“I owe over $4 million in fines for somebody else’s crime!” says a California woman.
How can that be? The Constitution prohibits excessive fines.
It happens because bureaucrats sometimes act like tyrants.
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Alaskan officials confiscated a pilot’s airplane because one of his passengers brought beer in her luggage.
Alcohol is banned in some Alaskan towns, but a pilot is supposed to know which ones? And search luggage?
Yes, say Alaskan officials.
So they punished him. But seizing his airplane sure seems excessive.
“That airplane was my primary source of income,” says the pilot, Ken Jouppi. “Without it, I don’t really have a business anymore.”
I thought punishment that excessive would be quickly dismissed.
But no.
“Ken has been fighting to keep his plane for 14 years,” says Mike Greenberg of the Institute for Justice.
Now, the case heads to the Supreme Court. I hope Ken wins.
It’s just wrong when governments destroy lives for small mistakes.
More stories of excessive fines in my video above.
