Unjustified tow: Prior ticket payments & pending legitimate ticket appeals

[sunnySD]

What is the name of your state? California
Today my vehicle was impounded for having six unpaid tickets. The thing is, three of tickets were paid three days ago at the DMV office while obtaining my registration sticker. The remaining three were given for having expired plates, and I was in the process of appealing these.

However, the woman at the San Diego Parking Authority office would not "clear" my account unless I paid for all six tickets on the spot since I did not have proof that I had already paid the prior three. The receipt from the DMV is in the glovebox of my impounded vehicle along with my other registration papers - but the people at the tow yard say I'm not allowed to touch my car until it has been "cleared" by the city parking office and they won't go into the glovebox to get the paperwork for me either.

I was appealing the remaining three tickets because I DID pay in full for my new registration back in October 2006 before the old sticker expired, but by the time the DMV processed my paperwork, the insurance card had expired by a few days (I did not have a new insurance card at the time I sent it in because the new policy wasn't to take effect for several weeks). They mailed me back all the forms (on Dec. 1, 2006), requested I send back a new current insurance card, plus payment for an additional parking ticket which had surfaced in the interim. I mailed them all the requested paperwork and payment promptly, kept Xerox copies for myself, and waited for my new sticker to arrive. I tried calling the DMV inquire about the delay, and after getting nowhere on the phone and my check not clearing for six weeks, I finally arranged to go to the DMV in person earlier this week. I got my new sticker then, dated for expiration 10/2007.

The DMV clerk told me I should have no problem appealing the remaining tickets because their records do show I paid for the registration in full back in October. But the Parking Authority clerk told me today it was my responsibility to fax or drive the receipt for ticket payment directly over to them to avoid being impounded in the future (the paperwork on another customer's receipt she showed me suggested one 'send' a copy of the receipt to the Parking Authority to avoid such an episode, but nowhere does it imply urgency, and had I promptly mailed them copy of my reciept it would not have been processed by them before today anyway). Further, she tells me now that my vehicle has been impounded, I have lost all rights to appeal any of my tickets. (This, despite her telling me initially my vehicle should not have been impounded in the first place if there were fewer than five unpaid tickets). She also told me if I paid in full for ALL SIX tickets today (thereby double-paying for three that I have already paid for), I would have NO recourse to appeal or apply for a refund for the three double-paid tickets, even should I acquire proof of double-payment at a later date.

So, even if I AM somehow able to come up with a receipt for the the originally-paid three tickets and can get my car out of the tow yard tomorrow, I have several questions:

(1) Do I really lose the right to appeal these remaining three tickets for expired registration, even though the tow was unjustified? DMV clerk told me they have in their computer system documentation that I had paid in full before the tickets were issued. Can the fact that the prior three were paid in full before the impoundment took place (thereby making the impoundment unjustified) change this regulation that I lose all appeal rights once a vehicle has been impounded?

(2) Can I challenge the impoundment itself, thereby allowing me to appeal the remaining tickets, and also hopefully allowing me to get compensation for the $314 impoundment fees I will pay the tow yard tomorrow. The clerk at the ticket agency told me herself that I shouldn't have gotten towed in the first place. What are my chances of proving the impoundment was unjustified and holding the city financially responsible for the costs of the impoundment?

(3) If a ticket issued is still within the 30-day pay-or-appeal period, can they really use that in a tally of five unpaid tickets justifying a tow??? I know it's not techinically criminal law, so I don't have any real "innocent-until-proven-guilty" rights. But it doesn't seem fair to me that if I was in the process of appealing these tickets they can still count them against me, thereby rationalizing an unjustified tow and precluding me the option to pursue a legitimate appeal on the very tickets they used to justify their tow.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by sunnySD

(1) Do I really lose the right to appeal these remaining three tickets for expired registration, even though the tow was unjustified?

If you had already scheduled the hearings, you should attend them. if you simply MEANT to challenge them but had not done so, then you are likely out of luck.

There is something to be said about taking prompt action.

(2) Can I challenge the impoundment itself, thereby allowing me to appeal the remaining tickets, and also hopefully allowing me to get compensation for the $314 impoundment fees I will pay the tow yard tomorrow.

