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Minor Violations Lead to Massive Prosecution Fees in Two California Desert Towns
Reason ^ | Nov. 16, 2017 12:15 pm | Scott Shackford

Posted on 11/18/2017 5:02:27 PM PST by sparklite2

In Coachella, a man was fined $900 for expanding his living room without getting a permit. He paid his fine. Then more than a year later he got a bill in the mail from Silver & Wright for $26,000. They told him that he had to pay the cost of prosecuting him, and if he didn't, they could put a lien on his house and the city could sell it against his will. When he appealed the bill they charged him even more for the cost of defending against the appeal. The bill went from $26,000 to $31,000.

Brett Kelman of the Desert Sun found 18 cases in Indio and Coachella where people received inordinately high legal bills for small-time violations. A woman fined for hanging Halloween decorations across a city street received legal bill for $2,700. When she challenged it, the bill jumped to $4,200.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: California
KEYWORDS:
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To: sparklite2

In the Matanuska Susitna Borough not only do I not need a permit to expand my living room, I don’t even need a permit to build an entire house. California has just gone bat feces crazy.


21 posted on 11/18/2017 5:38:18 PM PST by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: bkopto; null and void

That one is certainly worth a ping to Mr. Null and Void.

In times like these, grocery store parking lots must be safer because rust never sleeps. (sorry had to lift it from THAT guy)

I’m gonna have to ticket you for excessive rust.


22 posted on 11/18/2017 5:38:45 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Lurker

Henry Bowman, paging Henry Bowman. White courtesy telephone, please.


23 posted on 11/18/2017 5:40:22 PM PST by Noumenon (Can you imagine if Islam were NOT the religion of peace?)
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To: WildHighlander57

[Sounds like the lawyer rigging it so he gets $ from the fines]

The more I think about it
Old Billy was right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2-jYsOCn1M


24 posted on 11/18/2017 5:41:15 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: sparklite2
Code enforcement is a department in the county/city/municipality government. A private firm can inspect and make reports as to compliance or non-compliance but has no enforcement authority. The only fees a private firm can request is from the said government entity, it cannot bill the individual being inspected unless it is written in the local building codes.
25 posted on 11/18/2017 5:44:49 PM PST by Traveler59 ( Truth is a journey, not a destination.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Amen


26 posted on 11/18/2017 5:46:27 PM PST by Bryanw92 (Asking a pro athlete for political advice is like asking a cavalry horse for tactical advice.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Criminal mentality has taken over much of local government in the US. Officials at all levels are party to the criminal abuses that flow like a foul river from bureaucratic offices across the country.
Court systems are complicit in this corruption. Judges have the authority to control these abuses but they do little or nothing, demonstrating their complicity.
District Attorney offices are notorious for enforcing guilty pleas when a not guilty verdict is virtually assured with adequate representation.
Our entire governmental system is riddled with corruption. The extreme vitriolic opposition to president Trump is the clear manifestation of the criminal cabal threatened by his administration. We must do more tan pray for him.
We must develop citizen vanguards aimed at ridding us of the vile creatures that are ensconced in government. Identifying and exposing them is our highest priority.


27 posted on 11/18/2017 5:49:06 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Progressivism is 2 year olds in a poop fight.)
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To: Traveler59

Forget it, Jake. It’s California.


28 posted on 11/18/2017 5:50:23 PM PST by sparklite2 (-)
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To: Bryanw92

I’ve seen too many CHP’s ticket writing. No coincidence.


29 posted on 11/18/2017 5:50:25 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: bkopto

What would a judge say if you said that in court as your defense?


30 posted on 11/18/2017 5:51:09 PM PST by Fungi (A fungus for every life.)
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To: Lurker

This is why we need the Second Amendment.


31 posted on 11/18/2017 5:54:30 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (SCHLONGED: How Donald Trump Beat My Lying, Marxist Ass and Went On to Win the November Election. HRC)
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To: Fungi

The judge would say, “You better show me some respect, boy.
I had to kiss a lot of ass to get this job!”


32 posted on 11/18/2017 5:54:47 PM PST by sparklite2 (-)
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To: Fungi
What would a judge say if you said that in court as your defense?

I don't think the judge would say anything. He would laugh.

33 posted on 11/18/2017 6:00:17 PM PST by bkopto
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To: AlaskaErik

My late father-in-law (in Lake County, Illinois) could not believe that we didn’t need a building permit to build a house in S.E. Missouri. He said such a thing was impossible, unthinkable. “How will they collect your property taxes?”, he asked.


34 posted on 11/18/2017 6:07:53 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: sparklite2
I was going to suggest that the victims file ethics complaints with the California Bar. But I looked at the California rules of professional conduct for lawyers and they are useless.

California doesn't even have a rule forbidding lawyer dishonesty.

At least the ABA Model Rules say:

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation;

(d) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;

California rules: if you make money, it's all good.

35 posted on 11/18/2017 6:15:26 PM PST by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be defeated.)
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To: hanamizu

Reason 1,000,000 I live in the country. Built a whole house just the way I wanted Permission from NO ONE. Then several years later added on about 2,000 square feet. Again asked no one. Took the County 2 years to barely increase my property taxes.


36 posted on 11/18/2017 6:26:55 PM PST by therut
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To: vette6387

A totally illegal conflict of interest by the law firm and the city.

Time to sue them into oblivion.

And as we say in the legal business, “in the alternative, hang ‘em”. /sarc, or maybe not


37 posted on 11/18/2017 6:30:52 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: PLMerite

I had not thought of Carl Drega in some time.


38 posted on 11/18/2017 6:39:10 PM PST by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: PLMerite

I wonder if prisoners in a Concentration camp would see the murder of a guard as a bad thing like the people outside the walls do? I am willing to bet that the prisoners hate that a man “went off” on guards, because they all believe they will make it out alive if they just follow orders. Carl Drega, you cannot call him a hero, but if there were thousands of these acts a month, the government would back down and we would all live a closer existence with true Liberty.

It is like with the IRS, people continue to obey the commands of the government on a graduated income tax. They prefer the false truth that it is need as opposed to THE truth that it is a control mechanism.


39 posted on 11/18/2017 6:42:37 PM PST by Glad2bnuts (If Republicans are not prepared to carry on the Revolution of 1776, prepare for a communist takeover)
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Extortion is a dangerous vocation.


40 posted on 11/18/2017 6:59:44 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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