Kenneth B. Stephens, on Behalf of Himself and All Others Similarly Situated v. George P. Tielsch, Chief of Police of the City of Seattle

Appellant, Kenneth Stephens, brought this civil rights action to challenge a Seattle city ordinance, Seattle, Wash., Code c. 21.48, which permits the towing of illegally parked vehicles. Basically, his claim is that it offends procedural due process not to require that a hearing be held immediately after a vehicle is towed but before the towing charges are paid. The district court invoked the doctrine of abstention so as to permit state judicial consideration of Stephens’ claim; it reasoned that the issue was one of local concern which had “not been subjected to the full scrutiny of the state courts.” We reverse.

The ordinance, the parties agree, is unambiguous and thus not itself in need of a clarifying interpretation. So, while the lower court’s opinion is not entirely clear on the precise reason it abstained, it must have been to allow the Washington courts to pass on the validity of the ordinance under the due process clause of the state constitution, Wash.Const., Art. I, § 3. That provision is interpreted in essentially the same way as the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. E. g., Olympic Forest Products, Inc. v. Chaussee Corp., 82 Wash.2d 418, 422 ,…