Counties seek dismissal of impound lawsuit

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY TIMES
JULY 22, 2007

ESCONDIDO ---- Three Southern California counties and several cities have recently sought to dismiss a class action lawsuit that would prevent state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Escondido Police Department, from impounding cars driven by unlicensed drivers.

A number of drivers whose cars were impounded sued their cities and counties earlier this year with the help of civil rights attorneys. An Escondido man was among them.

They asserted that the impounding of the cars of unlicensed drivers, especially for a mandatory minimum of 30 days, violates drivers' rights to due process and protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

If a car can be safely parked or picked up by a licensed driver, plaintiffs say, there is no legal reason to tow it.

Attorneys for Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties said in court documents filed last month that the lawsuit was "fundamentally flawed" because a state law requires officers to impound vehicles whose drivers are not properly licensed.

The lawsuit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, names as defendants Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Orange County, and the cities of Escondido, Maywood and Los Angeles. The plaintiffs are represented by three Los Angeles civil rights law firms.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said impounding cars has particularly affected recent immigrants who have difficulty obtaining driver's licenses or those who hold licenses from other states or countries. Illegal immigrants are ineligible for driver's licenses in California.

The police practice of impounding vehicles of unlicensed drivers has become a widespread concern among Latino rights activists who say immigrants are targeted by the impound provisions.

"We've heard a lot of complaints from the Latino community," said Bill Flores, spokesman for El Grupo, an umbrella organization that includes several civil and Latino rights groups in San Diego County.

Escondido City Attorney Jeffrey Epp could not be reached for comment. Escondido police officials said Friday through a spokesman that they could not comment because of the ongoing lawsuit. Epp said in a previous interview that the department follows proper procedures.

Attorneys for the counties wrote in their motion to dismiss the lawsuit that police are acting within the law by removing the cars.

"In addition to preventing the unlicensed driver from continuing to drive, they may also impound the vehicle driven by the unlicensed driver, without a warrant, whenever necessary either to remove the vehicle from traffic or to safeguard the vehicle from theft and vandalism," according to court documents.

Donald Cook, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the judge is expected to make a decision July 30 or soon after.

Cook said it is unconstitutional to impound someone's vehicle simply for driving without a license. He said many municipalities compound the problem by holding cars for 30 days before releasing them to their owners.

Impound fees typically run up to $1,500, which can sometimes surpass the value of an impounded car, and owners often forfeit their cars rather than pay the impound fees, attorneys for the plaintiffs said.

Moreover, he said some cities charge excessive administrative fees, up to $400, to release the car.

"These practices of impounding vehicles where there is no reason to do so ... affects those people least able to afford it," Cook said.

In the case of the Escondido plaintiff, Efren Ruiz, the lawsuit charges that Escondido police officers on Feb. 16 stopped a vehicle owned by Ruiz that was being driven by an unlicensed friend. The police had the car towed and impounded for 30 days. But in that time, it was repossessed by a financing company, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs may have an unlikely ally.

In January, the California Police Chiefs Association, an organization that represents municipal law enforcement agencies, released a memo telling its members that it was illegal to impound vehicles from people whose only violation was driving without a license when the vehicle did not create a traffic hazard.

The memo was an assessment of a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision.

"The court held that a city ordinance, authorized by a state statute, which allowed an officer to tow a vehicle merely because the driver was unlicensed, was an unreasonable seizure absent a showing that the vehicle was a threat to public safety," according to the memo written by the association's legal counsel, Martin J. Mayer.

The Escondido Police Department has relied heavily in recent years on grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety to fund more sobriety, driver's license and seat belt compliance checkpoints, which have resulted in hundreds of cars being impounded.

At least 1,376 vehicles have been impounded so far in Escondido at checkpoints under the grants in the last 3 1/2 years, according to the state Office of Traffic Safety. That doesn't include impounds during sweeps, saturation patrols and stings.

When those operations are included, police impounded 1,685 vehicles during the first six months of the current grant.

Jo Moreland contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

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