or, alternatively, a hearing at which to contest the government’s unsupported and self-serving conclusions regarding the coins’ history.

Along with Barry Berke and Eric Tirschwell, the Kramer Levin team includes litigation associates Keith Donoghue and Carmel Gabbay.