• Due Process

    Car Towing and Due Process

    Mary Clement is a responsible automobile owner. Though she hasn’t driven her 1981 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in seven years, she dutifully maintains the car’s “Planned Non-Operation” (PNO) status – an alternative to normal registration for cars that will not be driven on public streets nor parked in publicly accessible parking lots. Clement kept her Caddy parked in the parking lot of her residence – a hotel – with the permission of the owner. A Glendale police officer decided to tow it because it was illegally parked in a publicly accessible lot. When Clement sued under 42 USC ยง 1983 for deprivation of her due process rights, the police officer successfully…