I am going Pro Se against a City and Police Department

P

PVirdell88

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
I filed a Petiton for Writ of Administrative Mandamus. I have no experience at this at all. So before I even serve the City with papers, I already filed an Amended Petition because I learned that the true Respondent in the case was not the local police department so i fixed the caption and served it. The City's attorneys filed a Demurrer to my petition and I filed my Opposition to the Demurrer. I might not have filed it in the time allowed to oppose the demurrer. I have followed all Government Tort Claims Act procedures. I need help
 
PVirdell88 said:
I need help
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Indeed, you do. Have you consulted with three or four nearby attorneys?

Hint=Most attorneys offer a FREE, NO STRINGS ATTACHED, INITIAL CONSULTATION.

WHAT, no moola to hire an attorney?

No worries, some things are BEST forgotten, while we simply move along to bigger, better endeavors.
 
adjusterjack said:
Why?
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Their officer towed my vehicle from private property, his wife owns the tow company. Then when i tried to raise this conflict at the post storage hearing, the Chief of police dismissed it and upheld the tow. Since then i have found that there is no proof that a post storage hearing was even held and the tow didnt even meet community caretaking needs and no statute demands it be necessary to tow a vehicle. No officer should privately benefit from a punishment.
 
PVirdell88 said:
Their officer towed my vehicle from private property, his wife owns the tow company. Then when i tried to raise this conflict at the post storage hearing, the Chief of police dismissed it and upheld the tow. Since then i have found that there is no proof that a post storage hearing was even held and the tow didnt even meet community caretaking needs and no statute demands it be necessary to tow a vehicle. No officer should privately benefit from a punishment.
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While I agree that there is an appearance of a conflict of interest, there are some things to consider. How was the tow company selected? Is the tow company one that won a contract with the city or the police department? If it was the city, what city official(s) awarded the contract? Did the police chief have any role in the selecting the tow company? Or this a case where the police just call any tow company in town at the time the tow is needed? What I'm getting at is if city gives out contracts to tow companies to be on their list of tow companies for the next year (or whatever period of time) and the Chief had no role in deciding who got that contract you're going to have a hard time proving a conflict of interest.

Next question: how was the rate for the tow determined? Does the state, county, or city have a law that specifies the allowed fee for these tows? If it does, and that was the rate that you had to pay, then how were you harmed by her company doing the towing rather some other tow company?

It's not enough to prove the relationship between the chief and the owner of the tow company and claim you are owed money because of it. You also have to point to the state or local law that prohibits the city or the police department from awarding a contract to the spouse of a city employee and you also need to show how you were damaged by it. If the tow was legit — you were parked in a spot where you weren't allowed to park and tows are authorized for vechicles improperly parked there — then I'm not seeing the harm. If you paid no more than you would have paid if some other tow company did the job, then you have no loss and nothing for which to sue.

If you can't explain in your complaint how much money you are owed from this and why, the demurrer will likely succeed. Just complaining that the tow company owner and the Chief are married is not enough by itself. You have to tie things together to show that the city giving her the contract for the tow was not permitted and that you were financially harmed by it by having your tow done by a disallowed tow company.

I agree that at least an initial consultation with an attorney would help you. Call some lawyers in your area who sue municipal governments and see if you can get a free initial consultation. Depending on your financial situation there may be other legal resources that will help you determine if you have a case and perhaps represent you in pursuing it.
 
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There are only 2 tow companies that serve the area where Iive. My vehicle was safely parked on private property. I wasn't arrested and there was no community caretaking requirement. A traffic or licensing violation does not give them authority to seize my property without a warrant or due process. The Officer whose wife owns the tow yard was also working part time for the tow company at the same time. there are policies that are in place to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Then I called the Chief to request a post storage hearing and he did not follow the policies from his own Policy Manual and there is not even a record of the post storage hearing at all. Since I started this petition the officer has left the department, and the city attorney told me that they let him go cuz the city dont need an appearance of a conflict like that.
 
PVirdell88 said:
I cant afford one
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That's unfortunate.

It's also unfortunate that you didn't ask a question in your post. A general statement that "I need help" isn't a good way to get information.

It's also not a good idea to ignore questions from people who are taking time to try and help you. In case you're not sure what I mean by this, please review posts 6-8. Also, you've referenced "policies" a "Policy Manual," but you haven't identified the locality, so we have no way of knowing what you're talking about. Nor is it clear what you mean by "community caretaking requirement."
 
Why haven't you paid to get the car out of storage? You are accumulating more storage fees and problems by not getting the car out of storage. If the court determines that the tow was valid, you'll end up paying more for leaving it in storage. Taking it out of storage will not adversely affect your lawsuit, but not getting it out may end up resulting in storage fees even if you win. In this situation, mitigating your damages is a worthwhile thing to do.

Note that your request for the court to order that you be given a temporary driving permit is something the court won't do. That request has no connection to the wrongful storage claim and the court does not have jurisdiction to grant relief not related to the claim at issue. There is nothing stopping you from doing whatever you are required to do to reinstate your license. It's up to the DMV to determine if there are any grounds for refusing your request for reinstatement of your license.

Note that the fact that you were not arrested and taken to jail doesn't seem relevant either. That, too, is unrelated to the towing and storage issue. If you think it's relevant, you need to explain why it's relevant to the towing issue because it's not apparent to me and it won't be apparent to the judge either.

Earlier you said that the police chief's wife owned the tow company, but your court petition says it was the wife of the officer who ordered the tow that owned the company. That makes a difference.

You don't address what the officer claimed was the reason for the tow. Why not? That is, after all, important to the issue of whether the tow was valid. The issue of whether the tow was valid does matter. You also don't make any mention if the other tow company was available to do the tow at the time. That matters, too. If the officer was justified in having the vehicle towed and his wife's company was the only available, he doesn't really have a choice in whom to call for the tow. That's significant because in that situation he's not making a choice to use his wife's company over another company that was available to do the job. Instead, he was calling the only company available to do the job.

Your petition leaves me with the impression that you've left some things out of the story.

At the very least, you need to get your license restored if you want to do any driving in the state. Your case won't solve that problem for you.
 

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