City to pay thousands over seized motorcycle

Off the Wire
Biker Rights Issues

A 30-year-old Parker man whose motorcycle was impounded by Denver police after he loaned it to a friend is poised to win a long, drawn-out lawsuit against the city.

The Denver City Council tonight is expected to authorize paying Kevin Ehrich $11,843.87 in attorney's fees and damages after his motorcycle sat for more than a year in the city's impound lot.

Ehrich, in court testimony, said he checked to make sure his friend, Josh Wetzel, had a motorcycle learner's permit and insurance before he loaned him his bike for a day of riding Dec. 28, 2008. He added that he also made sure his friend rode with two other motorcyclists.

Denver police still impounded the motorcycle after they stopped Wetzel for allegedly speeding.

Police found Wetzel wasn't in compliance with his motorcycle learner's permit because he wasn't riding in the presence of other riders with a motorcycle endorsement. One of Wetzel's fellow riders had a suspended license, and the other did not have the required motorcycle endorsement.

Lender told him the news

Ehrich said he learned of the impoundment when his lender called him to tell him he was no longer in compliance with the terms of the loan he was paying off on the motorcycle.

Getting his motorcycle out of impound proved difficult. Ehrich couldn't afford to post the $2,500 bond required to free his bike under the terms of a voter-approved ballot initiative passed months earlier.

The motorcycle ended up sitting at the impound lot for more than a year, with $20-a-day fees accruing.

"It's just like a payday loan," said his lawyer, David Worstell. "Pretty soon, you're into it for so much that you can't do anything."

Ehrich tried persuading the impoundment-hearing officer, Brid get Williamson, to exempt him from the bond during a hearing Jan. 22, 2009, but she refused because, she said, Initiative 100 didn't give her discretion to do so.

While the motorcycle stayed in impound, it suffered damage from the elements. The city attorney's office is now recommending that the City Council settle a Denver District Court lawsuit and pay Ehrich damages and attorney's fees after a judge scolded city officials in a ruling and instructed them to fix Initiative 100, which voters approved in August 2008.

"An innocent owner"

"A vehicle owner whose property is seized under I-100 because of the illegal conduct of another has a procedural due process right to attempt to show that he is an innocent owner," Denver District Court Judge Catherine Lemon said in the ruling.

The settlement comes at a time when Initiative 100 already is under fire. Several Denver council members want to take the initiative back to the voters for a repeal this year, saying the initiative's new fees and bonding requirements are causing too many cars to be abandoned at the impound lot, leading to clogs in the impound system.

Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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