Property Rights

We have sad news to share: Our client Patrick Nollan—the courageous plaintiff in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission, PLF’s first Supreme Court victory—passed away earlier this month at the age of 76. We offer the Nollan family our deepest condolences. Patrick Nollan’s portrait hangs in our office as an inspiring reminder of his ...

When Deborah Foss, a 66-year-old grandmother in New Bedford, Mass., bought her home in 2015, she expected it would be where she would live the rest of her life in comfort and security. But by February of this year, she had been forced from her home and is now reduced to living in her car. … ...

John Stossel’s newest video highlights our client Tawanda Hall and unmasks the predatory “tax and take” scheme known as home equity theft.   Tawanda Hall is a Michigan-based nursing assistant and a mother of four. For nearly a decade, she raised her family in a home she and her husband purchased in the city of … ...

The Badger State just became a better place to live and own a home. A recently passed law bans counties from engaging in an unjust practice known as “tax and take” or “home equity theft.” Home equity theft is only possible in around a dozen states across the United States. In those states, if you … ...

Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. That’s the opposite of what’s happening in Massachusetts, where home equity theft allows the state to steal homes from struggling, low-income families and give them to private investment firms.   It should be said: Companies that profit from home equity theft—the unconscionable gov ...

Wisconsin has become the latest state to end the unconstitutional practice of equity theft. Equity theft is a scheme that allows governments to settle an unpaid tax debt by taking a person’s private property—and all the equity it has accumulated. Governments often sell that property to private investors, who make windfall profits at the own ...

In Billings, Mont., a new law forces massage therapists, including those working from home, to open the door for government agents to search their properties and patient-treatment logs on demand. Insisting that the police or code enforcement return with a warrant, as the Constitution requires, can be grounds for arrest, prosecution and jail time. S ...

Sixty-seven-year-old Deborah Foss has spent the winter living out of her car in New Bedford, Massachusetts. If you’ve ever experienced a Massachusetts winter, you know it has the power to chill you to the bone. It’s not ideal weather for anyone to endure, but imagine spending the coldest months of the year camped out in … ...

This op-ed was coauthored by Jon Coupal, president of Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association. Property rights are one of the most fundamental constitutional provisions that protect Americans against government abuse. Unfortunately, these rights are regularly under assault by state and local tax collectors who aggressively target homeowners who ...