California County Fines Man $120,000 for Refusing to Evict a Family From His Property

Santa Clara Winery Owner Fined $120,000 For Letting Employee Live on His Property

Hundreds of people live in trailers and campers on the streets of Santa Clara County, California—a very visible sign of the ultra-expensive county's homelessness crisis.

Despite the scale of vehicular homelessness in the county, county officials have spent years focusing their enforcement actions on a single trailer parked on private property.

For years now, winery owner Michael Ballard has allowed his longtime vineyard manager, Marcelino Martinez, and his family to live rent-free in a trailer parked on the winery's property.

County officials say this violates a county ordinance prohibiting recreational vehicles (RVs) parked on residential parcels from being used as dwelling units.

Therefore, Martinez's trailer has got to go.

Ballard has been trying to fix the violation by building a permanent home for Martinez and his family on the property.

But getting all the needed permits from the county for that home has taken years.

In the interim, Ballard has refused to evict Martinez's family from the property.

"I'm not going to remove this trailer because that will cause them to be homeless and I'd be putting this family on the street and I'm not going to do that," Ballard tells Reason.

In response, the county has issued Ballard daily fines for every day he refuses to remove the trailer. These fines total some $120,000.

Ballard is now suing the county in federal court, arguing the fines violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines.

Ballard and his wife have owned and operated the Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards since the late 1990s. For almost all that time, he's employed Martinez as his vineyard manager.

In 2013, Martinez asked Ballard if he'd be able to move a trailer he owned onto the winery property and live there with his family. Ballard, aware of Martinez's limited options for finding housing in the ultra-expensive county, agreed.

Average home prices in Santa Clara County are $1.5 million today, according to Zillow. The median apartment rents for $3,200.

Ref: California County Fines Man $120,000 for Refusing to Evict a Family From His Property (yahoo)