Just another day at the office for State Police; agency hit with $851K judgment when Supreme Court denies writs
Just another day at the office for State Police; agency hit with $851K judgment when Supreme Court denies writs
October 5, 2022 by tomaswell
As if Louisiana State Police (LSP) has not experienced enough problems in recent years, the Louisiana Supreme Court has affirmed a judgment of more than $850,000 against the agency over its imposition of a schedule of fines against a New Orleans towing company that was ultimately deemed to be unconstitutional.
In April of this year, a three-judge panel of the FIRST CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL unanimously overturned a dismissal of the initial lawsuit by the 19th Judicial District Court and LSP took its case to the state supreme court, which denied writs, thus making the award final.
A suit was brought by Mid-City Automotive of New Orleans in 2016 after state police issued three citations to the company for violations of a law which regulated the towing of vehicles from private property.
Mid-City, which operates a towing company in New Orleans, which conducts nonconsensual tows of vehicles from private property, was first assessed fines on March 19 and September 1, 2015 in the amounts of $250 and $300, respectively. Following a third citation on September 22, 2015, Mid-City’s storage inspection license was suspended for 30 days under the statute.
Mid-City filed suit, alleging that certain provisions of the statute were invalid. Following a bench trial in Baton Rouge, the court dismissed Mid-City’s petition with prejudice, meaning the suit could not be revived.
Mid-City appealed and won, prompting LSP’s application for writs to the Supreme Court.
The statute stipulated that property, parking areas, and spaces must be clearly marked to warn motorists that unauthorized vehicles may be towed. Mid-City was cited for towing vehicles from parking areas which were not properly marked.
Mid-City argued in its petition that the schedule of fines contained in the statute was invalid because the legislature’s delegation of authority to LSP to adopt and levy fines was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to an administrative agency and therefore exceeded the scope of the authority granted to LSP.
LSP was ordered to pay $851,185.83 to Mid-City and also ordered to pay appeal costs of $4,656.
It was the latest in a string of legal setbacks for the embattled agency that has been the subject of dozens of stories about miscreant state troopers, mismanagement, the death of one black motorist and the beatings of other black motorists, cover-ups, a state police academy cheating scandal, and high turnover in recent years at its leadership level.