Well, debt collection is a pickle. On one hand, our financial system will collapse if everyone chose to pay whenever they felt like it, just ask any small business how important it is for them that people pay their bills on time.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as proportion. The goal cannot be to make people pay through the nose, but to reach a reasonable deal that both parties can be happy with when bills aren't paid. In this case, it's clearly beyond that. You don't take someone's house because of a 50 dollar fine, that's just ridiculous.

Especially when you factor in this guys life.