Ruling helps protect homeless people from having cars towed

Washington’s Supreme Court has issued a key decision that helps protect people who are living in their vehicles from having them towed

SEATTLE -- Washington's Supreme Court issued a key decision Thursday that helps protect people living in their vehicles from having them towed, in a case that drew widespread attention amid Seattle's housing crisis. The justices held that it was unconstitutionally excessive for Seattle to impound a homeless man’s truck and require him to reimburse the city nearly $550 in towing and storage costs. Further, the court said, vehicles that people live in are homes and cannot be sold at a public auction to pay their debts — eliminating a financial incentive for towing the cars in the first place. “It's a big step forward,” said Jim Lobsenz, a lawyer who represented Steven Long, the homeless man who challenged his truck's impoundment in 2016. “The ruling says you have to take into account the financial resources of poor people before you impose these fines and costs.” The decision is one of the first by a state high court to interpret a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says state and local governments — not just the federal government — must abide by the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines, said Bill Maurer, an attorney with the libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice.