Individuals may resort to self-help when they retrieve property under the unauthorized control of another person or abate nuisances, such as using sandbags and ditches to protect land from flooding.
When a tow truck operator hired by the bank attempted to repossess the vehicle, Sanchez locked herself in the car.
In a broader sense, self-help can also refer to individuals taking the law into their own hands, often through violence or other illegal behavior.
The dangers of self-help are often cited as arguments against allowing situations where people feel they have no judicial path to a remedy or believe the courts are too corrupt to render just decisions.
Due to the heavy caseloads of courts, civil litigants can be required to wait months or years for a trial date.
[note 1] One of the more famous examples of self-help occurred in 1985, after the murder of Enrique Camarena Salazar, a Drug Enforcement agent, in Mexico.