Cancer patient gets parking ticket while in hospital, loses his Jeep, L.A. claim says

When Joseph Morrissey got out of a Los Angeles hospital following complications from kidney cancer surgery, he returned home to an unwelcome surprise, the Los Angeles Times reports.

His 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee had been ticketed for a parking violation while he recovered from a seizure and stroke in the hospital, according to the publication. But then things got worse.

Morrissey couldn’t move the Jeep because he could not drive after his surgery, KCBS reported.

Three days after he returned home, Los Angeles towed his Jeep, which it later sold at auction even after Morrissey paid the parking ticket, a claim filed against the city says, according to the station.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said it would not comment until it reviewed the claim, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“I’ve never been involved in anything like this,” said Morrissey, according to a press release from Public Counsel, which represents him in the case.

Morrissey, who works as a theater lighting designer, says there’s no way he could have paid the $2,000 impound and storage fees on his Jeep, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“I couldn’t afford the fees, so I tried to do everything they asked of me while I contested the tow; I submitted the papers, paid the citation,” Morrissey said, according to the release. “They took my money and still sold my car.”

“The last thing any person fighting cancer in a hospital should have to worry about is whether the only thing they own could be taken and sold by the city,” he said, the release reported.

He sent the city evidence of his hospitalization and medical condition while contesting the ticket, but Morrissey says Los Angeles sold his Jeep without contacting him about a hearing or other further proceedings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Taking a person’s vehicle has rippling consequences for their mental and physical well-being,” said Nisha Kashyap, staff attorney at Public Counsel, according to the release. “In Mr. Morrissey’s case, the city took the only vehicle he owned, when he needed it most for the road to recovery from cancer.”

Los Angeles has 45 days to respond to the claim, which is a first step in filing a civil rights lawsuit, the release says.

This story was originally published September 1, 2019 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Cancer patient gets parking ticket while in hospital, loses his Jeep, L.A. claim says."