On Jun 18, 6:56 pm, scud wrote:
Previously, your automobile was considered an extension of your home.

Not so anymore. They want to know what's hidden in the trunk. Yes,
you can thank the drug war for that. If you refuse, and you're ticking
them off like claiming constitutional rights and stuff, they will
arrest you for refusing to obey the lawful command of a police officer
and impound your car to search it for evidence. It's against the law
to refuse.

If you're lucky, wealthy, or your car is worth a lot, assuming they
find no incriminating evidence, they won't hold your car to search for
evidence so long that the towing and storage charges, which are allowed
for some reason to be as high as the payday loan business ($150 tow,
$50/75 a day storage), won't add up so much that the car isn't worth
bailing out. This is done to poor people all the time and they laugh
about it down at the cop shop because they figure nobody who looks or
lives like a lowlife (in their opinion, even though poverty is not a
crime) is without guilt, so they'll get you this way instead of
another.

The authorities are supposed to pay storage when the car is held for
evidence, but you have to sue them to get them to do it if they say
they're not paying and most people simply can't afford the lawsuit and
no lawyer takes these on spec.

This is why we have punitive damages.

Lessons? Be wealthy, have a good
lawyer, and open your trunk when asked.

Don't let your legislators abolish or limit punitive damages.

That's the lesson.

--

FF