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ORILLIA – Calling it a “corrupt law driven by greed,” an Orillia woman took on a decade-long battle against the Ontario government’s civil forfeiture laws – and won.“My drive to keep fighting was to help stop this from ever happening to another innocent person,” said Maggie Reilly, who was almost wiped out financially and emotionally in the battle.

In 2008, a police tactical team bearing machine guns swarmed a rooming house and an apartment building that Reilly rented out, largely to people on welfare.

Windows were smashed, doors were kicked in and terrified tenants fled.

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Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General (AG) seized the buildings, claiming they were “crack houses” and therefore “instruments of crime.” In total, four marijuana plants were the only drugs found.

Ten years and three judges later, Reilly is gasping a sigh of relief after Superior Court Justice Susan Healey dismissed the AG’s application and ordered that Reilly be compensated for an undisclosed amount. But the landlord says she took a huge loss on the value of the property as well as loss of 10 years in rental income and legal fees.