Opinion ID: 1266000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: In authorizing the seizure, retention and destruction of newsracks without affording the owner of the rack either a pre- or post-taking hearing, the newsrack ordinance violates fundamental procedural due process and First Amendment precepts.

Text: Under the general provisions of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, a newsrack owner who places a newsrack on a public sidewalk in violation of any of the ordinance's provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punished by up to a $500 fine or six months imprisonment. (Los Angeles Mun. Code, § 11.00, subd. (m).) In addition to this traditional criminal sanction, subdivision (5) of the challenged ordinance authorizes a public officer summarily to remove any newsrack which he believes to be in violation of the ordinance's size, weight, appearance or location requirements prior to affording the newsrack owner any notice of the removal. (§ 42.00, subd. (f) (5), set out in fn. 2, ante. ) [5] (7) (See fn. 6.) The subdivision further provides that after such summary removal, the board of public works commissioners shall notify the owner of the seizure of the rack and the place of its storage, and shall inform the owner that unless he claims the rack within 45 days and pays the cost of removal as determined by the board, the rack will be deemed abandoned and will be destroyed. ( Id. ) [6] Thus, although a newsrack owner is ultimately provided notice of the seizure after the removal of his rack, the present ordinance accords him absolutely no opportunity for a hearing on the merits of the seizure, either before or after the removal. (8) (See fn. 7.) No matter how arbitrary or wrongful the removal may have been, under the terms of the ordinance an owner can never recover his rack without paying the administrative cost of removal; if he does not pay the fee, the city destroys the newsrack. [7] We must concur in plaintiff's claim that the procedure established by the ordinance violates both procedural due process and the First Amendment.