Posted on 10/27/2019 3:04:07 PM PDT by cowpoke
A compensation plan has been developed for victims of a program established by Philadelphia that confiscated homes, cars and money without reason. The Institute for Justice sued the city and announced a year ago a settlement was being developed.
Some 35,000 notices have been sent to victims, but they need to confirm their participation in the settlement, the organization explained.
"Innocent Philadelphians who unjustly lost homes, money and cars to the city's forfeiture machine are able to get every penny back but they need to apply before the deadline," said Darpana Sheth, lead counsel for plaintiffs and director of the Institute for Justice's National Initiative to End Forfeiture Abuse...IJ said when the settlement agreement was obtained: "Civil forfeiture – where the government can seize and sell your property without convicting or even charging you with a crime – is one of the greatest threats to property rights today. With civil forfeiture, the government sues the property itself under the fiction that cash, cars or even homes can be guilty, resulting in bizarre case names like Commonwealth v. 2000 Buick. And because these cases are civil, innocent property owners are denied rights guaranteed to criminal defendants, like the right to an attorney."
IJ said Philadelphia for decades rigged its system against property owners.
"Until IJ brought suit, Philadelphia routinely threw property owners out of their homes without notice. It forced owners to navigate the notorious 'Courtroom 478,' where so-called 'hearings' were run entirely by prosecutors, without any judges or court-appointed lawyers to defend property owners. Again and again, prosecutors demanded that property owners appear in court, sometimes ten times or more. Missing even a single 'hearing' meant that prosecutors could permanently take an owner's property, sell it and use the proceeds for any law-enforcement purpose they wished.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Bkmrk.
I’ve read that Philly is far from being the only city that does that kind of thing.
Philadelphia, the city of MiniLuv.
Every single lawyer and judge involved in this should be disbarred.
L
This is unbelievable. If it can happen anywhere in the US, it can happen everywhere. The amazing thing is that this institute who fought this outrageous practice has actually won something for those who were so abused.
Rapidly our nation is becoming more and more like the USSR, like Communist China, like Cuba.
Will the degeneration and corruption end our nation as we know it?
The verdict is still out but it looks more and more to be so.
And executed.
Read...Police State by Gerry Spence...
The 90% of honest prosecutors and judges and cops will not rat no there crooked brothers so the system is corrupted
DOJ and FBI are famous for entrapment...
90% never go to trall..
As usual, the biggest offender is the feds.
“The federal government’s use of forfeiture has exploded in recent years, increasing by more than 1,000 percent between fiscal years 2001 and 2014. During that period, deposits into the forfeiture funds of the DOJ and Treasury totaled nearly $29 billion. Measuring the funds’ net assets provides a more stable picture of the volume of federal forfeiture accounts from year to year, accounting for proceeds carried over from previous years as well as for obligations paid out from the funds, such as equitable sharing payments made to states. Net assets in the DOJ and Treasury forfeiture funds increased by 485 percent, from $763 million in fiscal year 2001 to almost $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2014.”...https://ij.org/pfp-state-pages/policing-profit-federal-government/
I live in Bucks County. Philadelphia is an absolute SHIT Hole run by Democrats for 60 years.
I’m beginning to understand why the deep state is so desperate to stay.
“The 90% of honest prosecutors and judges and cops will not rat no there crooked brothers so the system is corrupted”
_______________
The 90% are just as crooked as those they cover for.
1. Philadelphia has been run by democrats for the last 70 years.
2. Insane public union pensions will be paid.
That is all you really need to know.
Unfortunately, fleeing liberals from Philadelphia are turning Bucks County into another Philly sh#thole.
Start with the mayor.
bttt
This is a nice win for the people.
JoMa
This is just another freaking ad for a law firm. You see them all the time on TV. Roundup, talcum powder, ear plugs, etc. “Call us today and see if you qualify.”
Can we say “Now I’ve seen everything?” I don’t think so. Every day some other asinine story pops up that makes us scratch our heads. How did they get away with this for so long?
This is the same principle when people were losing cars and cash when they were stopped on highways for minor traffic infractions or none at all. An old news story about two guys headed to gamble in Vegas being stopped on a highway and losing everything was in the headlines a few years back. It remained in the news for quite some time but I think it finally faded from OUR sight...
It forced owners to navigate the notorious ‘Courtroom 478,’ where so-called ‘hearings’ were run entirely by prosecutors, without any judges...
No judges involved in deciding.
Well at least they didn’t pretend to let the people think they had a chance :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.