Legal team works with city to halt predatory confiscation of residents’ cars

Lawyers with the Institute for Justice have announced that they have worked with the city of Wilmington, Delaware, to install new protections for automobile owners who have parking tickets or other infractions to resolve those issues short of having their car confiscated and destroyed.

The IJ said the city has agreed to reform “predatory impound practices.”

The issue was the subject of a 2021 lawsuit on behalf of Ameera Shaheed and Earl Dickerson, who lost their vehicles to private companies working at the behest of the city.

”These companies operated ‘cost-free’ for the city by keeping the profits off scrapping cars,” the IJ said.

”I’m really proud of the work everyone put in and the system we helped create,” said IJ Attorney Will Aronin. “Our goal is to make it so nobody loses their car and we were able to craft a new system that has strong protections to keep that from happening.”

The settlement agreement involves Wilmington installing a new system to provide multiple notices to those with tickets, “very liberal and easy payment plans,” and convenient hearings to resolve disputes.

”Most importantly, even if someone does have their car towed, they will be able to go get it back without being forced to pay, so long as they either go to the hearing or enter into the easy payment plan. Under this system, Ameera Shaheed and Earl Dickerson would not have lost their cars,” the IJ said.

Under the old rules, the IJ explained, “the city repeatedly ticketed Ameera’s legally parked car and then towed it because they issued so many tickets. When Ameera couldn’t pay the full sum, the city let the towing contractor just keep the full value of the car.”

Part of the agreement also has the city compensating the plaintiffs in the lawsuit for “well above what their cars were worth.”

”I’m glad that my lawsuit is ending with meaningful change for the people of Wilmington,” Ameera said in a statement released by the IJ. “It was hard when Wilmington took my vehicle even though I was parked legally. I wasn’t the only one mistreated but hopefully this will never happen again in our city.”

WND had reported when a federal judge declined to dismiss the case against the city.

U.S. District Judge Colm F. Connolly had issued a decision allowing the lawsuit to continue.

The judge said, “Wilmington can’t have it both ways.”

He said either the victims have an argument that taking the whole value of their car for simple parking tickets is an excessive fine, or the owners have a claim that the city is taking property from them without compensation since their tickets don’t rise to the value of the cars.

The old system put Wilmington people at risk of losing their vehicles to an impound system that profits from scrapping the cars that are taken, the IJ explained.

But that violated the Fourth Amendment, it said.