Ninth Circuit panel thoughtfully debates whether and when overtime parking fees might be an unconstitutional Excessive Fine

A Ninth Circuit panel yesterday handed down an interesting Eighth Amendment opinion on a topic that is (too) dear to my overtime parking heart. Here is how the majority opinion in Pimentel v. City of Los Angeles, No. 18-56553 (9th Cir. July 22, 2020) (available here), gets started:

In the opening scene of La La Land, drivers stuck in traffic spontaneously sing and dance on top of their cars and in the streets.  Hollywood, however, rarely resembles reality.  On any given day, Los Angelenos sigh and despair when mired in traffic jams.  One small way the City of Los Angeles tries to alleviate traffic congestion is to impose time restrictions — and fines — for limited public parking spaces.  If a person parks her car past the allotted time limit and forces people to drive around in search of other parking spaces, she must pay a $63 fine.  And if she fails to pay the fine within 21 days, the City will impose a late-payment penalty of $63.

Appellants, who had parking fines and late fees levied against them, challenge the Los Angeles parking ordinance as violating the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.  We hold that the Excessive Fines Clause applies to municipal parking fines.  We affirm the district court's summary judgment order that the initial parking fine is not grossly disproportionate to the offense and thus survives constitutional scrutiny.  But we reverse and remand for the district court to determine whether the City’s late fee runs afoul of the Excessive Fines Clause.

The concurrence authored by Judge Bennett gets started this way:

Because the City of Los Angeles conceded that the Excessive Fines Clause applied to parking “fines,” I concur in the judgment.  I write separately because I do not believe the Excessive Fines Clause should routinely apply to parking meter violations.