In Missouri, renewing your plates means gathering paperwork first. The state wants a paid personal property tax receipt and, for many vehicles, a safety or emissions inspection certificate no more than 60 days old, according to its plate renewal requirements. St. Louis County cars also have to pass the Gateway emissions program. If any one of those steps fails, the tags lapse, and plenty of owners leave the car in the driveway while they save for the fix.
A new federal lawsuit says that’s when University City sent the tow truck.
On Oct. 22, four plaintiffs represented by ArchCity Defenders filed Shucks et al. v. City of University City in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The federal complaint says city employees towed more than 150 parked vehicles from private residential property over three years. It says they did it without warrants or hearings, and sometimes without the notice the city’s own code requires. Five officers are sued individually. None of this has been proven in court yet.
The vehicles
Nothing in this complaint is a collector car. Whitney Shucks’ 2009 Dodge Journey sat in a semi-enclosed carport attached to her home after it failed inspection in 2024, while she saved for repairs. The complaint says officers had Hartmann’s Towing take it on Oct. 4, 2024. Release fees passed $2,000 and kept rising by “hundreds of dollars daily.” She never got the Dodge back, or the tools, work boots and artwork inside it.
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Sheila Schroers and Jason Wendt allegedly lost three vehicles from their backyard on April 6, 2023: a 2001 Dodge Ram, a 2001 Camry that needed motor work, and a 1998 4Runner with a damaged bumper and current tags. Officers allegedly told Schroers that the only way to avoid the fees was to surrender the vehicles and “give up any right of ownership.” Phillip Hammonds says a 1987 Cutlass Supreme was towed from his backyard in November 2024. Later, a 2005 Silverado and a trailer with current tags were towed from his other home.
“I know I’m not the only victim here,” Schroers said in ArchCity’s lawsuit announcement.
The city’s own rulebook
The complaint’s strongest argument is that University City didn’t follow its own code. Section 385.030 says a vehicle without current plates can’t “remain on such property longer than seven (7) days.” But the code’s towing provisions only allow removal of vehicles that are “abandoned or inoperable” or a public-health hazard. Section 385.050 also requires “ten (10) days of . . . written notice” before police arrange removal of a vehicle that can’t move under its own power. According to the complaint, the city’s form letter gave five days. Another section says owners “shall not deny access” to city agents, which the plaintiffs call permission for warrantless entry. The complaint also says the code has no hearing procedure at all.
An expired sticker tells you nothing about whether a car runs. A 4Runner with a dented bumper and valid tags isn’t abandoned, and it isn’t a public-health threat.
The Fourth Amendment angle
Driveways, carports and backyards usually count as curtilage, the area around a home that gets close to the same constitutional protection as the house itself. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in Collins v. Virginia that police can’t rely on the automobile exception to walk onto curtilage and search a vehicle without a warrant. That case involved a motorcycle under a tarp. Counts II and III here apply the same reasoning to officers who allegedly inspected and stickered cars in backyards and then had them seized.
Why owners walk away
For an older car, the fees can quickly outrun the car. Once release charges are higher than what a 17-year-old crossover with a failed inspection is worth, paying them makes no financial sense. Missouri’s abandoned-property statute lets a tow operator holding unclaimed property apply for the title 30 days after mailing notice. The required notice also warns that charges above the property’s value remain the owner’s responsibility. So the owner can lose the car and still owe money.
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Don’t expect insurance to help much. Comprehensive coverage is built for theft and damage, not a government-ordered tow. Belongings inside the car usually fall under a homeowners or renters policy, if they’re covered at all.
A local precedent
ArchCity has won this kind of case before. In its earlier case against Calverton Park, a federal judge approved a $465,000 settlement in September 2026, as described in ArchCity’s release on the University City suit. In the Calverton settlement terms, Calverton Park agreed to stop labeling vehicles “derelict” just because their plates were expired or missing. It also agreed to cap special tax bills and to let residents present their case to a neutral party at towing hearings.
The University City suit asks the court to:
- certify a class of everyone whose vehicle was seized from private property at the city’s direction since Oct. 22, 2021, over an alleged ordinance violation
- declare that the city and its officers violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments
- award compensatory damages, plus punitive damages against the officers personally
ArchCity also wants the practice to stop.
What owners should do now
If your tags have lapsed and the car is in a St. Louis County municipality:
- Get it into a closed garage if you can.
- Photograph any sticker or notice and the date it appeared.
- Keep every tow and storage receipt.
- Read your city’s ordinance before assuming the tow was legal.
If your car was towed from your property in University City after Oct. 22, 2021, you may be part of this class without having done anything yet. Has a city ever hauled a car off your private property? Tell us how that went.
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