City of San Diego v. Municipal Court

[777]

Opinion

COLOGNE, Acting P. J.

The City of San Diego (City) and San Diego Unified School District (District), petitioner in intervention, appeal a judgment in these consolidated cases denying their petition for writ of mandate and declaratory relief challenging the decision of the Municipal Court of the State of California for the San Diego Judicial District and the San Diego Municipal Court Clerk to no longer process notices of parking violations.

For the past several years, the San Diego Municipal Court has processed parking citations issued by the City and by the District. When a notice of parking violation is issued by the City police officers or by parking controllers for the District, a copy of the notice is attached to the unattended vehicle (Veh. Code, § 41103, subd. (1)) and the original copy of the notice is forwarded to the traffic division of the municipal court.

The notice left on the vehicle expressly states that bail may be posted by mail to “the person authorized to receive a deposit of bail” (Veh. Code, §§ 40309, 40309.5). It also contains information regarding the place and possible times for appearances and states the failure to appear or to post bail will result in legal proceedings against the registered owner of the violating vehicle. If the appropriate amount is paid to the court, no further proceedings will follow.

The parties inform us, as a matter of practice, after a certain time period sufficient to allow receipt of the money, the municipal court returns outstanding notices to the issuing agency, along with a listing of the names and addresses of the registered owners. The issuing agent then determines whether a verified complaint is to be filed with the municipal court. If a verified complaint is filed and formal prosecution initiated, a second notice is served upon the registered owner of the vehicle.

On July 21, 1978, the municipal court clerk notified the City and District, along with 12 other public enforcing agencies, that after January 1, 1979, his office would not process parking violation notices prior to the filing of a verified complaint with the court. At the request of the City, the municipal court agreed to continue processing notices of parking violations through February 28, 1979, in order to allow the City to prepare for the assumption of processing responsibilities.