The California Highway Patrol has continued to impound the vehicles of many unlicensed drivers for up to 30 days, and deny early releases. A federal court ruled four years ago that month-long impounds violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable government seizures of personal property.
CalMatters has reported that 30-day impounds can be prohibitively costly for some drivers pulled over without a valid license. Many are low-income individuals who have had their licenses confiscated for minor infractions, such as driving without insurance or with malfunctioning tail lights, but still require vehicular transportation to get to and from work.
The CalMatters report highlighted the story of a woman who was pulled over in 2019 for a cracked windshield and not wearing a seatbelt. She was ticketed, and because she had no valid license, had her car towed to a California Motor Club yard for a 30-day impoundment.
Although her vehicle was ultimately released after two weeks, it had accrued over 11 days of impoundment fees, roughly $2,000, which the owner could not afford.
Her car was subsequently sold in a lien sale about a month later.
She and two other plaintiffs have sued CHP over the practice.
“Thirty-day impounds are popular with a lot of people, given who the victims are,” L.A. attorney Donald Cook told CalMatters. He represents one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against CHP over its towing and impound policies.
“You give them a ticket, take their car off the street, you can criminally charge and convict them,” he said. “But you don’t summarily dispose of their property.”
CHP has argued its continued deployment of the 30-day impoundment policy is in line with what the agency characterizes as a vague and porous law. In a motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, CHP attorneys contended “the law is not clearly established” that 30-day impoundments are unconstitutional, as there was “no United States Supreme Court authority that directly addresses the issue.”
The agency also argued that qualified immunity applied to CHP with regards to disputes over the constitutionality of 30-day impoundments. Under qualified immunity policy, state employees cannot be sued for enforcing California law.
The woman whose car was sold by CHP in a lien sale has since achieved a favorable ruling in federal court. Last month, a U.S. district judge stated that officers “prolonged the seizure without justification” when impounding her car, and that her “Fourth Amendment rights were violated as a matter of law.”
A state lawsuit against the practice is still pending in L.A. Superior Court.
Still, as of July, CHP has continued its 30-day impoundment program, with more than 6,000 tows ordered statewide in this year alone.
