Quote Originally Posted by Xiahou View Post

To me, one car, sitting unused in a driveway does not a junkyard make and it certainly doesn't seem a good reason to seize ones home.
They are not seizing his home because his car didn't have a license plate...

The home seizure and the fine are not directly related to each other.

Maybe it's a good idea to clearly analyse the situation:

1) he got fined $50 because his car didn't have a license plate. Apparently, that's what the law in question says: no license plate = get fined.

He could have a) paid the fine ; b) gone to court because he believes he did not break the law ; c) go to court because he believes the law in question is in violation with another law (e.g. he could have contested the law in itself e.g. because it violates his constitutional/human rights (at least, that's what he could have done in Belgium, but I assume the same possibility exists in the US).

He chose not to go to court ergo he is considered to accept the fine.

So, due to his own free choice, the only possiblity left is a) pay the fine.

2) he does not pay the fine (reminder: a fine which he has never contested during any of the procedures whatsoever, ergo he accepted that he has to pay the fine! He had all the possiblities and every right to contest the fine or the law itself, yet he did not. Like it or not, but this means that he has accepted the fine.): the government is obliged to take whatever measure possible to collect the fine and the additional expenses it has to make in order to collect said fine.