Due Process – Right to Hearing Before Boot Removal Charge
When New Orleans (or other LA municipalities) immobilises a vehicle with a boot ('immobilization' in the city's terminology), it deprives the owner of property under both the Fifth/Fourteenth Amendments and Article I §2 of the Louisiana Constitution. Louisiana's due process clause is INDEPENDENT of and arguably broader than federal due process; courts have interpreted it to require a prompt post-deprivation hearing whenever the government takes property even temporarily (State v. Williams, 400 So.2d 575). NOLA's practice of demanding payment of all back tickets PLUS a boot-release fee BEFORE any hearing is an unconstitutional 'pay first, hear later' scheme.
Legal basis
U.S. Const. Amend. XIV; La. Const. Art. I §2 (due process of law); La. Const. Art. I §22 (access to courts); New Orleans Code §154-1683 (immobilization)
Sample appeal wording
Central Adjudication Bureau City of New Orleans Re: Immobilization of Vehicle [PLATE] on [DATE] Boot Release Fee Paid Under Protest: $[AMOUNT] DEMAND FOR PROMPT POST-DEPRIVATION HEARING & REFUND I paid $[AMOUNT] under written protest on [DATE] to secure the release of my immobilised vehicle. I now demand a prompt hearing on the validity of every underlying citation and the lawfulness of the immobilisation itself. The City's practice of refusing to release a booted vehicle without prepayment of contested back-tickets violates both the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I §2 of the Louisiana Constitution, which guarantees that 'no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except by due process of law.' Article I §22 further guarantees that '[a]ll courts shall be open, and every person shall have an adequate remedy by due process of law.' The Louisiana Supreme Court has held that a meaningful hearing must be available 'at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.' Conditioning release on payment of contested fines reverses that requirement. I request: (1) An evidentiary hearing within 14 days on each underlying citation; (2) Refund of the immobilisation fee if any underlying citation is invalid; (3) Reservation of my right to seek further relief under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and La. C.C. art. 2315 against the City for the deprivation. [NAME] | [ADDRESS] | [DATE]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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- U.S. Const. Amend. V & XIV
- La. Const. Art. I §2, §22
- New Orleans Code §154-1683
- Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976)