Court Opinion

ID: 9711943
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:42:43.403063+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:08.582004
License: Public Domain

FARRELL, Associate Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that when the District of Columbia government tows and impounds cars, it acts in the role of a “bailee for hire” subject to an ordinary standard of negligence. Rather than equate the government in this respect with the owner of a commercial parking lot, I would hold that in exercising the police function of enforcing the motor vehicle laws, which may include impounding cars, the District acts in a manner akin to a “gratuitous bailee” and is liable only for gross negligence.
*999The District’s obligation to tow, impound, and store vehicles derives from D.C.Code § 40-812(a) (1990).1 One purpose of this duty is to help abate the “parking nuisance” that “endangers the health, safety, and welfare of the general public.” D.C. Code § 40-802. I agree with the majority that if the District (as bailee) had a profit-making or benefit-seeking purpose in towing and impounding cars, then a mutual bailment would be formed. See Prince v. Alabama State Fair, 106 Ala. 340, 344-46, 17 So. 449, 450 (1895). But since it is the duty to abate the “parking nuisance” that motivates the District, any benefits derived from seizing and keeping ears temporarily flow to the general public, not to the government as a contracting party. The “compensation” the government receives in the form of towing charges or storage fees is completely incidental to this exclusive benefit to the public at large. Indeed, I am certain the government would willingly relinquish the “benefit” of storage fees if society did not require it to enforce the parking laws.
I am not persuaded by the majority’s reliance on decisions stating the principle that a law enforcement officer who seizes goods under a writ of attachment must exercise ordinary care to prevent their loss and destruction. It seems to me those cases are distinguishable, and in the main fit the general mold I have described which distinguishes between profit-seeking bailees and those pursuing (by enforcing the law) a benefit for the general public. It is true that judicial officers levying upon writs of attachment are liable for ordinary negligence.2 Palmer v. Costello, 41 App.D.C. 165, 168-69 (1913); Matoil Service & Transport Co. v. Schneider, 129 F.2d 392, 394 (3d Cir.1942) (U.S. Marshal’s duty of ordinary care arises from admiralty law not bailment theory). Courts often compare property levied upon on a writ of attachment to property that is subject to a mutual bailment, and thus impose the ordinary negligence standard. Kessman, supra note 2, 709 P.2d at 977; Ritter v. Castellini, 173 N.J.Super. 509, 514-16, 414 A.2d 614, 617 (1980). The reason they impose a mutual bailment on property subject to writ of attachment is that the writ’s purpose is to maintain the status quo of the property pending a judicial proceeding. Kessman, supra, 709 P.2d at 977. In these cases the judicial officer (sheriff or marshal) is in the same position as a bailee of goods for the purpose of custody and sale, with a corresponding duty to preserve the value of the property. See 70 AM.JuR.2d Sheriffs, Police, and Constables § 116 (1987). Since any damage to the property would permanently deprive the execution creditor of valuable rights in the property, *1000the judicial officer as bailee under the law is liable for ordinary negligence. Id.
As custodian of automobiles under the vehicle impoundment law, however, the District is not in the position of a bailee for the purpose of preserving property for custody and sale. The impoundment law merely authorizes temporary storage by the District for the purpose of enforcing the parking laws. Thus, in my view, the standard of care applicable to sheriffs and others authorized to seize and sell property in satisfaction of judgments does not apply to government officers required to impound cars when necessary for the public safety.
I note that in the District of Columbia the gross negligence standard applies by statute to property seized by the police and impounded by the Metropolitan Police Department Property Clerk. D.C.Code § 4-162 (1988). It could be argued, I suppose, that the Council’s failure to enact a similar statute in the case of police im-poundment of cars shows that it intended a lesser standard to apply in that context. Although this argument is not without force, much more significant to me is the conceptual difficulty, if not impossibility, of distinguishing between the two exercises of the police caretaking function.
I think, finally, that we must be concerned with the practical consequences of a rule that a person who parks illegally, and so endangers the public safety (certainly at rush hour), can reasonably require the District to insure against lapses from ordinary care in the impoundment process. It is true that reasonable care means care “under the circumstances” (which presumably would include rush hour and the like), but as between the rights of the owner who violates the law in parking, and the duty of the police to clear the streets and prevent accidents, I believe that a standard of ordinary negligence strikes too low a balance and acts as a disincentive to effective enforcement of the parking laws.

. Section 40-812(a) provides in part:
It shall be a violation of the District of Columbia Traffic Adjudication Act (D.C.Code, § 40-601 et seq.), to park, store, or leave a vehicle of any kind, including an abandoned or junk vehicle, whether attended or not, or for the owner of any vehicle to allow the vehicle to be parked, stored, or left, whether attended or not, upon any public or private property in the District of Columbia, including a public highway, without the consent of the owner of the public or private property.

. A distinction should be made between levying on an attachment and executing a writ of restitution. Judicial officers also execute writs of restitution (evictions). See Super. Ct. L & T R. 16. The standard of care when executing such writs is ordinary care. Earl v. United States, 262 A.2d 598 (D.C.1970); Wilson v. Bittinger, 104 U.S.App.D.C. 403, 262 F.2d 714 (1958); Snyder v. Hart, 64 App.D.C. 353, 78 F.2d 237 (1935); Jeffres v. Countryside Homes of Lincoln, Inc., 214 Neb. 104, 122-24, 333 N.W.2d 754, 764 (1983) (private company that assisted constable in executing writ of restitution is liable for negligence). This standard is limited to the time when the judicial officer is actually conducting the eviction. Once the writ is executed, the duty ends; there is no duty of safekeeping of property or liability for subsequent damage to the property during storage. See Kessman v. City and County of Denver, 709 P.2d 975, 977 (Colo.Ct.App.1985). See also Wilson v. Bittinger, supra (Marshal’s potential liability limited to the conduct of moving property from the apartment to the sidewalk). Since the purpose of a writ of restitution is to restore possession of real estate to the prevailing landlord, the movement of the tenant’s personal property is incidental to the execution of the writ. Any liability of the judicial officer arises from his duties as an officer of the court, not from his temporary control of personal property. Therefore, the standard applicable to judicial officers executing writs of restitution does not apply to government employees who tow and impound automobiles under the traffic law.