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Excessive Fines?

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What is the name of your state? California

My county in California recently adopted an ordinance by which they issue administrative citations for such things as neglected properties. The ordinance maintains that these citations can be issued "each and every day" the violation exists. I'm a non-lawyer with litigation experience including a federal civil rights case and I intend to challenge this practice. Does anyone see a legal problem or line of attack on this practice? The fines can be upwards of $1500/ day. Excessive fines? Text of ordinance is below.

(A) Any person violating any provision of the ......... County Code or applicable State code may be issued an administrative citation by an enforcement officer as provided in this chapter.


(1) Each and every day a violation of the ......... County Code or applicable State code exists constitutes a separate and distinct offense for which an administrative citation may be issued.


(2) An administrative penalty shall be assessed by means of an administrative citation issued by the enforcing officer and shall be payable directly to the County of ..........


(3) Administrative penalties assessed by means of an administrative citation shall be collected in accordance with the procedures specified in this chapter.
 


Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
What is the name of your state? California

My county in California recently adopted an ordinance by which they issue administrative citations for such things as neglected properties. The ordinance maintains that these citations can be issued "each and every day" the violation exists. I'm a non-lawyer with litigation experience including a federal civil rights case and I intend to challenge this practice. Does anyone see a legal problem or line of attack on this practice?
Nothing in what you wrote gives any apparent defense here. If you speed in your car several days in a row and get caught each day, you can expect to pay the fines and suffer whatever other sanctions there are for each violation. If your property is in continuing violation of the ordinance each day you can expect the same result as the principle is essentially the same - continuing violations of the law can lead to additional citations for the violation. It'd be better for you to simply get the property in compliance ASAP than relying on a challenge to multiple citations. And, by the way, you have to get multiple citations first to even make the challenge you want to make. So if you have your property in compliance to begin with this won't be a problem.
 
Thanks for the response. To fill in some details, I have been cited for fines multiple times with accumulating penalties with a huge quantity of new products for sale with no place to go. We're talking about months to move a business with supplies after a new location is found. So your analogy to speeding multiple times is not the same. A closer analogy would be a citation to move a large auto wrecking yard where the owner needs time to move, sell the property, repurchase, and clear out. If this is not done in 7 days, is it a continuing violation?
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
We're talking about months to move a business with supplies after a new location is found.
Baloney.

Storage units and U-Haul trucks can be had same day. Hiring movers to assist could take a day or two. There's no excuse for blight remaining more than a couple of days after receiving the citation.

Those ordinances are aimed at chronic hoarders of junk whose property looks like crap, but not necessarily.

A closer analogy would be a citation to move a large auto wrecking yard where the owner needs time to move, sell the property, repurchase, and clear out. If this is not done in 7 days, is it a continuing violation?
No, that's a spurious analogy because a large wrecking yard isn't likely to be at somebody's home. But if somebody is dismantling autos at his home then it is a daily violation.

You should have anticipated the needs of your business a long time ago rather than cluttering up your property and annoying your neighbors.
 
Understand your point about nuisances. But the question is not about whether a zoning decision is wrong or whether the owner made mistakes, but rather when excessive fines comes into play. Recently there was an article about home owners in Dunedin, Fla. being cited with large fines for neglected property such as not mowing the lawn on time. Where would a court be likely to decide one fine is legal and another excessive?
 
Yes, that's correct according to one of my contacts. In the case of whether it's growing or, in my case, a zoning issue, your first recourse is to appeal to a single hearing officer hired by the county to conduct hearings once a month. Beyond that, your appeal rights are trial de novo or writ of mandate.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
Thanks for the response. To fill in some details, I have been cited for fines multiple times with accumulating penalties with a huge quantity of new products for sale with no place to go. We're talking about months to move a business with supplies after a new location is found. So your analogy to speeding multiple times is not the same. A closer analogy would be a citation to move a large auto wrecking yard where the owner needs time to move, sell the property, repurchase, and clear out. If this is not done in 7 days, is it a continuing violation?
I don't by that you couldn't conform the property sooner than "months to move the business". You might not be able to do the move the way you most would like to do it, but the alternative to getting it done fast is facing mounting fines for continuing violation of the ordinance. The zoning rules have presumably been in place for awhile so you should have been on notice what the rules were and that you needed to fix it to bring it into compliance. In any event, I don't see that arguing multiple citations as being invalid because they are "excessive" will be much of a winner here. Perhaps contacting the zoning enforcement people and submitting a reasonable plan to fix the issues would get you more time. That plan likely won't be seen as reasonable if it's going to take many months. But there might be a way to negotiate a solution here that would at least stop the stacking fines you are getting.
 
Can't argue with most of your points. But the issue I'm examining are the charges of continuing violations and fines. The same county recently granted a five year period to clean up a wrecking yard on top of a mountain. In fact, the decision was not to clean it up in five years, but to "make every effort to clean it up". So individuals in the county are not treated the same as others similarly situated. Selective enforcement? Deprivation of rights? Equal treatment? We sometimes read about a poor widow loosing her home in foreclosure because of an overlooked $50 fine. Where is the court likely to draw a line with fines and penalties?
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
So individuals in the county are not treated the same as others similarly situated. Selective enforcement? Deprivation of rights? Equal treatment?
None of the above. You're not just comparing apples to oranges you're comparing apples to bricks. There are likely two different laws involved. One for a homeowner storing a lot of business items where they don't belong and one for possible environmental issues posed by the wrecking yard.
 
Nope. I have the case docs. Zoned residential, same code sections. Storing inop vehicles. No commercial allowed, no use permit. The double standards apparently gets down to whatever the code enforcement officer wants to do. I will bring this to the Court’s attention when I file suit.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
Nope. I have the case docs. Zoned residential, same code sections. Storing inop vehicles. No commercial allowed, no use permit. The double standards apparently gets down to whatever the code enforcement officer wants to do. I will bring this to the Court’s attention when I file suit.
Before you do that, you ought to ask the county office for a reasonable time to clean up your site and see what they say. If they agree to your plan then you've got no complaints about the fact that the other guy got time to deal with his place.
 

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