The saga of the Liberty Dollar lawsuit continues to slowly drag on. On July 19, 2007 U.S. Government attorneys representing Treasury and Justice Department officials filed papers in Indiana seeking the dismissal of the Liberty Dollar lawsuit which claims the production and distribution of the Liberty Dollar gold and silver bullion coins do not violate Federal Laws as long as they are not represented as “legal tender,” “coin” or “currency money.”

The original complaint was filed on March 20, 2007 in the U.S. District court in Evansville, Indiana, by Bernard von NotHaus, individually and doing business as the Liberty Dollar. Mr. NotHaus’s lawsuit requests that the U.S. Mint remove from its website and advisory posted September 13, 2006, that warns consumers that the use of the Liberty Dollar violates Federal Law. The Liberty Dollar lawsuit also seeks to have the Liberty Dollar be declared to be a “private voluntary barter currency.”

The U.S. Government’s current request to have the Liberty Dollar lawsuit dismissed follows two previous 30-day delays, and the standard 60-day period to respond.

The Federal Government’s arguments for dismissal of the lawsuit are as follows:

• Von NotHaus has not stated jurisdictional grounds for suing the United States, and that the United States is immune from suit unless it consents to be sued.

• Von NotHaus has not shown an actual controversy causing harm from the U.S. Government’s alleged illegal conduct.

• Declaratory and injunctive actions with the criminal process are not appropriate.

According to the Federal Government’s response: “Even if von NotHaus can show an actual injury, the general rule is that equity will not interfere with criminal processes by entertaining actions for injunctive or declaratory relief in advance of criminal prosecution.” Liberty Services is based in Evansville, Indiana where the Liberty Dollar traces its roots in 1998 under the umbrella of the National Organization For The Repeal Of The Federal Reserve Act aka NORFED. This nonprofit organization was dissolved in early December 2006.

A private currency is a currency issued by a private institution as opposed to the current fiat currencies issued by governments today. In most countries today, private currencies are severely restricted by laws. However, Scotland and Ireland have licensed some private sector banks to print their own paper money.

Private currencies weren’t always regulated in the United States. Between the years of 1837-1866, almost anyone could issue paper money. States, municipalities, private banks, railroad and construction companies, stores, restaurants, churches, and individuals printed an estimated 8,000 different monies.

Of course, if the issuer went bankrupt, closed, left town, or otherwise went out of business, the private notes would be worthless. Such organizations earned the nickname of “wildcat banks” for a reputation of unreliability.

This nickname is supposed to have stemmed from the idea that most of these “banks” were often situated in far-off, unpopulated locales said to be inhabited more by wildcats than people. The Legal Tender Act of 1862 and the National Bank Act of 1863 ended the “wildcat bank” era.

The Liberty Dollar lawsuit can be followed online at http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/legal/legalissues.htm