days later, he found the car at the same spot, apparently unmoved and in the same condition, and the notice gone. He then ordered the vehicle towed. The notice placed on the windshield was the only notice directed to the plaintiff prior to the towing of the vehicle. After the vehicle was towed, police determined the owner's identity and sent him a registered letter stating that he could recover his car by payment of a fee. Because he was unable to pay the fee, the vehicle was not released. The applicable statute provided for destruction of the plaintiff's car when fees are not paid within 30 days from mailing of the letter of notification. The plaintiff then brought suit asking for declarative and injunctive relief. The Graff courtresponsibility is further indication of the government's negligible interest involved.
The decision in Graff was issued before the Supreme Court enunciated the Mathews test, but the court's analysis, balancing the private interests in access to and use of one's automobile with the government's interest in towing presumably abandoned vehicles, was along essentially similar lines. Graff, 370 F.Supp. at 980-83. We believe that analysis would be undisturbed under a Mathews analysis.
A later decision in this district held that application of the Mathews test requires notice by certified mail for all towed cars prior to disposal and found that the provision of the Illinois Motor Vehicle Code providing for only first-class mail notice for vehicles more than seven years old and subsequent disposal if no response is received within ten days