Civil Procedure Keyed to Cound
Fuentes v. Shevin
ProfessorTodd Berman
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Fuentes (Plaintiff) defaulted on payments made to Firestone for property financed from Firestone. The applicable agreement stated that Firestone may retake the property in the event of default of payment. Firestone received a writ of replevin and repossessed the property. Other individuals had a similar problem in different jurisdictions. Plaintiff sued the Attorney General challenging the constitutionality of the prejudgment replevin statutes in Florida and Pennsylvania. Plaintiff argued that the statutes violate the Due Process Clause of Fourteenth Amendment. Both statutes give a writ of replevin prior to any hearing. In addition, under the Pennsylvania statute, the person whose property is seized has the burden of bringing lawsuit. Under both statutes, the person seeking repossession must post a security bond. The accused must post a security bond double the value of property seized within three days of repossession in order to get the property back before the proceedings.
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