It has been reported that a Florida man is facing losing his home after racking up fines of almost $30,000 for letting his grass grow too long.

Jim Ficken has been fined $500 a day in code violations, for nearly 60 days, by the city of Dunedin, for tall grass when his lawn grew taller than 10-inches last summer. The city is now foreclosing on his home.

Jim Fricken has had his case taken up by the Institute For Justice

In a complicated story, the Daily Mail reports that problems first began in the spring of 2015, when Ficken's mother fell ill.

He began making regular trips to South Carolina to help take care of her and was cited by the city for letting his grass grow too long.

Ficken then enlisted the help of another man, to keep the lawn maintained during his trips away.

His mother, died in the summer of 2016. Two years later, in May 2018, Ficken had to fly back to South Carolina to put her estate up for sale. While Ficken was away the man who was helping cut his lawn, also died unexpectedly.

Meanwhile, his yard had been inspected by a Dunedin code enforcement official. Because Ficken was considered a 'repeat offender' due to his warning in 2015, the city began charging him $500 in fines every day without notifying him.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the city of Dunedin is now pursuing Fricken for a fine total of $29,833.50 on his home, which has a market value of $125,541.

Fricken has subsequently reached out for help to the non-profit law firm, Institute for Justice, who have agreed to take his case pro bono. The firm, who have won other cases based upon the Eighth Amendment decree that states and local governments cannot levy excessive fines, believe Fricken's home should not be in jeopardy over what they say is a trivial code violation.

The Tampa Bay Times quotes lead attorney Ari Bargil saying, “Nobody should lose their house for having tall grass."