In a scene that could have been pulled from the pages of a legal drama, attorneys involved in a potential class-action suit against the government debated several nebulous questions Thursday morning [February 5, 2026] in a Downtown courtroom:

• Should traveling by air with large amounts of cash be deemed suspicious or illegal?
• Was the seizure of a retired railroad engineer’s life savings — more than $82,000 in cash — justified?
• Does the Transportation Security Administration have “secret policies” that violate travelers’ Fourth Amendment rights?

Attorneys for the government refuted all allegations of wrongdoing and said law enforcement should investigate when a potential crime is suspected. But lawyers representing plaintiffs in the suit against the TSA, Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Government and others countered that the actions against travelers carrying large amounts of cash were illegal.

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An incident at Pittsburgh International
The lawsuit revolves around the case of Terry Rolin, who has since died.

Rolin grew up in a household shaped by the Great Depression, according to his daughter, Rebecca Brown. He shared his parents’ distrust of banks and squirreled away his money, in cash, in various hiding spots around his house in Cuddy, an unincorporated area near Bridgeville.

When he moved to a smaller apartment outside South Fayette Township in 2018 at age 79, he gathered the cash and asked his daughter to fly with it to her home in Boston and create a new joint account. Ms. Brown, who was visiting family in Pittsburgh in 2019, agreed to do so, according to the lawsuit.

Before she could board her plane at Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 26, 2019, TSA agents “observed via X-ray that [her carry-on luggage] contained a ‘large’ amount of cash,’ ” the lawsuit states.

TSA screeners “told her they were going to hold on to her carry-on luggage until law enforcement officers could arrive,” the lawsuit states. Agents summoned Drug Enforcement Agency agent Steve Dawkin, who took possession of the money, the lawsuit states.

“They questioned Rebecca about why she had so much cash [and] told her to give them her ID and proof of her travel arrangements,” the lawsuit continues.

“Rebecca had no items that could threaten transportation security — weapons, explosives, incendiaries, or other prohibited items — in her carry-on luggage or on her person. She also had no illegal drugs or any other contraband. But rather than permit Rebecca to continue to her gate, the TSA Screeners unlawfully prolonged Rebecca’s detention,” the lawsuit states.

Ms. Brown hired an attorney. She eventually recovered her father’s money before he died in 2022, but only after a seven-month battle in which the DEA tried to keep it via civil forfeiture, she claimed in the lawsuit. During that time, her father was unable to afford medical care, including a new set of dentures that he needed, she said.