Excuse for Confiscating Property?

In his latest column for Daily Journal, Manatt Appellate Senior Counsel  discussed a recent case in which a rural county in California sought to administratively penalize property owners for presumed unpermitted cannabis cultivation, and how it raises constitutional concerns about due process and the right to a jury trial.

According to the article, several property owners from Humboldt County filed a petition for certiorari after they were fined by county officials who had reviewed vague satellite images looking for any kind of unpermitted development, with the particular presumption that they were engaging in illegal cannabis farming. Notably, the enforcement process was wholly administrative, and both the district court and Ninth Circuit agreed that the property owners had no right to a jury trial under the 7th Amendment, seemingly violating the precept that a single administrative agency cannot both prosecute and judge the same matter. “It is time for the Supreme Court to deal with this historical anomaly that has immunized state and local governments from the 7th Amendment's jury trial guarantee,” Berger wrote.

Daily Journal subscribers can read the full article .