You should be able to have a hearing to challenge the impound. However, since the impound was based on what was in the DMV database at the time of the impound, it is likely that the BEST you can hope for would be that the city would waive their release fee.

What are my chances of proving the impoundment was unjustified and holding the city financially responsible for the costs of the impoundment?

Slim. But, it's possible, I suppose. Without an attorney I don't know if you are going to be able to adequately prove your case, though.

(3) If a ticket issued is still within the 30-day pay-or-appeal period, can they really use that in a tally of five unpaid tickets justifying a tow???

If they are within 21 days, no. However, all they need is five.

Here is the law regarding your tow ... CVC 22651(i):

(i) (1) When any vehicle, other than a rented vehicle, is found
upon a highway or any public lands, or is removed pursuant to this
code, and it is known that the vehicle has been issued five or more
notices of parking violations to which the owner or person in control
of the vehicle has not responded within 21 calendar days of notice
of citation issuance or citation issuance or 14 calendar days of the
mailing of a notice of delinquent parking violation to the agency
responsible for processing notices of parking violation or the
registered owner of the vehicle is known to have been issued five or
more notices for failure to pay or failure to appear in court for
traffic violations for which no certificate has been issued by the
magistrate or clerk of the court hearing the case showing that the
case has been adjudicated or concerning which the registered owner's
record has not been cleared pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 41500) of Division 17, the vehicle may be impounded until
that person furnishes to the impounding law enforcement agency all of
the following:
(A) Evidence of his or her identity.
(B) An address within this state at which he or she can be
located.
(C) Satisfactory evidence that all parking penalties due for the
vehicle and any other vehicle registered to the registered owner of
the impounded vehicle, and all traffic violations of the registered
owner, have been cleared.
(2) The requirements in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) shall be
fully enforced by the impounding law enforcement agency on and after
the time that the Department of Motor Vehicles is able to provide
access to the necessary records.
(3) A notice of parking violation issued for an unlawfully parked
vehicle shall be accompanied by a warning that repeated violations
may result in the impounding of the vehicle. In lieu of furnishing
satisfactory evidence that the full amount of parking penalties or
bail has been deposited, that person may demand to be taken without
unnecessary delay before a magistrate, for traffic offenses, or a
hearing examiner, for parking offenses, within the county in which
the offenses charged are alleged to have been committed and who has
jurisdiction of the offenses and is nearest or most accessible with
reference to the place where the vehicle is impounded. Evidence of
current registration shall be produced after a vehicle has been
impounded, or, at the discretion of the impounding law enforcement
agency, a notice to appear for violation of subdivision (a) of
Section 4000 shall be issued to that person.
(4) A vehicle shall be released to the legal owner, as defined in
Section 370, if the legal owner does all of the following:
(A) Pays the cost of towing and storing the vehicle.
(B) Submits evidence of payment of fees as provided in Section
9561.
(C) Completes an affidavit in a form acceptable to the impounding
law enforcement agency stating that the vehicle was not in possession
of the legal owner at the time of occurrence of the offenses
relating to standing or parking. A vehicle released to a legal owner
under this subdivision is a repossessed vehicle for purposes of
disposition or sale. The impounding agency shall have a lien on any
surplus that remains upon sale of the vehicle to which the registered
owner is or may be entitled, as security for the full amount of the
parking penalties for all notices of parking violations issued for
the vehicle and for any local administrative charges imposed pursuant
to Section 22850.5. The legal owner shall promptly remit to, and
deposit with, the agency responsible for processing notices of
parking violations from that surplus, on receipt thereof, full amount
of the parking penalties for all notices of parking violations
issued for the vehicle and for any local administrative charges
imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5.
(5) The impounding agency that has a lien on the surplus that
remains upon the sale of a vehicle to which a registered owner is
entitled pursuant to paragraph (4) has a deficiency claim against the
registered owner for the full amount of the parking penalties for
all notices of parking violations issued for the vehicle and for any
local administrative charges imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5,
less the amount received from the sale of the vehicle.

- Carl