Opinion ID: 6333808
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The City’s Lien Program

Text: To classify the City’s impoundment lien, we examine how it arises or is obtained, beginning with unpaid tickets and continuing through the process of impoundment and attachment of the lien. First, the owner must accrue the required number of traﬃc violations and ﬁnal determinations. A car may be impounded only after an owner has three or more “ﬁnal determinations of liability,” or two ﬁnal determinations that have been outstanding for more than a year, “for parking, standing, transformed into judicial liens. While the filing of the lien may determine whether it is perfected to the extent that it may not be avoided by the trustee under section 545, it does not transmute a statutory lien into a different kind of lien.” (footnotes omitted)). 10 No. 21-1355 compliance, automated traﬃc law enforcement system, or automated speed enforcement system violation[s].” M.C.C. § 9- 100-120(b). The underlying traﬃc violation undergoes an administrative process before it turns into a ﬁnal determination of liability. First, a police oﬃcer or other oﬃcial observes and records a traﬃc or parking violation. The oﬃcial then gives the operator of the vehicle a notice of the violation (e.g., by hand or by placing it on the vehicle). § 9-100-030(b)(i)–(ii). If, however, the operator drives away before the oﬃcial can serve the notice, the City mails the owner of the vehicle a notice of the traﬃc violation. § 9-100-030(b)(iii). Alternatively, an automated speed or traﬃc system records a violation and the City sends a notice to the registered owner. § 9-100-045. The owner can contest the charged violation in an inperson proceeding or by writing. §§ 9-100-050, -055, -070, - 080. If the owner loses or fails to contest the violation, a determination of liability is entered. § 9-100-090. The owner can then ﬁle an appeal under the Illinois Administrative Review Law. Id.; see also Van Harken v. City of Chicago, 713 N.E.2d 754, 759 (Ill. App. 1999). If she loses on appeal or fails to contest the liability determination, the City obtains a “ﬁnal determination.” § 9-100-100. In Fulton, we concluded that these ﬁnal determinations of liability amounted to “money judgments.” See 926 F.3d at 930–31, vacated on other grounds, 141 S. Ct. 585. At that point, the owner must pay the ﬁne for the violation. § 9-100-100(b). “The ﬁnes for violations of the City’s Traﬃc Code range from $25 (e.g., parallel parking violation) to $500 (e.g., parking on a public street without displaying a wheel tax license emblem).” Fulton, 926 F.3d at 920, citing § 9-100No. 21-1355 11 020(b)–(c). These ﬁnes can grow quickly. “Failure to pay the ﬁne within twenty-ﬁve days automatically doubles the penalty” in most cases. Id., citing § 9-100-050(e). If the ﬁnes go unpaid, the next enforcement step for the City is impoundment. That step requires more legal process. The City must issue notice of the impending vehicle immobilization to the owner. § 9-100-120(b). The owner then has twenty-one days to either pay the ﬁnes or petition for a hearing and appear in person to prove that she is not liable for the outstanding tickets. If the owner fails to ﬁle a timely petition or if her petition is denied, a ﬁnal determination of eligibility is entered. After such a determination of liability and eligibility for impoundment, the City may physically immobilize the car (with a “boot,” for example). § 9-100-120(c). If the owner does not obtain release of the immobilizing device within twentyfour hours or request additional compliance time, the City can ﬁnally tow the car to an impoundment facility. Id. When the vehicle is immobilized or impounded, the outstanding ticket debt becomes a lien on the vehicle: “Any vehicle impounded by the City or its designee shall be subject to a possessory lien in favor of the City in the amount required to obtain release of the vehicle.” § 9-92-080(f); § 9-100-120(j) (same for immobilized vehicles). 5 5 The City impounded and sold nearly 50,000 cars from 2011 to 2019. Elliott Ramos, Chicago Seized and Sold Nearly 50,000 Cars Over Tickets Since 2011, Sticking Owners with Debt, WBEZ Chi. (Jan. 7, 2019, 5:01 AM), https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-seized-and-sold-nearly-50000cars-over-tickets-since-2011-sticking-owners-with-debt/1d73d0c1-0ed24939-a5b2-1431c4cbf1dd. 12 No. 21-1355 Turning to the details of this case, at the time of appellee Mance’s bankruptcy ﬁling, the City’s lien on her vehicle totaled $12,245 on a car allegedly worth $3,000. The amount of the lien is based on the amount of the outstanding tickets, the fees accumulated from storage and towing costs, and even attorney fees incurred by the City in the immobilization process, among other costs. § 9-100-120(d)(2). 6