Opinion ID: 4564883
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The district court erred by granting summary

Text: judgment in favor of the City of Los Angeles as to the late payment penalty of $63. While we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on the initial parking fine, we cannot endorse the court’s conclusion that the late fee does not constitute an excessive fine — at least based on the record presented to us. Notably, the district court did not apply the Bajakajian factors to the late fee. Instead, it rejected the challenge to the late fee in a footnote citing two cases that themselves only provide conclusory assertions. See Pimentel v. City of Los Angeles, No. CV-14-1371-FMO, 2018 WL 6118600, at  n.12 (C.D. Cal. May 21, 2018) (citing Wemhoff v. City of Baltimore, 591 F. Supp. 2d 804, 809 (D. Md. 2008); Popescu v. City of San Diego, No. 06-CV-1577-LAB, 2008 WL 220281, at  (S.D. Cal. Jan. 25, 2008)). We thus reverse and remand on this issue. As the Supreme Court recently reminded us, the Excessive Fine Clause is “fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty, with deep roots in our history and tradition.” Timbs, 135 S. Ct. at 686–87 (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). This right to be free from excessive governmental fines is not a relic relegated to the period of parchments and parliaments, but rather it remains a crucial bulwark against government abuse. The government cannot overstep its authority and impose fines on its citizens without paying heed to the limits posed by the Eighth Amendment. Yet in its brief to this court, the City of Los Angeles did not even bother addressing the constitutionality of its late fee. Based on the record, we do not know the City’s justification for setting the late fee at one hundred percent of the initial fine. 16 PIMENTEL V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES We remand for the court to determine under Bajakajian whether the late payment penalty of $63 is grossly disproportional to the offense of failing to pay the initial fine within 21 days.