Illinois Fifth District Appellate Justice Michael D. McHaney
MT. VERNON, ILLINOIS - A state appeals panel has taken down nearly identical class action lawsuits against the cities of Collinsville and Granite City over those cities' vehicle impoundment ordinances, as justices found fees charged by the cities aren't unconstitutionally excessive or violations of due process rights.
On June 2, a three-justice panel of the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court sided with the cities in separate decisions affirming the dismissal of separate, but nearly identical class action lawsuits lodged against the cities.
The decisions were both authored by Justice Michael D. McHaney. Justices James R. Moore and Amy Sholar concurred in both rulings.
The decisions were issued as unpublished orders under Supreme Court Rule 23, which may limit their use as precedent.
The rulings centered on claims first filed in 2011 in Madison County Circuit Court by attorneys Brian Polinske and Donna Polinske, of Polinske & Associates, of Edwardsville. The lawsuit against Collinsville was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Mark Schmidt and the suit against Granite City on behalf of named plaintiff David Funkhouser.
Both of the lawsuits took aim at essentially identical ordinances enacted in those cities slapping $500 "administrative fees" on the impoundment of vehicles towed under police order as a result of driving under the influence of alcohol or certain other violations of the law.
The ordinances allow an administrative hearing process to challenge whether the cars were legally towed and impounded. If the hearing officer determines they were not, or if the person charged with the offenses is later found to be not guilty, the ordinances provide for the return of the vehicle and a refund of fees paid.
Vehicle owners must still pay the towing companies, however, as the "administrative fees" are assessed on top of any applicable towing charges.
In their lawsuits, Schmidt and Funkhouser asserted the ordinances were unconstitutional. They claimed the fees were not "rationally related" to the actual costs incurred by the cities in handling the vehicles. They asserted any administrative costs the city would be forced to pay while impounding vehicles is related more to the work of collecting the fees than towing or storing the vehicles, work which was handled by private companies.
They further asserted the ordinances unconstitutionally deprived them of their rights to "substantive due process," because the ordinance essentially charges vehicle owners hundreds of dollars for the city to merely print a receipt.
After their cases were initially dismissed in 2013, the Fifth District court revived their claims and sent them back to Madison County court for further proceedings.
In April 2024, Judge Andrew K. Carruthers ruled in favor of Collinsville and Granite City.
On appeal, McHaney and his Fifth District colleagues said Carruthers got it right.
They agreed Schmidt and Funkhouser failed to show the ordinance was out of bounds.
In the rulings, McHaney said the appeals justices believed the ordinance in each community "- designed to recover costs and expenses incurred by its police department in handling criminal investigations that culminate in an arrest, towing, and impoundment of the suspect’s vehicle—serves a legitimate purpose and is valid."
They further agreed with Carruthers and the cities that the administrative hearing and challenge processes established under the ordinances provide vehicle owners with the due process required under the Constitution.
In the rulings, they said the ordinance's inclusion of "a pathway to recover all or part" of the$500 fees provides all of the relief vehicle owners could need, should their vehicles be wrongly seized and impounded.
Collinsville was represented in the action by its corporate counsel, attorney Steven Giacoletto, of Collinsville.
Granite City was represented by attorney Erin Phillips, of Unsell Schattnik & Phillips, of Wood River.
