Verzi v. Baltimore County

635 A.2d 967, 333 Md. 411, 1994 Md. LEXIS 14
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJanuary 17, 1994
Docket47, September Term, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 635 A.2d 967 (Verzi v. Baltimore County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Verzi v. Baltimore County, 635 A.2d 967, 333 Md. 411, 1994 Md. LEXIS 14 (Md. 1994).

Opinion

KARWACKI, Judge.

We are asked in this case to decide whether Baltimore County’s “location requirement” for towing operators, i.e., a requirement that a licensed tow operator have a place of business within the county before that operator may be called by police to tow vehicles which have been disabled by accidents, violates either Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights or the federal constitution.

I.

In order to protect the general welfare and public interests of the community, prevent fraud, and eliminate unnecessary traffic problems and delays, Baltimore County has declared that the towing of vehicles which are disabled in the County by collision or other accident is subject to the supervision and administrative control of the County. The regulations affecting county towing businesses are found in Title 24, Article VI, §§ 24-221 to 24-235 of the Baltimore County Code (1988, Supp.1993) (“the Code”). 1

According to the regulatory scheme, prospective Baltimore County towing operators must apply for a license with the Baltimore County Department of Permits and Licenses (“DPL”) in order to tow disabled vehicles from the scene of an accident occurring in Baltimore County. § 24-226. The De *414 partment of Permits and Licenses then forwards the application to the Baltimore County Police Department (“BCPD”) in order to ensure that the applicant meets various requirements such as adequate facilities, proper registration and maintenance of towing vehicles, etc. § 24-228. The license approval process is governed by § 24-229, which provides in pertinent part:

“(a) New license towers shall be approved by the department of permits and licenses based on the need for additional service. If the need does not exist, the application will not be approved. The transfer of an existing license shall be treated in the same manner as a new license, and any such transfer shall be subject to all provisions applicable thereto.”

Section 24-230 governs the procedure by which towing operators are dispatched. That section provides in part:

“The chief of police shall retain a current list of all duly licensed towing operators. Whenever the services of a towing vehicle shall be required and request is made to the police department for the providing of such services, the police department shall call the licensed towing operator located in the county whose place of business is closest to the scene of the accident, except when an owner requests a specific licensed tow company; provided that such tow company can respond within a reasonable time.”

In order to simplify the dispatching procedure, the BCPD has divided the county into separate geographical tow areas. Each licensed tow operator is assigned a tow area and, in the event of an accident, is called to tow vehicles in its area only, unless a motorist requests a specific operator serving another tow area. No provision is made for the towing of vehicles disabled by other than accident.

Douglas Verzi is the owner and operator of Madonna Auto Sales and Services, Inc.. The business, which includes towing services, is located in Harford County, about two and one-half miles from the Baltimore County line. Verzi’s February, 1987 application for a tower’s license was denied in November, *415 1987. Verzi appealed the denial to the Baltimore County Board of Appeals (“the Board”) pursuant to § 24-225. 2 The Board determined that there was an established need for another tower in the section of Baltimore County that Verzi wished to serve, but it held that § 17-64 (currently § 24-230) prohibited the issuance of a towing license to an operator not located in Baltimore County. Verzi sought judicial review of the Board’s decision in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. That court reversed the Board’s decision, citing the Board’s finding of a demonstrated need for a tower and holding that the eligibility for a towing license was governed by § 17-63 (currently § 24-229), a section which contains no location restrictions.

Pursuant to the court’s order, the County granted Verzi a towing license. The BCPD, however, declined to assign him a towing area, relying on § 24-230 which requires the police to call “the licensed towing operator located in the county whose place of business is closest to the scene of an accident, except when an owner requests a specific licensed tow operator----” (Emphasis added). As a result of the BCPD’s failure to assign him a tow area, Verzi has not been called to tow vehicles disabled by accident except on two occasions in which motorists specifically requested his services.

Verzi filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, seeking a declaratory judgment that the location requirement in § 24-230 of the Baltimore County Code is unconstitutional and requesting a writ of mandamus ordering the County to assign Verzi a tow area and to call him in the event that a tow operator is needed in his tow area. That court granted summary judgment for the County, declaring the location requirement in § 24-230 constitutional. Verzi noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, and this Court issued a Writ *416 of Certiorari prior to consideration by the intermediate appellate court. 331 Md. 178, 626 A.2d 967. We shall reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.

II.

Verzi asserts that the location requirement found in § 24-230 of the Baltimore County Code violates the equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Section I of the Fourteenth Amendment provides in part:

“No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights states:

“That no man ought to be taken or imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, our outlawed, or exiled, or, in any manner, destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the Law of the land.”

The doctrine of equal protection of the laws is an integral element of our theory of government. Justice Jackson, in an oft-quoted passage, succinctly summed up both the doctrine and its purpose:

“Invocation of the equal protection clause ... does not disable any governmental body from dealing with the subject at hand. It merely means that the prohibition or regulation must have a broader impact. I regard it as a salutary doctrine that cities, states and the Federal Government must exercise their powers so as not to discriminate between their inhabitants except upon some reasonable differentiation fairly related to the object of regulation. This equality is not merely abstract justice. The framers of the Constitution knew, and we should not forget today, that there is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally.

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Bluebook (online)
635 A.2d 967, 333 Md. 411, 1994 Md. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/verzi-v-baltimore-county-md-1994.