California Tow Truck Ass'n v. City & County of San Francisco

The City and County of San Francisco requires tow truck drivers and towing firms to obtain permits to operate and conduct business within San Francisco. The City enacted two ordinances, Articles 30 and 30.1 of the San Francisco Police Code (the “Permit Scheme”), which comprehensively regulate the towing industry within the city and provide a number of conditions and requirements concerning the towing permits.

The California Tow Truck Association (“CTTA”) challenged the Permit Scheme, contending that it is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994, 49 U.S.C. § 14501 (“FAAAA” or the “Act”). After the district court initially granted partial summary judgment, the parties appealed to this court. See Cal. Tow Truck Ass’n v. City & Cnty. of S.F., 693 F.3d 847 (9th Cir.2012) (“CTTA /”). We held that the district court did not analyze the Permit Scheme as required by our precedent, and so vacated the judgment and remanded for the required provision-by-provision analysis. See id. at 866 .

Following remand, the district court upheld nearly all of the Permit Scheme, holding some provisions outside the ambit of the Act’s express preemption clause,…