Is eviction of ignorant tenants an excessive fine proscribed by the Eighth Amendment?

The tenants' contention that the lease provision permitting eviction of ignorant tenants is an excessive fine proscribed by the Eighth Amendment is without merit.¹⁶ No court has held that government enforcement of a valid lease provision constitutes an excessive fine. To do so would be to "federalize the substantive law of landlord-tenant relations." Lindsey, 405 U.S. at 68. Excessive fines analysis is limited to those circumstances where "the government . . . extracts payments, whether in cash or in kind, `as punishment for some offense.' " United States v. Bajakajian , 524 U.S. 321, 328 (1998) (quoting Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 609610 (1993)).

The eviction of a tenant for violation of a valid lease provision is distinguishable

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from a cash payment to the government. In Kim v. United States, 121 F.3d 1269 (9th Cir. 1997), a grocery store owner sought review of his permanent disqualification from participation in the federal food stamp program. The basis for the disqualification was that an employee -without plaintiff's knowledge or consent -illegally exchanged cash for food stamps. Id. at 1271. The owner insisted that permanent disqualification constituted an excessive fine in that there was no evidence of individual wrongdoing on his part. The court rejected this argument."Permanent disqualification . . . is not an excessive fine prohibited by the Eighth Amendment because it is not cash or in kind payment directly imposed by, and payable to, the government. " Id. at 1276.