Man willing to take ticket to Supreme Court
By TODD SMILOVITZ Special to the Daily Press
If Michael Schaefer’s mom ever told him not to make a federal case out of everything, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office probably wishes he had listened more closely.
That’s because City Hall is fighting Schaefer in federal court over a $38 parking ticket. The dispute takes up time that Deputy City Attorney Jeanette Schachtner says could be better spent on legitimate cases instead of being frittered away on a frivolous one.
“I think all of the time this man has spent over a $38 parking ticket is outrageous,” Schachtner said, adding that about five meritless cases like Schaefer’s must be dealt with every year.
When Schaefer received the parking ticket last August for parking illegally in the Ocean Park Library parking lot, he sued City Hall.
He only received the ticket because there weren’t any signs to indicate where parking wasn’t permitted, Schaefer said.
He argues that it’s a violation of notice requirements not only under the California Vehicle Code, but also under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a deprivation of property without due process of law.
“It tramples on the rights of all the citizens that they would spend tons of money to try to prove that they don’t have any obligation to tell people what they ought to do or not to do,” Schaefer said.
After failing to convince an administrative officer and a Santa Monica Superior Court judge that the ticket was wrongfully issued, he recently brought the matter before the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
The parking lot in question is self-contained, small and rectangular. Along one length is a row of metered parking spaces separated from each other with painted white lines. Along the other side is a large trash bin and a row of berms with faded red paint on them. Schaefer parked his car alongside those berms.
“Common sense would say you don’t park in the way of some other car getting out or you’d be towed away, but if you parked out of everyone’s way [then it could seem to be legal,]” Schaefer said.
But not everyone agrees with him on that point.
“You’re blocking anyone trying to get out,” one library official said. “There’s not enough room. It’s just common sense.”
One library patron agreed that parking alongside the berms wouldn’t be legal.
“In my understanding of the law, I would not park there because I might suspect that I would get a ticket or get towed there,” said Venice resident Robert Niemann.
But another person who visited the library didn’t agree.
“In my opinion, it’s not clearly marked a red zone,” development company supervisor Tom Williams said. “They just repainted all the curbs a couple of weeks ago. Why didn’t they repaint those if it’s a no parking area?”
That shouldn’t have mattered, Schachtner said.
“The difference is he parked in a lot where it’s obvious that there are painted parking slots,” she said.
As to what the law on the books actually is, Schaefer himself points out that Santa Monica’s local ordinance forbids parking in a public parking lot except in slotted spaces.
But the regulations don’t faze Schaefer. There is a constitutional right to adequate notice, Schaefer said.
Whether he can defend that right in federal court is another question. Schaefer thinks he can because there are constitutional issues.
Schachtner has filed a motion to dismiss the federal case. Schaefer said if that occurs, he’ll take the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Schachtner isn’t the only one who feels Schaefer has acted improperly in the past. Schaefer, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, is not currently entitled to practice law in California, according to the state bar. A state bar hearing officer recently recommended last October that Schaefer be disbarred — for the same actions that led to his disbarment in Nevada in 2001, as well as for a record of disciplinary action decades old, court records show. Schaefer became a member of the California Bar in 1964.
Violations of legal ethics codes by Schaefer include disregarding court orders to not contact an opposing party, contacting opposing parties whom he knew were represented by counsel, filing a frivolous complaint and failing to disclose his disciplinary history to a Texas court, records show.
But Schaefer, who now resides in Las Vegas, believes he will ultimately be reinstated to the bar. He also points to a past courtroom victory to show why he will ultimately prevail against City Hall.
In 1991, a San Diego municipal court judge invalidated a parking ticket Schaefer received because he didn’t cramp his wheels when he parked on a grade exceeding 3 percent. The court stated that the lack of signage warning drivers of the law amounted to a violation of the California Vehicle Code’s reasonable notice requirement, the court’s decision states.
Schaefer also tried to run for Sonny Bono’s seat in Congress after Bono died in a skiing accident. He was told that was not possible because residency in Riverside County was required, Schaefer said. Schaefer convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2000 that a candidate for Congress in California need not reside in the state when filing nomination papers, case law shows.
“I’m a wavemaker,” Schaefer said. “Though people’s rights have no intrinsic value, they’re worth their weight in gold to the individual, and that’s what I’m trying to protect.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.