Martin

Plaintiff, Joseph J. Martin, appeals from a judgment for defendants, Raymond J. Heady and Heady Aircraft Corporation, Inc. (dba Aircraft Associates), in his damage action for conversion of a customized DC-3 airplane, by means of an allegedly unlawful lien sale thereof in December 1971.

The fundamental question presented by this appeal is whether the lien sale provisions (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1208.65, 1208.66, 1208.67 and 1208.68) of the aircraft lien law are constitutional. We intend to hold that they violate the procedural due process provision of the California Constitution (art. I, § 7, subd. (a)) for reasons that follow.

Statement of Facts

In 1966 plaintiff stored with defendant, Aircraft Associates, at the Long Beach Airport a customized executive DC-3 belonging to Electro Home Products, Inc., a corporation, the stock of which was apparently owned entirely by plaintiff and another individual. Electro Home Products, Inc. had purchased the airplane that year for $50,000. It then had but one engine. The stockholders of Electro Home Products, Inc. split up in January 1970, and the next month plaintiff bought this aircraft from his former business associate, through an…