2 California towns find new way to bilk citizens

Indio, Coachella hire outside attorneys to sue citizens, then lawyers bill residents for thousands of dollars for prosecution.

“An example of what happens when the government looks at you as a subject, and not a citizen.

“And also an example of why our second amendment rights are so very important. In these jurisdictions, it's clearly time for tar and feathers, or even more radical solutions. This is just outrageous.

“A couple of cities in the California desert have found a novel and remarkably cruel way to make money—force citizens to pay for the privilege of being prosecuted by the attorneys contracting with these cities.

"We've seen cities across the country abuse their own citizens—particularly its poorest residents and visitors—with vicious enforcement of petty laws designed to create a revenue stream via a cascade of fines and fees.

“But I don't think we've seen an enforcement mechanism as nasty and cruel as the one the Desert Sun has uncovered out in California's Inland Empire. The cities of Indio and Coachella partnered up with a private law firm, Silver & Wright, to prosecute citizens in criminal court for violations of city ordinances that call for nothing more than small fines—things like having a mess in your yard or selling food without a business license.

“Those cited for these violations fix the problems and pay the fines, a typical code enforcement story. The kicker comes a few weeks or months later when citizens get a bill in the mail for thousands of dollars from the law firm that prosecuted them. They are forcing citizens to pay for the private lawyers used to take them to court in the first place. So a fine for a couple of hundred dollars suddenly becomes a bill for $3,000 or $20,000 or even more.

“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.

“TFRP = Tar, Feathes, Rope, Pole.”

http://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2017/11/an-example-of-what-happens-when.html

Desert Sun story:

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2017/11/15/he-confessed-minor-crime-then-city-hall-billed-him-31-k-his-own-prosecution/846850001/

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/11/an-example-of-what-happens-when-the-government-looks-at-you-as-a-subject-and-not-a-citizen/