So then no one should ever pay any fines for anything, and then eventually after repeated violations over years when it becomes too large it should all get written off because it is a "crazy amount"?
It shouldn't all be written off. The fine should be a reasonable amount, not half a million dollars. You can buy an entirely new house with that kind of dough.
The fines were a reasonable amount, and then he ignored them for eight years straight and then argued in court that US law doesn't apply to him because [sovereign citizen voodoo].
This being a court case it was pretty easy to locate the property and neighborhood - houses there are 750k to 1M.
He could’ve settled this 7 years ago, since the majority of the fine was a $250 per day non-compliance fine.
Not sure how it comes from my comment. There are plenty of ways to enforce fines without first going higher than orbit
What are these ways? Send repeated notices? Sue them? Get a court order? They already did all of this.
Also, his argument in response wasn't that the fines were incorrect in any way, it was that the law just didn't apply to him because [sovereign citizen voodoo].
For example, in a bunch of countries I have lived there's some sort of judicial enforcement service which can find your accounts, and issue an order to banks to transfer right amount from them, or seize your car if there are nothing there. Dammit, even administrative arrest is not as stupid as half a million as a way to make him clean his yard.