Parking on (Your Own) Grass, Paying Six Figures: The Lantana Code Enforcement Case

A single mother in Lantana, Florida has been hit with daily $250 fines for over a year because one of her family's four cars parks slightly on the grass in her front yard. Sandy Martinez owns her home and lives there with her son, daughter, and sister. All of them work full-time jobs that require their own vehicles.

Her house sits on a corner lot at a four-way intersection so street parking isn't an option. Parking in a way that blocks the sidewalk gets her fined. Parking in the swale leaves the cars vulnerable to getting hit. Most logical solution? Park with two tires on the grass.

After the first citation, Martinez tried arranging a visit with a code enforcement officer to show she'd fixed the violation. That went nowhere.

Martinez now faces over $160,000 in city fines for parking with two wheels on her own lawn, plus having cracks in the driveway and storm damage to her fence.

Can't Even Sell Now

The massive fines have destroyed the equity she built up in her home. She can't even sell the property anymore. The Institute for Justice has represented Martinez in court for years trying to get the ridiculous fines reduced under Florida's Excessive Fines Clause, but the Florida Supreme Court recently refused to hear her case.

Institute of Justice senior attorney Ari Bargil told CBS News, "Six-figure fines for parking on your own property are shocking. The court's refusal to hear Sandy's case is a disservice to all Floridians."

Florida's homestead protection shields Martinez's home from foreclosure but she's left without many options after the state Supreme Court let the six-figure fine stand. Only shot now would be trying again in federal court.