> OTHER NOTABLE CIVIL FORFEITURE CASES

CANADA

Since 2003, the Ontario government has seized $44.6 million in property using the Civil Remedies Act. Changes made to the law in 2007 opened the door to seizing the vehicles of drunk drivers. The attorney general’s office said at least three of the 18 vehicles seized in the past 12 years were involved in “repeat drinking-and-driving offences.”

The government seized 60 per cent of the value of a house in Oshawa ($55,792) in 2014 after a drug raid. All criminal charges were dropped in the case.

In Orillia, a landlord who rented rooms to homeless people could lose his property because the province contends that his tenants paid rent with money made selling drugs.

In 2012, the RCMP was ordered to return more than $27,000 seized from a man who was pulled over in Alberta for a missing mud flap.

A man who rented properties to people who turned them into marijuana grow-ops in B.C. had his land seized in 2011.

UNITED STATES

Unlike in Canada, where the value of seized goods goes into general government coffers, police forces in the U.S. get to keep up to 80 per cent of their seizures. In an investigation published last year, the Washington Post reported that police across the U.S. had seized more than $2.5 billion in cash from motorists stopped on highways since Sept. 11, 2001. Half of the seizures were below $8,800.

In Virginia, a black restaurant owner was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction in 2012, the Post reported. Police seized $17,550 in cash, money he said was proceeds from his business. He took the government to court and eventually got his money back, but had to close his business because he couldn’t afford the overhead.

In Alabama, a 55-year-old restaurateur of Chinese descent was pulled over for speeding, according to the Post. He was carrying $75,000 raised from relatives to buy a restaurant. It took him almost a year to get his money back after he spent thousands of dollars on a lawyer and lost out on the restaurant deal.

In Virginia, a 40-year-old Hispanic carpenter was stopped for having tinted windows, the Post reported. Police said he appeared nervous, and they seized $18,000 that he said was for a used car. He had to hire a lawyer and take the government to court to get his money back.