Los Angeles, the city of angels. Otherwise known as the city that confiscates and sells the cars of cancer patients as they lie in the hospital.
At least, that’s what Joseph Morrissey, a recovering cancer patient, has alleged in a new lawsuit against the city.
Morrissey went in for a minimally invasive procedure to remove a cancerous tumor on his right kidney. His doctors told him to expect a two-day recovery, so he left his car parked in front of his house. But as he was waking up from surgery, Morrissey suffered a seizure and a stroke, extending his hospital stay.
When he made it home three days later, Morrissey found a parking ticket on his car because he had left it in the same spot for more than 72 hours. He couldn’t legally drive after the seizure, so he called a friend to help him move the car as soon as possible. But the city didn’t even give him a chance. Three days after Morrissey had been released from the hospital, Los Angeles towed his 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The city then sold the car at a lien sale.
Last week, Morrissey filed a lawsuit against the city “for violating his due process rights after the wrongful seizure and sale of his vehicle,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
“This not only disproportionately impacts low-income residents, but it’s also ableist,” Morrissey’s attorney, Nisha Kashyap, said. “These practices discriminate against people like Mr. Morrissey whose medical conditions restrict their ability to move a car and are counterproductive for Angelenos already struggling to get by.”
Regardless of whether the city’s actions should be considered discriminatory, they were extreme. To ticket, tow, impound, and sell a car within three days requires a lot of time, effort, and resources on the city’s part. According to a recent report by the Western Center on Law & Poverty, the cost-per-tow is about $326. In 2017, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation paid for more than 100,000 vehicle tows.
Retrieving a vehicle from a California tow company typically costs between $250 to $400, so the most the city can do is hope to break even. So, what does the city do? It stacks on dozens of fines and administrative fees, which can bring the total up to as high as $1,100, says the WCLP.
Morrissey’s total was about $2,000, a price he could not pay. Evidence of his recent hospitalization and medical condition did nothing to help him get his car back because, well, the city had already sold it. So much for ‘Get well soon!’
