Posted on 04/12/2024 4:07:51 AM PDT by MtnClimber
A Florida judge yesterday ruled against a Lantana homeowner who faces more than $165,000 in fines for three minor code violations that harmed no one. Sandy Martinez, who is represented by the Institute for Justice (I.J.), argued that the financially crippling demand, which stems from driveway cracks, a storm-damaged fence, and cars that were parked partially on her own lawn, violates the Florida Constitution's ban on excessive fines and its guarantee of due process. But Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Luis Delgado granted the city's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the fines were not "grossly disproportionate."
Martinez hopes to persuade Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal that Delgado is wrong about that. "Six-figure fines for parking on your own property are outrageous," says I.J. attorney Mike Greenberg. "The Florida Constitution's Excessive Fines Clause was designed to stop precisely this sort of abuse—to prevent people from being fined into poverty for trivial violations. The court's opinion renders those bedrock protections a dead letter. We will appeal."
Martinez's debt to the city began accumulating in 2013, when she was cited for cracks in her driveway. For a single mother with a modest income who was living from one paycheck to another, the cost of laying a new driveway was hard to manage. But in the meantime, daily fines of $75 continued to accrue, eventually reaching a total of $16,125 with interest—"far greater than the cost of an entirely new driveway," she notes in the lawsuit that she filed against the city in February 2021.
In 2015, Martinez was cited for a fence that had been knocked down by a storm. Again, the repairs necessary to bring her into compliance were more expensive than she could immediately afford. While she waited for her insurance company to pay her claim...
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Yeah, this had been going on since 2013! The woman had been pretty lethargic about taking care of these problems. For me...waking up each morning and thinking...”Well, there’s another $75.” would’ve gotten my butt in gear mighty fast. Is the city abusive? Yes. Is the lady a ditz? Yes even more.
Post 10- sure to generate a response.
The trouble with “Judges” is that they are twice as greedy as the greediest shyster lawyers. Bass turds think they are little gods.
I’m sure. Nobody makes a stink out of parking correctly. It had to be the neighbors who brought this ridiculous woman to the attention of the city in the first place. She seems entitled. I bet she said, “screw the neighbors and the city.” 2013 is 11 years ago and she didn’t fix the problem. She’s the problem.
That’s not her house
“Guess I’m just silly and old fashioned but I like having born in the USA authentic Americans holding ALL positions of power in any branch.”
That is why the writers of the Constitution inserted the natural born clause requirement for president.
The Stranger (Kipling)
The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind
But he does not talk my talk -—
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock,
They may do ill or well,
But they tell me the lies I am wonted to,
They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy or sell.
The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control –
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the God of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be.
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.
This was my father’s belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf -—
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children’s teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.
Didn’t say it was.
She is barking up the wrong tree if she expects a Judge to be reasonable. The Judge will side with the regulator who imposed the fine. There is probably somebody with connections who wants the property.
There’s more to this than meets the eye, IMO. I’d be looking into connections of the judge with some property developer or similar who wants that homeowner’s land.
Maybe these judges are making too much money. They seem to have lost touch with reality. Cutting their pay by half might make them a little more realistic.
Thank God I’m fortunate to live out here on the farm in central Kansas.
Oh, you can fight city hall, if you have nothing left to lose.
No one forcing you to look!
Regards,
Any reasonable suggestions? Thought not.
She has seven cars but can’t afford to fill in a track?
Yea, those fines are grossly excessive and somewhat based on questionable ordinances (waiting on insurance to fix a fence?)... There’s definitely more going on here
lantana (and lake worth, the old incorporated part) have essentially had partial population replacement the last decade or two.
Some housing regulations are nothing less than another form of “taking” without just compensation and violate the very idea of “private property”, making what is yours not really yours, but the government’s.
At least all the cars look like they run (glass half full?!)
Thank you, a very good poem with a world of forgotten truth in the dark days we live in.
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