A Florida property owner is fighting back after the city of Largo seized and sold his small multi-unit rental property over ballooning code enforcement fines.
The lawsuit challenges a system increasingly used by cities to impose excessive fines and penalties that generate revenue to raise funds and solve budgetary issues, often at the expense of property rights and due process.
The case is DJB Rentals, LLC v. City of Largo, Florida. It centers around Don Bourgeois. His lawsuit claims City of Largo officials violated the federal Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines when he was hit with $250 daily accruing fines—eventually totaling almost $600,000—for minor code violations, which the city ultimately sold the property for less than $200,000. Worse yet, his due process rights were violated because he was limited by an unreasonable time constraint—just 30 days— to dispute the claims…