I used to spend a lot of time hanging out in forfeiture court in Chicago. On the first day for a new judge she brought the State's Attorney's to the bench and said (loudly) "You guys win almost every case here because nobody can even figure out the paperwork to dispute your claims. That ends today. I won't allow that in this courtroom."
That same day they had a case where a son had taken the keys to his dad's brand new SUV and got caught driving drunk and the State were trying to sell the car. The judge said "Did this man know his son had the keys? No. Does he have valid insurance and license? Yes. Give this man his car back. Refund him all his costs and fees."
(for info, most of the time if you even file the most basic paperwork to challenge a forfeiture the State will drop it since they have a thousand easier cases to work on)
That same day they had a case where a son had taken the keys to his dad's brand new SUV and got caught driving drunk and the State were trying to sell the car. The judge said "Did this man know his son had the keys? No. Does he have valid insurance and license? Yes. Give this man his car back. Refund him all his costs and fees."
(for info, most of the time if you even file the most basic paperwork to challenge a forfeiture the State will drop it since they have a thousand easier cases to work on)