US State Denies Appeal Of Woman Fined $100K For Parking In Her Own Driveway

New fear unlocked: getting fined over $100,000 for parking cars in your own driveway. This has become the reality for one woman after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear her case, leaving her with the massive fine over the way her cars were parked on her property. 

Sandy Martinez currently owes nearly $165,000 to Lantana, Florida, with over $100,000 being due to parking violations. The single mother lives with her sister, son, and daughter — and all four of them own a car. Without any street parking, the family has lined their cars up across the four-car driveway. However, one of the cars has to be parked slightly over the grass in Martinez's yard, in violation of a local property-maintenance ordinance, which has led to a $250 fine every day since 2021. With the six-figure parking violation looming over her, Martinez can no longer sell her home. "Cities shouldn't be allowed to wreck lives over trivial violations," she said to CBS 12 News. 

For now, Martinez owes around $165,000 between her parking fines, a damaged fence, and cracks in her driveway. After the Supreme Court declined to review Martinez's case, the Institute for Justice got involved, claiming the penalties violate the United States' Excessive Fines Clause. "Six-figure fines for parking on your own property are shocking," stated IJ senior attorney Ari Bargil. "The court's refusal to hear Sandy's case is a disservice to all Floridians."

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state and local governments must adhere to the Excessive Fines Clause, which aims to protect citizens from large fines for minor infractions. Unfortunately, the meaning of "excessive" has no set definition, but it's often seen as something that has a minimal impact on the government. The Institute for Justice has noted, however, that without a set definition, it can definitely get tricky. A man in Florida was fined almost $30,000 for letting his grass grow too long. In 2022, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against him, stating that the long grass wasn't harmful to the government but the fine was not excessive, since the homeowner was fined $500 a day, not $30,000 at once. This ruling isn't promising for Martinez, who faces a similar situation. However, there are other instances where getting fined for parking in your own driveway was seen as an outdated rule.