Florida Woman Furious After Getting $165K Fine For Parking In Her Driveway

Being a homeowner can be extremely rewarding, but it can also come with some serious setbacks. After a woman in Florida received a $165,000 fine for simply parking in her own driveway, she knew it was time to get to the bottom of it.

Living The Simple Life

Florida can be a paradise to some, but others simply tolerate it. For Sandy Martinez, she had dreams of bigger things.

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YouTube/Institute For Justice

Her home was an utter nightmare being too tight to fit anyone who walked in.

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Underpaid And Unhappy

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Similar to many people in her area, Sandy was not earning the wage she thought she deserved.

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Living paycheck to paycheck came with many setbacks. She couldn't always pay every bill, so she had to decide which one was more important each month.

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Difficulty In Owning A Home

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The housing market is one of the most competitive in the United States. While Sandy was fortunate to own one, it wasn't the greatest.

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Also, she wasn't alone. She lived with her mother and three daughters in one small house.

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Everyone Has A Car

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Sandy and her three daughters all owned their own cars, which was an accomplishment for the family.

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However, it could sometimes be inconvenient to have four cars parked in a small driveway.

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A Tight Fit

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Since there were four cars and only one driveway, two of the cars would sometimes have to be parked on the lawn.

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This was about one foot over the pavement line.

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The Fines Start Coming

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Sandy could not believe her eyes when she received an alarming letter in the mail.

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She was informed that a $250 fine would be placed on her, the homeowner, because of how the cars were parked in the driveway.

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Trying To Take Care Of It

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While Sandy was furious over the fine, she did what she could to get things right.

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She called for an inspector to come and make sure the family was parking correctly.

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The Waiting Game

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Sandy waited on her porch for the inspector, but no one ever showed up. Even after countless voicemails, no one got back to her.

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This made her think that the fine was taken care of and the matter was settled.

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The Lantana Law

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The city of Lantana in Florida has a law that states, "All off-street parking spaces, including driveways, but not including parking spaces located in swale areas as permitted by section 17-34, shall be asphalt, concrete or black, and shall be hard surfaced and in good repair in compliance with town codes."

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However, Sandy's driveway had very limited space.

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More Fines Are Delivered

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Soon, Sandy forgot about the fine and she and her family went back to the ways things were.

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Sandy's damaged fence
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The city soon delivered them a couple more fines. One was for a patch of cracked pavement in the driveway and the other was for a damaged fence from a storm.

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Dealing With The Unfair Fines

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In Sandy's mind, she knew it would be best to fix the issues, so there wouldn't be any more fines.

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Even with her limited time, she was able to wire some money to get professionals to fix her pavement and fence.

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An Urgent Notice Awaits

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While these fines seemed ridiculous to Sandy, she did her best to get everything handled.

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A year later, she received an urgent notice. This would be the fine that took her over the edge.

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Getting Charged Every Day

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Even though Sandy fixed all the issues she was fined for, no inspectors came to see her progress.

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close up shot of the fine Sandy received with $11,500 highlighted
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This led to her being charged $250 per day by the city. She had no idea this was happening all this time.

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Why Now?

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Sandy and her family had lived in that house for 17 years, so it was appalling that all of a sudden they were receiving these pricey fines.

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Then, she got out her phone to call someone whom she thought could take care of this.

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Getting Help

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Sandy had heard of The Institute for Justice after learning about their work in helping people who were put in unfair and catastrophic situations by big government.

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She knew they would be the perfect fit for her predicament.

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Going To Court

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Sandy explained what happened to The Institute for Justice and they knew they had to take on her case.

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Next, they would be taking the city of Lantana to court.

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The Trial Begins

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Sandy prepared as much as she could with her lawyer. The city of Lantana simply brushed off the fact that Sandy had requested an inspector, but never got one.

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Sandy's lawyer at the press conference
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Now, the city had another demand for her.

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More Fines For Sandy

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The city of Lantana requested that Sandy pay an extra $65,000 for the cracked driveway and broken fence.

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Sandy was flabbergasted because she paid the fine the first time and had these issues fixed by professionals.

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Feeling Defeated

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Even though she had photos and receipts to prove she had fixed everything, the city would not lighten up.

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Sandy in front of her driveway giving a press conference
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Her lawyers weren't going out without a fight. After a long few days of testimony, a city representative wanted to settle.

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They Wanted More Money

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Sandy looked at the settlement proposal and all it did was reduce her $165,000 fine to $25,000.

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This only seemed fair to the city. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she quickly ripped the paper up.

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Ready For The Next Steps

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Sandy knew what the city was doing was totally unfair and she didn't want this to happen to anyone else.

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She and her lawyer talked to every news outlet and posted on social media as much as they could to spread the word about what was happening.

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Sandy Won't Give Up

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Sandy stood at the front of her house as the news vans came by to tell her story from beginning to end.

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She was adamant that she would not pay a single penny because she knew the opposition was wrong.

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Doing What's Right

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Sandy wanted to prove a point. She believed people should be free to mange their property without government control.

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What she was doing didn't harm anyone, so the fines did not make sense.

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Should She Sue The State Of Florida?

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Sandy's lawyers tried to talk her into suing the state for these bogus fines, but she wanted to make her issues public.

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She held a press conference in front of her house to get the word out.

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Words From Sandy

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At the press conference Sandy said, "I've been living her for 17 years now and I'm being fined over $160,000 for parking on my own property."

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She still had more work to do.

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Why The City Was Wrong

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At the press conference Sandy also talked about how she sent many voicemails to the city asking for an inspector and received no response.

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The city refused to use Sandy's testimony as evidence.

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Hatching A Plan

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Sandy had some more tricks up her sleeve with the help of her lawyers.

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She spoke to news stations across America and was able to find a voicemail of her calling for an inspector to use as evidence.

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Her End Goal

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By finding a recording of her voicemail to the inspector, Sandy was hoping for a declaratory judgement from the court to support her lawsuit.

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Her end goal was to get these fines to be deemed unconstitutional.

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Justice For All

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Sandy had a few reasons why she went ahead with suing the state of Florida.

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First, she wanted the city of Lantana to admit to their wrongdoings. She also wanted their actions to become illegal, so they couldn't threaten anyone else ever again.

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Getting Support From Others

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As soon as Sandy spoke out about her situation, plenty of people across the United States gave her a ton of support and encouragement.

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They thought it was honorable for her to go through so much trouble to get this resolved.

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Some Disagreed With Sandy

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There's two sides to every issue, so it was only natural that some people sided with the city.

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They believed that if there was no law, the city would turn into total chaos.

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Problem With The Driveway

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Those who opposed Sandy thought that having four cars in a small driveway could be considered an eyesore.

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They said the city was right to fine her in order to keep the area clean and have a booming economy.

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The Lawsuit Continues

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The trial is still ongoing for Sandy and she's highly anticipating the court's final decision.

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As of right now, things seem to be going in Sandy's favor. Taking a stand can be daunting, but Sandy proved why it's sometimes necessary.