The Institute for Justice scored another victory at the trial level when they defeated attempts by the US Federal government to seize a ma-and-pa run hotel on the grounds of asset forfeiture.
The Court rejected the government's claims that somehow the hotel owners were somehow legally connected to the few drug uses in the motel's rooms.
I have been very critical of these civil asset forfeiture claims in the past, as they require the state very little to show that the owner of the asset actually was part of any criminal activity. I should say that the Canadian experience has been much more humane than the American experience, which is why IJ has been fighting these fights in the US. Nonetheless, we need to be vigilant up here to prevent innocent property owners being caught up in these overzealous sweeps of power.
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