No Fourth Amendment Violation For Seizing Truck.

Plaintiff was stopped by the police while driving his truck to a job site. He was arrested for driving without a license in an unregistered vehicle, and the police contacted a towing company to tow the truck away. Plaintiff sued the towing company for wrongfully withholding his 1998 Dodge light truck for 38 days until he paid $1,385 for its release. The trial court sustained the towing company’s demurrer, and the Court of Appeal affirmed, concluding that the sheriff’s department impounding the truck did not violate plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights, his right to travel, was not an unreasonable seizure and was not otherwise in violation of law.  Halajian v. D&B Towing  (Cal. App. Fifth Dist.; September 4, 2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 1.