Exclusive: Long Beach settles lawsuit over controversial 'boot and tow' policy

All plaintiffs allege the city violated their protection from unreasonable seizure and their due process rights by booting their vehicle, and sometimes towing it, without providing them with notice or a hearing.

Jon Dowding

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Aug 23, 2024, 2:35 AM

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Updated 20 days ago

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The City of Long Beach settled a lawsuit from at least five people over its controversial “boot and tow” policy.

The lawsuit alleges the city violated 4th, 5th and 14th Amendment rights by unknowingly booting vehicles and, at times, towing away the vehicles without their owner’s knowledge.

This isn’t the first time the policy has come under fire. As first reported in February, four people filed a class-action lawsuit against the city's policy. Daniel Guma is one of the initial litigants.

“It’s unconstitutional, but yet they do it, and no one’s stopping it,” said Guma. "What amazes me is that they still do it."

Attorneys have now identified at least 2,100 others also impacted.

"That's about making money,” said Guma. “You can't tell me 2,100 cars all warranted a boot."

All plaintiffs allege the city violated their protection from unreasonable seizure and their due process rights by booting their vehicle, and sometimes towing it, without providing them with notice or a hearing.

Andrew Campanelli represents clients in the initial lawsuit and the new class-action lawsuit.

"The city would tow for pretty much any reason they can come up with,” he said. “If you were two inches too close to someone's driveway, if you were parked in a parade route, if you had unpaid parking tickets."

Campanelli says there’s a reason why they’re doing this.

"There's a huge financial incentive to local governments to do so...because the average person who was forced to pay $500 to get their car back is not going to hire a lawyer to get it back,” said Campanelli.

According to the amended complaint from the settlement, a tow company paid Long Beach over $233,000 over an 11-month period just for seizing vehicles.

"It's time they clean up their act,” said Guma. “They want us to clean up ours and park and do everything right, then leave us alone and just go by the law."

News 12 confirmed the settlement after checking the federal court filing system and through lawyers involved in the litigation.

The City of Long Beach tells News 12 the City will not comment on pending litigation and that nothing has been signed yet. Details of a final settlement agreement have not been made public.